On October 1, during a general audience at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV met with a group of Polish visitors who presented him with a painting of Mary with the Child, created by the prominent Krakow artist Beata Stankiewicz. The brief encounter with the Pope was also an opportunity to inform him about the important and ambitious project “Let’s Repaint Catholicism,” which aims to renew Western sacred painting and restore the Church’s patronage of contemporary art.

It all began in 2021, when two institutions – the John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Pontifical University of the Angelicum in Rome and the San Nicholas Foundation, based in Poland – launched the project called “Let’s Repaint Catholicism.” According to Mons. Jacek Grzybowski, auxiliary bishop of Warsaw-Praga and spiritual advisor of the project, its purpose is “to promote the encounter between art and religion, the Church and artists, thereby ensuring the continuity of the Gospel message also through art.”

In the first year (2021), the organizers invited a group of renowned Polish painters to depict the figure of the Divine Mercy Jesus, known from the visions of Saint Faustina Kowalska. The 10 paintings of the Divine Mercy Jesus, the result of the first work by the artists, were first exhibited in Poland and later, in spring 2023, at the Museo di San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome.

As explained by the project’s founder, Dariusz Karlowicz, president of the San Nicholas Foundation, it was clear from the beginning that this first initiative was just the start of other planned activities. Indeed, in subsequent years, the organizers invited the artists to explore other themes of the Christian faith, specifically the mysteries of the Rosary. The painters, after consulting with theologians, biblical scholars, art historians, and philosophers, depicted the joyful mysteries: “The Annunciation” and, more recently, “The Visitation.” The paintings portraying Mary’s visit to Elizabeth are now on display at the Museo di San Salvatore in Lauro. The exhibition is part of the program for the Jubilee Year 2025 and is sponsored by the Vatican Dicasteries for Evangelization and for Culture and Education. A special presentation ceremony will take place on October 9 at 6:30 p.m. The co-organizer of the ongoing exhibition in Rome is the John Paul II Vatican Foundation.

During the general audience on October 1, the organizers – represented by Dariusz Karłowicz and Joanna Paciorek of the San Nicholas Foundation, Mons. Pawel Ptasznik, president of the John Paul II Vatican Foundation, and Fr. Tomasz Podlewski, head of Media and Events of the same Foundation – invited Pope Leo XIV to visit the exhibition. In response, the Pope jokingly said that he “knew where the exhibition was” but that to visit it, he “would need to travel abroad.”

Paciorek, after the audience, expressed her joy that “Pope Leo XIV gave us his blessing.” Furthermore, the meeting took place at the beginning of the month of the Rosary, and she added, “our project, ‘Let’s Repaint Catholicism,’ follows precisely the mysteries of the Rosary.”

Mons. Ptasznik explained the Foundation’s involvement in the initiative: “John Paul II placed great emphasis on promoting culture and fostering dialogue between the Church and men of culture. This has recently weakened, but the exhibition in Rome that we prepared together is an attempt to renew this dialogue (…) The interest expressed by Pope Leo XIV is a good omen for the future.”

The exhibition is open until October 25; it can be visited Monday to Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Piazza San Salvatore in Lauro 15. Free admission.