Quotable Benedict: "Music infuses hope into the human soul"

Some excerpts from a speech he made at the Vatican after a concert performed in his honor:

This week the Italians took their turn at showing their affection and respect for the Pope by hosting a classical music concert in honor of his third anniversary and birthday. Benedict XVI thanked the choir and the orchestra for sharing the gift of music with people. Music, he said, has a spiritual value because it can “infuse hope into the human soul.”

.... The concert featured pieces by Luciano Berio, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven and was performed by the Giuseppe Verdi symphony orchestra and choir of Milan.

.... The Pope explained that there is a “spiritual value” to the art of music which, “in a special way, is called to infuse hope into the human soul, marked and sometimes injured by its earthly condition.

“There is a profound and mysterious relationship between music and hope, between song and eternal life", the Holy Father said. "It is no coincidence that Christian tradition shows the spirits of the blessed as they sing in chorus, captivated and enraptured by the beauty of God. But true art, like prayer, is not foreign to everyday reality, rather it calls us to 'irrigate' that reality, to make it sprout that it may bring forth fruits of goodness and peace.

Music, in fact, has a far greater value because it "reminds us furthermore of the value and the universal importance of artistic heritage,” the Pope said. He also mentioned that it is of particular value to the young, who can draw "new inspiration" from such heritage "in order to build a world founded on justice and solidarity, putting the multiform expressions of world culture to good account at the service of mankind".

Benedict XVI mentioned the importance that "educating people to recognize true beauty has for the formation of the young", and he explained how art "contributes to refining their souls and leads towards the construction of a society open to the ideals of the spirit. (CNA)

Underlinining my own. Many of the performers were young adults.

A few pictures from the event:



Credit: REUTERS/Tony Gentile (VATICAN), AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, HO