Benedict XVI–more on Truth and Beauty
Jul 11th, 2005 by Debra Murphy
The following is an excerpt from Benedict XVI’s speech for the presentation of the new Compendium of the Catechism on June 28:
. Images have also been incorporated into the text at the beginning of the respective part or section. This choice aims to illustrate the doctrinal content of the Compendium: indeed, images “proclaim the same message that Sacred Scripture transmits through words and help to reawaken and nourish the faith of believers” (Compendium, n. 240).
Images and words are thus mutually enlightening. Works of art always “speak”, at least implicitly, of the divine, of the infinite beauty of God, reflected in the Icon par excellence: Christ the Lord, the Image of the invisible God.
Sacred images, with their beauty, are also a Gospel proclamation and express the splendour of the Catholic truth, illustrating the supreme harmony between the good and the beautiful, between the via veritatis and the via pulchritudinis. While they witness to the age-old and fruitful tradition of Christian art, they urge one and all, believers and non-believers alike, to discover and contemplate the inexhaustible fascination of the mystery of Redemption, giving an ever new impulse to the lively process of its inculturation in time.
