Pope Francis: True beauty is caring for others

Screenshot from Custodi del Bello film

Source: Vatican News, Custodi del Bello

Pope Francis has warned against today's prevailing ideas of beauty, which he says are "more connected to hedonistic, commercial, and advertising criteria than to the integral development of people." This distorted idea "leads to the degradation of humanity and nature", he said.

The Pope made the comments during his address today to a delegation of participants in the 'Guardians of Beauty' Project ('Custodi del Bello'), a joint venture supported by the Italian Bishops, which works with poor and marginalised people, unemployed migrants and refugees in many cities, offering them training and work in teams, taking care of streets, squares, parks, gardens and monuments. They are also helped to find work with local companies.

Welcoming the delegation in the Clementine Hall, on Monday morning, Pope Francis thanked everyone for their work, noting that the name of the project is not just a slogan but a choice of life aimed at two great purposes: care and beauty.

"Being 'Guardians of Beauty' is a great responsibility, as well as an important message for the ecclesial community and for all of society," he said.

Caring, involves protecting, preserving, and defending, and it requires constant attention and personal commitment as opposed to the current tendencies in our society to avoid engagement. It is a community effort in which each person, with their abilities and skills, with their intelligence and heart, can do something for others, for our common home, from a perspective of integral care of creation.

True care, Pope Francis remarked, must extend beyond the environment to an ecological vision that includes the protection and dignity of all people, especially those who live in the margins and are discarded by society: the poor, migrants, the elderly and disabled who are alone, the chronically ill, because each one of them "is precious in the eyes of the Lord."

"Today, there are so many people on the margins, discarded, forgotten in an increasingly efficient and ruthless society: the poor, migrants, the elderly and disabled who are alone, the chronically ill. Yet, each one is precious in the eyes of the Lord", the Pope said.

Pope Francis encouraged the project participants in their endeavour of revitalizing many places left to neglect and decay, to prioritize the people who live there and frequent them. He said: "Only in this way, will you restore creation to its beauty."

The Pope said modern society's superficial understanding of beauty, is often reduced to ephemeral and commercialized aesthetics degrading both humanity and nature. Instead, true beauty is something sacred, unique, reflecting God's creation, that combines grace and goodness, uniting aesthetic and moral perfection.

The Pope concluded by encouraging project participants to embrace their role as co-creators with God in restoring beauty and harmony to the world, citing Saint Joseph of Nazareth, "the humble and silent" guardian of Jesus, as a model in their commitment: "With his discreet and diligent faithfulness, Saint Joseph contributed to restoring beauty to the world," he said.

Read more about Custodi del Bello here: www.custodidelbello.org/