Pope Leo XIV Tells Global Museum Directors They 'Safeguard a Heritage'

By Elena Vasquez

Pope Leo XIV addressed directors of the world's leading museums on Saturday at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. He told them they "safeguard a heritage that belongs to all humanity" and stressed the Catholic Church's "special affinity with the arts."

The audience brought the heads of the Bizot group — the International Group of Organizers of Major Exhibitions — to the pontiff's residence. Member institutions include the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Singapore.

Takeaway: the leader of the Catholic Church personally courted the directors of institutions that together hold much of the world's most-visited art collections.

Who is the Bizot group?

The organization dates to 1992. It takes its name from Irène Bizot, former director of France's Réunion des Musées Nationaux, who was instrumental in founding it. Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, currently serves as president.

The members gathered in Rome and Vatican City, including at the Vatican Museums, for a meeting devoted to a single theme: materiality.

What did Pope Leo say about materiality?

The pope framed the conference theme in theological terms, quoting from his Saturday address:

"Art is the means by which persons, through their ingenuity, enhance and transfigure matter—that is, the creation in which they dwell as made in the image and likeness of God."

He called the theme "of particular interest, not only for exploring the relationship between an object and the interpretation of a work of art, but also for reflecting on the distinctive quality of matter as the place in which God chose to reveal himself."

Takeaway: the pontiff positioned museum objects as theological evidence, not just cultural artifacts.

How did he describe the museum mission?

Leo quoted a 2015 letter from Pope Francis. That text compared artists with Jesus, who "worked with his hands, in daily contact with the matter created by God, to which he gave form by his craftsmanship."

Matter is also memory, the pope said.

"The works preserved in museums bear witness to a history that speaks to every person, from one generation to the next. Museum objects thus offer to the present the wisdom of the past."

He closed with direct praise for the directors in the room: "I therefore congratulate all of you for your efforts in directing and administering the museums to which you devote yourselves, safeguarding a heritage that belongs to all humanity."

What comes after the Vatican address?

The speech came just days after Pope Leo addressed artists and curators in a separate Vatican appearance. There he issued a warning aimed at technology: "This is especially true in this age of artificial intelligence, in which we urgently need to distinguish human art from what is produced by machines." He added that the Church needs artists.

Two Vatican addresses in one week signal that the new pontiff intends to make art policy a visible part of his papacy, with museum leaders now enlisted in his argument for human-made work.