Vatican City, Sep 14, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).
St. Peter’s Square became the stage for an unprecedented spectacle on Saturday night, as tens of thousands gathered for Grace for the World, a massive concert closing the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity.
The event opened with breathtaking symbolism: more than 3,000 drones illuminated the night sky above the basilica, tracing the image of Pope Francis, framing Michelangelo’s dome and Bernini’s colonnade in light. The display, a first for the Vatican, drew reverent silence before the crowd erupted in applause.
The moment was accompanied by a stirring duet of “Amazing Grace” performed by world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli and American singer Teddy Swims. Their voices rose over the hushed square, blending with the faint hum of the drones in an atmosphere of solemnity and awe.
After that, the Roman sky became a vast canvas. The drones depicted the hands from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, followed by a monumental dove of peace and finally a striking image of the Pietà, Michelangelo’s famous marble sculpture housed in St. Peter’s Basilica. The projections, clear against the night, prompted ovations and a forest of cellphones lifted high to capture the scene.
Also projected was the icon of Salus Populi Romani, venerated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major and cherished by Pope Francis.
The innovative display set the tone for the evening: a call to universal fraternity, dialogue among cultures, and hope in times of global crisis. For the first time in history, St. Peter’s Square was transformed into an open-air arena for a concert of this scale.
The event marked the conclusion of the two-day World Meeting on Human Fraternity, which brought together 500 participants, including Nobel laureates, academics, cultural leaders, and experts in technology and the environment. Fifteen dialogue panels explored themes such as peace, care for the planet, technology’s impact, and the future of humanity.
In his greeting to the audience, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and president of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, proclaimed: “In the midst of shadows, we see the possibility of a rebirth: the capacity to resist, to innovate, to build bridges.”
Bocelli, a practicing Catholic and one of the world’s most acclaimed tenors, was among the evening’s central performers. He opened with Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” transforming the square into a place of silence and emotion.
Colombian singer Karol G drew some of the loudest ovations of the night. She performed “Mientras me curo el cora” in a gospel-inspired style and closed with a moving duet with Bocelli of “Vivo per lei.” Dressed in an elegant, understated outfit, she was greeted with flags, shirts, and chants from fans who had crowded the front rows.
Alongside the music came urgent appeals for peace and justice. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi, Mozambican activist Graça Machel, and Iraqi Nobel laureate Nadia Murad all called for an end to war and violence, urging greater commitment to human dignity and fraternity.
Pope Leo XIV was not present at the concert, but organizers thanked him for his support and noted that he celebrates his 70th birthday this Sunday.
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“In the midst of shadows, we see the possibility of a rebirth: the capacity to resist, to innovate, to build bridges” (Cdl Gambetti archpriest St Peter’s president Fratelli Tutti reverencing the facial image of Pope Francis.
Are we not Christ’s Church? Or is this now Flannery’s the Church of Christ without Christ?
I agree with your response. The gist of the statement of the Cardinal “let us love each other without Christ” (so to speak) was supported by other statements by various participants. The most memorable, to me, was made by a musician with golden teeth (I do not remember his name). He said that we all have light within us and we must rise above (or out) of constraints and limitations of cultures and religions. Drop all the differences and unite along the common denominator, some “universal light”.
I have a few things to say about that. First is the obvious, that it was an oblique proclamation of “the Church of Man” instead of the Church of Christ. As everything that has been done in recent years, it was not-so-serious, easy to brush off, very much like the Red Dragon brought before PF on the Feast of Candlemas last year in the Vatican. It was just “a cultural thing” but, it happened, ticking a box for those who remember Apocalypse, marking a certain stage in the scheme of things. Before that “tick” were others, similarly “coincidental” and oblique. What makes those “signs” significant is that they all have happened for the price of Christ being pushed away. “Christ being abandoned by His Church” gives those farcical events an apocalyptic flavour.
Second, being emotionally involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine (that I see as a mutual genocide, a tragedy) and seeing what drones do to the soldiers – drones being the major force in that mutual slotter – I had a visceral reaction when I saw an announcement of “the drone show”. But, even leaving the war aspect aside, there was something in the Vatican show akin to Vladimir Soloviev’s intuition re: Antichrist, with all those “digital” images formed with drones, dots of lights etc.:
“Accipio et approbo et laetificatur cor meum,” said Apollonius, signing it. “I am as much a true Orthodox and a Protestant as I am a true Catholic,” he added, and exchanged friendly kisses with the Greek and the German.
Then he came up to the Emperor, who embraced him and long held him in his arms. At this time, tongues of flame began to dart about in the palace and the temple. They grew and became transformed into luminous shapes of strange beings and flowers never seen before came down from above, filling the air with an unknown perfume. Enchanting sounds of music, stirring the very depths of the soul, produced by unfamiliar instruments, were heard, while angelic voices of unseen singers sang the glory of the new lords of heaven and earth.”
In a word, I see the signs but they are so farse, so “ha-ha” that it is problematic to write about them. It is something like “This is it but it is not serious so it cannot be it, can it?” And the bad taste remains, together with an oppressing certainty.
Humankind and Planet Earth are thirsting for peace. ‘Grace for the World’ concert is a meaningful initiative. Hearty congratulations to the organizers and to the assembled lovers of peace, joy, and friendship.
Yes, there were those dreaded signs, premonitions if you wish. A surreal unfolding of events that have drifted into the present.
Christ’s promises are our staff of Aaron. Whatever may occur we remain steadfast, indefatigable to the end, the remnant of his faithful mystical body on earth.