The Vatican and The Treasures of the Church

It has been two hours since I entered the Vatican Museums, tracing the suggested path of discovering the priceless works of art collected over the centuries by the popes since the earliest years of the Catholic Church.  

Earlier during the day, after two bus rides from the home of Maurizio and Margarita, my hosts, in the Monte Sacro area in Rome, I was at the entrance of the Vatican Museums with my prepaid ticket and fresh legs, ready to discover the ‘treasures’ of the Vatican.  

And with my camera and the Museum’s brochure, I stepped into a different world, one that showcased the Church’s acquisitions that were gathered in one place and have been on display since 1506.

(Priceless marble statues from the antiquities 

on display at the Vatican Museums)

One by one, these bigger-than-life marble sculptures showcased in different galleries fascinated me knowing that each was one-of-a-kind and must have been created by the hands of Renaissance masters I only read about in history books, and that each painting and fresco hanging on the wall or decorating a ceiling was a priceless masterpiece created by the brush strokes of the world’s greatest painters from images and colors of centuries past.

But other than these statues of Roman and Greek gods like the Apollo of the Belvedere, believed to be 1,800 years old and sculpted from one solid marble;  the bejeweled candelabras, ancient maps and priceless tapestries; or the Egyptian monuments and artifacts that outlived the dynasties that created them, there are more artifacts, manuscripts, letters, and books that are kept away and hidden from public view. 

Of all the 70,000 items in the Vatican collection, only 20,000 are on display and I think one could not even digest the enormity and importance of each masterpiece.

Being one of the biggest museums in the world, the collections of the Vatican Museums are in itself an exhibition of humanity; a display of man’s creations over the past millennia.

But after walking more than seven kilometers through the corridors of time, art and intellect, I realized I overlooked the lesson I should learn from this visit. The works of art owned by the Vatican were all physical creations, things that were created by man as an expression of his humanity. They are ‘treasures of a museum’. 

     (The Bramante spiral staircase at the Vatican)

But as I continued to ponder while walking down the famous ‘Bramante’, a spiral staircase designed in 1932, at the end of my visit to the Vatican Museums, a question came to mind. And with both my train of thought and path going in circles, literally and figuratively, I asked myself this: what are the real treasures of the Church?

And I had to turn to a pope for an answer.

I found it, of all places, in a movie.

In the classic 1983 film, The Scarlet and The Black, which was based on a true story and voted as one of the best Catholic films ever made, Pope Pius XII tells Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty that “The real treasures of the church, what makes it imperishable is that every once in a while, someone comes to it … like you.” The Pope was referring to the monsignor’s heroic deeds during World War II.

But that line, though, was from a movie and its setting was a century ago.

Nevertheless, taking a hint from the Pope, I think the real treasures of the church are not the cold, white marbles sculpted into human forms by Renaissance artists. They are not the ones hidden in guarded museums, kept in cold halls and are lifeless.

The treasures of the Vatican are spread all over the world and you don’t even have to travel to Rome to discover them. They are right there in your own parish and you only need to look beyond what you actually see.

It is us.

We, who uplift the souls and lives of our parishioners; we, who help spread the Word as modern-day evangelists; and we, as useful part of Christ’s body, who preserve and practice Catholic values and traditions as they have been kept during past millennia - are the real treasures of the Church.

(The apostles guarding the Saint Peter's 

Basilica in Rome)

So, someday, after you visit the Vatican Museums, you can ask yourself the same question, and I hope you'll arrive at the same answer. 🙏

(December 15, 2019 ADSUM Newsletter edition)

The Sistine Chapel: The Paintings Are Just A Decoration, The Papal Conclave Is Just A Tradition

    (I avoided the long queue by reserving online)

I have been walking around the labyrinth of time and history for hours now and yet, these huge statues of Roman and Greek gods, and other fascinating works of art only capture my attention for only a few moments. The statue of Apollo of the Belvedere, believed to be about 1,800 years old and sculpted from one huge, solid marble, hardly made me stop to admire its colossal significance to the art world that even led Napoleon Bonaparte to loot it, and while the Gallery of Maps, with its 120-meter long curved ceiling full of frescoes, was very fascinating, considering Ignazio Danti, the cartographer, did not have Google maps to refer to in 1580.

(Triumphant Perseus holding Medusa's head 

carved by Antonio Canova in 1801)

(Gallery of Maps)

I’m inside the Musei Vaticani or the Vatican Museums in Rome, Italy, where I am tracing a path lined with the priceless acquisitions of the past papacies that have been put together on display since 1506, fifteen years before Ferdinand Magellan set foot in the Philippines. But of the 70,000 paintings, sculptures and archeological artifacts owned by the Vatican, only 20,000 are lining that path in several captivating rooms, and of all those rooms, there is one that no visitor would ever want to miss: the Sistine Chapel.

 (Refreshments for sale before going 

into the Sistine Chapel)

After walking for two hours through the prescribed route when visiting the Vatican Museums, I stopped by Bar Caffetteria Sistina to rest my legs and fill my tummy with a sandwich before I finally stepped into the most awaited part of the tour. Whoever thought of the idea to put up a small refreshments corner before one enters the Sistine Chapel should have been canonized. As the whole stretch of the Vatican Museums is 7.5 kilometers long, a weary tourist deserves a rest before entering the holiest, the most fascinating, and the most beautiful part of the tour. I, therefore, prepared myself by munching a ham sandwich and downing it with bottled iced tea at the Bar Caffetteria Sistina.

                  (Be quiet and no cameras)

After I nourished my body, it was time to nourish my soul. I then followed the path and climbed the steps that lead up to the chapel while a sign greeted and reminded me ‘to be quiet’ and ‘no cameras’ before the main door. But when I stepped into the hall, the chapel was crowded and dim as the daylight from the high side windows provided the only illumination, but one does not need bright lights to be entranced by one’s current whereabouts. And the only loud sound heard is from the Italian guard who is dressed spiffily and shouting “Silenzio!” every now and then, although his command is always drowned by the humming whispers from his international visitors.

I stopped to absorb the moment I walked in and then breathed in the atmosphere mixed with history and the most fascinating of artworks in the world. I realized, since the papal conclave has been held in this room since 1492, the molecules of the air the past popes and the cardinals who elected them had breathed in and out must have lingered around for the past 500 years and might have ended up in my asthmatic lungs. I felt cured already!

Renamed after Pope Sixtus IV, who had it restored in 1480, the Sistine Chapel, has been transformed from a private place of worship, and with the vision of Pope Julius II and the talent of Michelangelo Buonarotti, its ceiling became into the most looked up to in the world. On any given day, about 20,000 tourists enter the Sistine Chapel and crane their necks towards the heavens to admire and be fascinated by the frescoes more than 68 feet above them. Now, I became one of them.

Not wanting to stand for the entirety of my visit, I found a vacant space on a bench on the right side of the altar. This was after all a chapel, so I planned to pray. And as I went through the decades of the Holy Rosary, I trained my eyes around the overwhelming frescoes on the walls depicting stories from the Bible as painted by the greatest of Renaissance painters like Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio, and those especially above me that were created by Michelangelo himself. Most important, I wondered how old was the bench that was providing me temporary comfort and which pope had sat on the same spot before.

I could only imagine and let my mind wander what it was like inside the Chapel during a conclave. But I just had to remind myself that I was blessed and lucky to be in the same room where popes were being elected for centuries. And for this very special experience, I was a grateful Catholic.

(The Creation of Adam - photo from Musei Vaticani)

Although it was easy to get lost in this dizzying amount of art, tradition, and history of the Sistine Chapel, I always reminded myself that this was a place of prayer where holy men have gathered, prayed for guidance, and professed their faith right under the painting of The Creation of Adam where God creates man, and right in front of The Last Judgment where He judges all of us. Those paintings are just decorations, created by men for others. The papal conclave is just a tradition where cardinals elect Saint Peter’s successor. What is most important is to always remind ourselves that in places of worship, the most priceless or the most expensive altars of great churches, or in this case, the most famous chapel of all, should not divert our attention to what matters the most: our faith, our Christian values, and the salvation of one’s soul.

According to Pope Francis, prayer is the key to bring us closer to God, and while all the doors of the Vatican Museum require 2,797 keys to open, then, I only need one.

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