as a way
of addressing today’s
problems
An international initiative, Catholic
Universities Art Triennial, brings together universities from around the world
dedicated to exploring how art plays a role in addressing the most relevant
issues in the world today.
Vatican News
Over the next several
months, countries around the world will host artwork in the forms of
exhibitions, commissions, publications, and public programs. This international
initiative, titled the Catholic Universities Art Triennial, is promoted by the
Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See an brings together artists,
Catohlic universities, curators, and cultural institutions.
It began as a project
dedicated to artistic creation, academic research and dialogue, as the
Dicastery’s press release states. The Triennial is dedicated to exploring how
art plays a role in addressing the most relevant issues in the world today.
The Triennial will be held throughout 2026-2027 and
conclude in Venice.
An inaugural exhibition
The inaugural edition, entitled “Exercises in
Empathy”, is set to be held in various cities around the world: Rio de Janeiro,
Santiago, Bogotá, Boston, Milan, Lisbon and Luanda. Bringing together various
universities and partners, it will reflect on the role of higher education,
human relationships, and the concept of empathy.
Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica
humanitas points out that artificial intelligences “may … simulate
empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for
they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which
human beings grow in wisdom” (MH, no. 99).
The Triennial is focused on providing opportunities to
dive deeper into the public debate regarding safeguarding what is fundamentally
human.
Centers of creativity
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and
Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, recalled how, in what is now
the Magna Carta of Catholic Universities, Pope John Paul II described
universities as “as centres of creativity and radiating influence, he was
setting out a programme that every generation is called to implement with
renewed energy” (Ex corde Ecclesiae).
“If there were one word capable of expressing the
identity of Catholic universities and their integral vision of education, that
word would be empathy. Empathy lies at the origin of this
university project.”
Universities are an
educational community and strengthen the human ability to create—new ideas,
organize what was previously divided, and imagine new versions of the world. They should be seen as invitations to join in an act of
“co-creation” instead of as simply a technical exercise in repetition.
Again, in Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo urges universities
to address the complexities of today's world with creativity and to dedicate
themselves to "mak[ing] the life of our societies more just and
fraternal" (MH, no. 47).
“A family that educates for empathy forms people who are
able to face difference without fear. A university that cultivates empathy
prepares professionals who do not reduce others to data or functions. A
workplace shaped by empathy becomes a place of mutual recognition, not merely
of productivity.”
The Catholic Universities Art Triennial is working to respond positively to
this papal call.
Universities and schedules
Seven universities are partaking in the first edition of the Triennial:
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
(Colombia), Boston College (United States), Università Cattolica del Sacro
Cuore, Milan (Italy), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon (Portugal), and
Universidade Católica de Angola, Luanda (Angola).
The universities will have differen beginning and
closing dates for their exhibitions:
- · 27
AUGUST Brazil | Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de
Janeiro, until 15 NOVEMBER 2026
- · 3
SEPTEMBER Chile | Santiago - Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile, until 22 NOVEMBER 2026
- · 9
SEPTEMBER Colombia | Bogotá - Pontificia Universidad Javeriana,
until NOVEMBER 2026
- · 23 SEPTEMBER United
States | Boston College, until DECEMBER 2026
- · 6
OCTOBER Italy | Milan - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,
until DECEMBER 2026
- · 12
OCTOBER Portugal | Lisbon - Universidade Católica Portuguesa,
until 15 DECEMBER 2026
- · 29
OCTOBER Angola| Luanda - Universidade Católica de Angola, until
20 DECEMBER 2026
“The concept of empathy
offers the First Contemporary Art Triennial of Catholic Universities a fruitful
opportunity to bring aesthetics and ethics into dialogue while also inviting
every field of knowledge into interdisciplinary conversation. It draws us
closer to one another through the demanding, patient, yet deeply rewarding
practice of mutual recognition.”
Vatican News
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