On Easter Sunday, 1999, Pope John Paul II issued his “Letter to Artists.” This profound document is not just for artists, but for everyone, offering a deep reflection on the mystery of the human person and the innate human need for beauty.

Beauty: A Necessity, Not a Luxury

by Fr. Charles Klamut

Just when I am about to succumb to the sadness and living death of 

nihilism, some piercing ray of beauty breaks open my heart, and the breath 

of possibility returns.

I recently visited the Botanical Garden in St Louis. Amid the sights and 

smells, the colors and creatures, the sun, the architecture, and the sheer 

gratuity of so much botanical diversity, I felt happy to be alive. Drinking it 

in, I turned to a friend and said, “How could we live without this?” He 

replied, “We couldn’t.”

I’ve been thinking about this little exchange. Upon reflection, I am 

becoming certain that they are not just sentimental words, but the truth. 

And with this conviction, I’m not alone.

Luigi Giussani, the great 20th century priest, educator, and writer (and 

whose cause for canonization has just begun), insisted throughout his 

great life on our need for beauty; for beautiful, real things which have the 

power to awaken our hearts. During Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s homily 

for Fr Giussani’s funeral in 2005, two months shy of his unsuspected 

elevation to the papacy, he said that Fr Giussani was “wounded by the 

desire for beauty.” He noted how much Fr Giussani loved music, and said 

that, in looking for Beauty itself, he was looking for Christ.

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Read more: www.imaginativeconservative.org



Pope John Paul II
Letter to Artists

On the Place and Significance of Art (April 4, 1999)

"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good" (Gn 1:31)

The artist, image of God the Creator

None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of His hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when -- like the artists of every age -- captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colors and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.

That is why it seems to me that there are no better words than the text of Genesis with which to begin my Letter to you, to whom I feel closely linked by experiences reaching far back in time and which have indelibly marked my life. In writing this Letter, I intend to follow the path of the fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists which has gone on unbroken through two thousand years of history, and which still, at the threshold of the Third Millennium, offers rich promise for the future.

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