Pope Leo XIV received participants in the meeting of the Bizot Group, which brings together directors of some of the world’s most prestigious museums, in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on 10 October 2026. The meeting’s theme was «Materiality», and the group is chaired by Taco Dibbits.
In his address, the Pope set out three ideas. Matter is a gift entrusted to our care, which artists transform and which reveals the beauty of creation. Matter is malleable, and by shaping it artists express ideas and emotions that can lift the spirit. And matter is memory: museum objects hold the history of past generations and offer the present the wisdom of the past.
Leo XIV noted that the Church sees art as a way of proclaiming the Gospel through beauty, not as mere aestheticism. He closed by congratulating the directors for protecting a heritage that belongs to all humanity and wishing them success in their initiatives.
