A Letter to Artists
His Holiness Pope John Paul II
July 1, 1999
None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when -- like the artists of every age -- captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colors and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you. That is why it seems to me that there are no better words than the text of Genesis with which to begin my Letter to you, to whom I feel closely linked by experiences reaching far back in time and which have indelibly marked my life. In writing this Letter, I intend to follow the path of the fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists which has gone on unbroken through two thousand years of history, and which still, … [in the] Third Millennium, offers rich promise for the future … . This relationship is particularly clear in the Polish language because of the lexical link between the words stwórca (creator) and twórca (craftsman). What is the difference between "creator" and "craftsman"? The one who creates bestows being itself, he brings something out of nothing -- ex nihilo sui et subiecti, as the Latin puts it -- and this, in the strict sense, is a mode of operation which belongs to the Almighty alone. The craftsman, by contrast, uses something that already exists, to which he gives form and meaning. This is the mode of operation peculiar to man as made in the image of God … . God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task … ...
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