Vatican cardinal says new ‘Chapel of Liberation’ exhibit is not about liberation theology
December 12, 2025
» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education said that “Chapel of Liberation,” a new exhibit in his dicastery’s contemporary art museum, is not about liberation theology.
In a December 10 speech introducing two exhibits by Brazilian artist Jonathas De Andrade, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said that the artist shows “strength of prophetic aspiration,” as well as “the opportunity and complexity of the Church-World dialogue, religion and secularization, mystical dimension, and political commitment.”
“Jonathan de Andrade’s aim in ‘The Chapel of Liberation’ is not to validate a particular aesthetic or create a monument to a specific theological movement—namely, liberation theology, because monumentalizing is freezing time in an image—but rather to make us reflect on the social responsibility of Christians today, which will have different expressions than those of yesterday,” the cardinal added.
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