Under Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Pope Benedict XVI met with more than 250 (mostly Italian) artists to “renew the Church’s friendship with the world of art“:
“Beauty … can become a path toward the transcendent, toward the ultimate Mystery, toward God,” Benedict said. […] “Too often … the beauty thrust upon us is illusory and deceitful … it imprisons man within himself and further enslaves him, depriving him of hope and joy,” he said.
In The L Magazine, Benjamin Sutton doesn’t sound thrilled:
So, I guess what he’s saying is that we’re still in the Renaissance. Artists: if you want to get into heaven, start painting landscapes with beautiful horizons and pretty clouds (angels and hands-of-god optional).