My daughters and sons, I dream of the oratories, the tabernacles that will be spread throughout every corner of the world and will carry to all souls this spirit of God – the spirit of the Work of God. I ask you, wherever you may be, to follow the local practices regarding the materials used for buildings. But it makes me very sad to see churches that look like garages, and statues that are a caricature and a mockery. Don’t ever put them in our oratories.

Sacred Art

Sacred art should lead to God and should respect holy things; it is ordered to piety and devotion. Because it followed that rule and in everything preserved the nature proper to its end, religious art was for many centuries the best art. The modernist, caricature-like statues are as bad as the “sugar-candy” ones: what is ugly and disrespectful is just as bad as what is unctuous and in bad taste.

Neither of these two extremes helps our piety. If architects, sculptors or painters wish to contribute to divine worship by their art, they must obey certain clear rules. I don’t mean by this that you have to paint heaven on your knees, like Fra Angelico. But it is necessary to paint it respectfully, with love and devotion.