Pope Francis’ January 2022 prayer intention is for victims of religious persecution

Vatican City, Jul 12, 2017 / 04:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two works painted by Renaissance master Raphael have been newly identified after art experts restored famous frescoes in the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City.

Arnold Nesselrath, an art historian who heads technical and scientific research at the Vatican Museums, told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that 16th century sources had offered clues. These sources said that Raphael had indeed painted two figures in the Apostolic Palace’s Hall of Constantine as tests of his oil technique.

In Nesselrath’s words, these figures were described as being “of a much higher quality than the ones around them.”

The exact identity of these figures was forgotten until the 21st century.

In an art restoration process that began in 2015, experts cleaned the works and removed the effects of centuries of previous restoration work.

They discovered that Raphael himself had painted two figures of women who serve as allegories for the virtues of Friendship and Justice. Only the art restoration made apparent Raphael’s oil technique.

The Hall of Constantine was intended to serve as a reception room in the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City. It depicts the life of the Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to seek baptism. The four frescoes depict The Vision of the Cross, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Baptism of Constantine, and the Donation of Constantine.

The Vision of the Cross fresco depicts a key event said to have been a step towards Constantine’s conversion to Christianity during his battles to become emperor. The fresco depicts the emperor in a military camp looking towards giant cross in the sky that is surrounded by Greek words saying, “In this sign, conquer.”

At one side of this fresco, a woman labeled as Friendship wears a blue gown. She is seated to the left of St. Clement I, a first century Pope, the art blog Hyperallergic reports.

Another figure believed to be painted by Raphael is on the far right side of the fresco depicting Constantine’s battle at the Milvian bridge with his brother-in-law Maxentius, a rival imperial claimant. This woman’s image is labeled as Justice and bears a set of scales, at which she is staring.

Raphael, working under a commission from Julius II, had sketched plans for the Hall of Constantine before his death in 1520. The frescos’ completion was left to his students.

“They continued in the traditional method and have left only these two figures, autographs of the master,” Nesselrath told La Stampa.

Three other rooms in the Apostolic Palace feature Raphael’s work, including his famous depiction of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle in his work “School of Athens.” Known as the “Raphael Rooms,” the frescoes can be seen by visitors to the Vatican Museums.

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Pope Francis holds a soccer ball in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday general audience on Aug. 26, 2015. L’Osservatore Romano.

Rome Newsroom, Nov 23, 2022 / 03:48 am (CNA).

Pope Francis gave a shoutout to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the end of his weekly audience on Wednesday.

Speaking to a crowd of people from around the world Nov. 23, the pope expressed his hope the international soccer competition would foster fraternity and peace.

“I wish to send my greetings to the players, fans and spectators who are following, from various continents, the World Cup, which is being played in Qatar,” he said in St. Peter’s Square.

“May this important event,” he continued, “be an occasion of encounter and harmony among nations, fostering fraternity and peace among peoples.”

Pope Francis added to his appeal for peace, asking for prayers for an end to all conflicts, especially the conflict in Ukraine.

He highlighted the upcoming anniversary, Nov. 26, of Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, a man-made famine that took place in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933.

Francis called Holodomor a “terrible genocide” and an “extermination by starvation,” which was artificially caused by Joseph Stalin.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is being played in the State of Qatar, an emirate on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18.

The choice of Qatar as host country for the men’s soccer tournament has been criticized due to conditions in the country, including the situation of Christians.

Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau, who is the current sports commissioner of the German Bishops’ Conference, said in a statement published Nov. 17 that he did not want to give soccer fans “a bad conscience,” even if people were “asking how it came about that Qatar, of all places, was chosen by FIFA as the host country 12 years ago.”

“Non-Islamic religions, including Christianity, which are strongly represented among migrant workers, are granted freedom only to a limited extent,” the German prelate said.

Oster also said the role of women was “set back” and sexual minorities were prosecuted.

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Pope Francis takes part in the Roman Curia’s Lenten retreat in Ariccia, Italy, on March 6-10, 2016. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jan 16, 2024 / 13:48 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis and the Roman Curia will take their traditional Lenten retrea… […]