Catholic World News News Feature

Sacred music goes beyond art, Pope says October 15, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI visited the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music on Saturday, October 13, to see the renovated headquarters of the school.

After visiting the library and the chapel of the Pontifical Institute, the Holy Father told the staff-- led by Msgr. Msgr. Valentin Miserachs Grau-- that sacred music is "a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art."

Noting the integral role of music in liturgy, the Pope said that sacred music has 3 vital characteristics: "its 'sanctity,' its 'true art,' and its 'universality,' in other words the fact that it can be presented to any people or assembly." He said that Church leaders, aided by institutions such as the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, should work to ensure that the heritage of Church music is not frozen in time, but the rich traditions of the past are kept alive and nourished by new additions.