Vatican City, Aug 17, 2020 / 07:30 am
Pope Francis invited participants in an annual Catholic festival Monday to join him "in witnessing to the experience of the beauty of God."
In a message on behalf of the pope for this year's Meeting for Friendship among Peoples in Rimini, Italy, Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin highlighted the role of beauty in attracting people to the Christian faith.
"The Pope therefore invites you to continue to collaborate with him in witnessing to the experience of the beauty of God who became flesh so that our eyes may marvel at his face and our eyes may find in him the wonder of living," the cardinal wrote in the message dated Aug. 5 and released by the Holy See press office Aug. 17.
Parolin noted that the theme of this year's meeting, which takes place Aug. 18-23, is "Devoid of wonder, we remain deaf to the sublime," taken from American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's 1955 book "God in Search of Man."