POPE FRANCIS AND LITURGICAL ARCHITECTURE

POPE FRANCIS AND LITURGICAL ARCHITECTURE

Did you see this story on Vatican News Pope: Design of sacred architecture must flow from Church’s liturgy – Vatican News:

Pope: Design of sacred architecture must flow from Church’s liturgy – As the Pontifical Academies held their 26th Public Session on Tuesday, Pope Francis reflected on the importance of sacred architecture, which formed the theme for this edition of the Public Session.

Among other things, we read: “Sacred architecture, said Pope Francis, “must seek to rediscover “symbolic language and be able to interpret it. … To have lost the capacity to grasp the symbolic value of the body and of every creature renders the symbolic language of the Liturgy almost inaccessible to the modern mentality,” he said, citing his Apostolic Letter. “And yet there can be no question of renouncing such language. It cannot be renounced because it is how the Holy Trinity chose to reach us through the flesh of the Word. It is rather a question of recovering the capacity to use and understand the symbols of the Liturgy.”

The story then names the 2022 winners for liturgical architecture: The gold medal was awarded to “OPPS Architettura” studio in Florence for its work to renovate a chapel in Rome belonging to the Foundation of Sts. Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. The silver medal went to the architect Federica Frino for her project for a new church dedicated to St. Thomas in the central Italian city of Pontedera.

Are you curious yet about the 2022 masterpieces? Do you think the Pope has seen these? Might he have written a different message?

Click below to see images of the gold and silver prizes for liturgical architecture as awarded by the Pontifical Academies. Scroll down a bit to where it says: Alcune immagini del progetto dello studio OPPS Architettura – medaglia d’oro (Several images of the project of OPPS Architecture studios – the gold medal), Those 4 images are followed by photos of the silver medal by Federica Frino: Premio delle Pontificie Accademie 2022: a vincere è lo studio OPPS Architettura di Firenze – medaglia d’argento all’architetto Federica Frino (professionearchitetto.it)

I know! I was stunned as well!