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At Vatican evening event, historic St. Peter’s bell ‘speaks’ through new sound installation

February 17, 2025 Catholic News Agency 0
Statues illuminated in ethereal blue light during the special evening access to St. Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee of Artists, February 16, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Feb 17, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

For the Jubilee of Hope, an American artist has created an installation mapping the “soundscape” of one of the historic bells of St. Peter’s Basilica, premiering the work on the night of Feb. 16.

“The Silent Echoes of a Great Sound Sculpture” by Bill Fontana made the bell’s live soundscape audible as artists and other pilgrims walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica after dark on Sunday.

A visitor admires the bronze panels of the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica, specially illuminated for the 'White Night' celebration of the Jubilee of Artists, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
A visitor admires the bronze panels of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, specially illuminated for the ‘White Night’ celebration of the Jubilee of Artists, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

The after-hours opening of the basilica, one of several events in Rome organized for the Feb. 15-18 Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, was called the “Notte Bianca” — “white night” in English. During the extraordinary opening, artists and others walked around a basilica bathed in blue light and accompanied by live cello music. 

The contemporary art installation, which can be heard in a video recording here, was audible via speakers in the portico, or entrance, of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is expected to continue to play from 9:30 a.m. through 7 p.m. daily throughout the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

The soundscape was made using the largest of St. Peter’s Basilica’s six bells — called “Campanone,” Italian for “Great Bell.” The over eight-feet tall bell was cast in 1786 by the silversmith Luigi Valadier and weighs around 9 tons.

Fontana explained how the installation works in a statement on his website: “Latent in the physical structure of everything, are resonant frequencies. … I began to explore this phenomenon using high resolution vibration sensors called accelerometers. These may be placed onto and inside of a wide range of structures and situations that then map, render and reveal the silent echoes latent in a structure or an object that is echoing a live soundscape.”

Fontana did a similar recording of the Emmanuel bell of Notre Dame Basilica in Paris in 2022.

According to a press release: “Using state-of-the-art sensors and a sophisticated audio system, the internal vibrations — normally in no way audible since [the bell] weighs over nine tons — have been captured, amplified, and transformed into a deeply immersive auditory experience.”

The soundscape, also called a “sound sculpture,” the note continued, “will accompany [pilgrims and visitors] on their spiritual journey” at St. Peter’s Basilica.

A visitor captures the dramatically lit central nave of St. Peter's Basilica on their phone during the 'White Night' celebration, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
A visitor captures the dramatically lit central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica on their phone during the ‘White Night’ celebration, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Education and Culture also organized several initiatives for the weekend’s Jubilee of Artists, but two of the events — a papal audience and a gathering with the pope at the film studios of Cinecittà — had to be canceled after Francis was hospitalized for a respiratory infection on Feb. 14.

At a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, the dicastery prefect, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, read Pope Francis’ message to artists, calling them to participate in the “revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes” and transform suffering into hope.

“Your mission is not only to create beauty but to reveal the truth, goodness, and beauty hidden within the folds of history, to give voice to the voiceless, to transform pain into hope,” the pope’s message stated.

Angelic figures bathed in blue light inside St. Peter's Basilica during the 'White Night at St. Peter's' event, part of the Jubilee of Artists at the Vatican, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Angelic figures bathed in blue light inside St. Peter’s Basilica during the ‘White Night at St. Peter’s’ event, part of the Jubilee of Artists at the Vatican, Feb. 16, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

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Cardinal Mendonça delivers pope’s message to artists: Be witnesses to ‘revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes’

February 16, 2025 Catholic News Agency 0
Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça delivers Pope Francis’s homily at a Mass for the Jubilee of Artists in St. Peter’s Basilica, Feb. 16, 2025 / Screenshot / Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Feb 16, 2025 / 04:59 am (CNA).

Powerful proclamations to painters, poets, and performers highlighted Pope Francis’s message to artists on Sunday, calling them to participate in the “revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes” and transform suffering into Hope.

In a papal homily read by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça at a Mass for the Jubilee of Artists in St. Peter’s Basilica on Feb. 16, artists were urged to be “witnesses to the revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes.”

“Your mission is not only to create beauty, but to reveal the truth, goodness and beauty hidden within the folds of history, to give voice to the voiceless, to transform pain into hope,” the pope’s message stated.

The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education delivered the homily as Pope Francis remains at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is recovering from a respiratory infection.

Drawing on the day’s Gospel reading of the Beatitudes, the papal message emphasized that authentic art must engage with “the drama of human existence” rather than offering superficial comfort.

“We live in a time when new walls are being erected, when differences become a pretext for division rather than an opportunity for mutual enrichment,” the homily noted, calling artists and cultural figures to “build bridges, create spaces for encounter and dialogue, enlighten minds and warm hearts.”

The homily concluded with a reminder that artistic gifts are not random but represent a calling: “Hope is not an illusion; beauty is not a utopia; your gift is not chance, it is a vocation. Respond with generosity, with passion, with love.”

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