Aleteia spoke with the organizer of the Vitae Summit 2022 event, the Argentine Luis Quinelli
Pope Francis received a group of 25 actors and artists from all over the world in a private meeting this Wednesday to talk about the beauty and culture of the encounter. The event could be the first of a series of meetings, he explained to Aleteia its organizer, the Argentine Luis Quinelli.
The guests were the actors Denzel Washington (Malcolm X) and his wife Pauletta, Eduardo Verástegui (Pretty), Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen), the couple formed by Jessica and David Oweloyo (Selma), Edwina Findley (Get Hard), Patricia Heaton (Beethoven) and Hayley Atwell (Avengers).
There were also directors Darius Marder (Sound of Metal), Pete Docter (Inside Out) and Isaac Chung (Munyurangabo), film producer Dan Lin (The Lego Movies) and the singers Marcus Mumford, Alexander Acha, Andrea Bocelli, J Balvin and Alessia Cara, the composer Bull Nene, the pianist Julio Reyes Copello and the writer Alejandro Roemmers.
The meeting began in the Vatican Museums with a private visit and a moment of reflection in the Sistine Chapel, and includes a dinner. On Thursday 1 September, the Pope will sit at the table of the Academy of Sciences for a private dialogue with the invited artists, the conclusions of which will be made public.
Positive messages that transform culture
“This is not an exclusively Catholic event, we have invited artists from various backgrounds”, explained Luis Quinelli ad Aleteia. Quinelli chairs the Foundation Vitae Globalsupported, among other personalities, by Pope Francis and Sofia of Spain.
It is, he said, “to start a conversation about how to get out of the current polarization, from the avalanche of negative messages, from the conflicts that we are experiencing as humanity. The media, the entertainment industry and the arts have a lot to do in this regard. They have a great influence on people’s minds, hearts and spirits. Art is also totally connected to spirituality ”.
“It therefore seemed an excellent idea to put 25 famous artists, celebrities from all over the world, together with the Pope to think about how to develop projects of great impact that can transform culture in this sense,” he added.
“In recent years we have gradually lost the ability to sit at a table among completely different people, to give us the opportunity to get to know each other and in this mutual understanding understand the reality of each one and its origins. Also find the points in common, in which there is certainly at least one world in common. And from that point in common, starting to develop things that allow us to promote a better world ».
“We have come from difficult years, we have had a pandemic with the consequences it has had and continues to have. We have experienced things that have impressed us a lot, but perhaps to change these things we just need to start a conversation. This event is about just that ”.