Steubenville, Ohio, Mar 6, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Ohio’s small Franciscan University of Steubenville has announced its unique contribution to an upcoming Vatican meeting which will explore the meaning and role of beauty in faith and culture.
Officials from the school said that Paul Cardinal Poupard of the Pontifical Council for Culture asked the University to present a preparatory paper on beauty from the Franciscan perspective, which they sent to Rome in January.
The Pontifical Council is scheduled to convene for their dicastery meeting later this month.
Dr. Max Bonilla, vice president for Academic Affairs at the University called the opportunity a "tremendous honor," adding that “It is unusual and special that the University would be asked by the Vatican to contribute a paper for their work.”
School officials noted that the paper discusses the Franciscan understanding of the effect of beauty on the human person who, they say, imitates Christ “the ultimate expression of beauty.”