Courtney Mares, OSV
As night fell over the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo on July 29, Pope Leo XIV listened as Andrea Bocelli conducted 164 young voices in a hymn, which led the Pope to reflect on how beauty can lead us to God.
«The beauty of music invites us to encounter the One who is beauty itself,» the Pope remarked after the international children’s choir performed with the tenor in the Vatican’s Borgo Laudato si’ Gardens.
«It is significant that Sacred Scripture and the Church’s Liturgy speak of «choirs of angels and saints» when describing the joy of heaven,» he added, «not because they are literally singing all the time, but because, united in love, they contemplate God together and find in him the fullness of happiness.».
The Pope sat in front of the choir while Bocelli led children and teenagers from the Holy Land, Uganda, and Italy in a rendition of «Amazing Grace,» the final song of the evening. The Italian tenor also performed the Latin hymn «Panis Angelicus» for the Pope.
‘The Experience of Beauty’
The children's choir was made up of participants in the Andrea Bocelli Foundation's «Voices Of» program, which combines choral singing with educational workshops for children from communities affected by poverty, conflict, or limited access to education.
«My dear young friends, as you were singing, did you notice how the music transported us all to a new experience—something greater than any of us could create on our own? This is the experience of beauty,» Pope Leo told the choir.
«When we seek beauty,» the Pope added, "we discover not just something, but Someone. We encounter God, our Creator.".
The young singers, aged 8 to 19, traveled from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the Ugandan village of Nabikabala, and the Italian cities of Naples and Camerino to take part in the performance, the highlight of a 10-day program in Italy sponsored by the charitable foundation. The choir members from Haiti were unable to travel due to the instability in the country, according to the organizers.
«Continue to nurture the gifts God has given you and let them guide you to Him,» Pope Leo told the young singers. «He is everything we seek in life, the only one who can calm our restless hearts.».
“Remember that you were created for great things, and that this world is not enough to quench your thirst for meaning and happiness,” he said.
Part of the Jubilee of St. Francis
The evening of musical performances and prayer, held in the gardens of Borgo Laudato si’, near the papal summer residence where Pope Leo spent much of July, was part of the Jubilee Year celebrations commemorating the 800th anniversary on the death of St. Francis of Assisi.
Sister Alessandra Smerilli, whom Pope Leo XIII recently appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, read aloud St. Francis’s 1225 poem, «The Canticle of the Sun,» which praises God’s creation, while other members of the Roman Curia read excerpts from the writings of previous popes and passages from Scripture between songs under the Roman pine trees in the garden.
The concert was attended by some 500 employees from the Holy See’s dicasteries, the Government of Vatican City State, and offices of the Roman Curia. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was also present and spoke briefly with the Pope after the concert.
At the end of the performance, the children in the choir presented Pope Leo XIV with gifts from their home countries. Afterward, the cardinals and members of the Curia were invited to a reception dinner in the gardens at dusk.
Cardinal Fabio Baggio, director general of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, stated that the event reflected the mission of Borgo Laudato Si’ as «a place where faith becomes a encounter and peace is built by caring for people, communities, and creation.».
“Let us entrust this ‘Song of Peace’ to the Lord, so that the song that rises from this place today may touch hearts, cross borders, and become a seed of hope for the world,” said the cardinal.
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