The chief architect of the Catholic Church’s reconnection with contemporary art and culture explains why he regards himself as a poet first, and a cardinal second

At the world’s biggest contemporary art fair, the Venice Biennale, the widely acknowledged best offering is the Holy See’s contribution, a soundscape in a convent garden that embodies everything this 2026 Biennale is about (a slowing-down, a rethink, time to pause in a speeded-up, digital world). It was the same at the last Biennale two years ago, when the Vatican delivered one of the most radical and genuine installations, an art exhibition inside a women’s prison.

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