We met with the Holy Father: Pope Leo XIV blessed the painting project and the exhibition co-organized by our Foundation.
During the general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, 1 October 2025, representatives of our Foundation, together with the board of the Saint Nicholas Foundation, met with Pope Leo XIV to present to the Holy Father the painting cycle Let's Paint Catholicism Again and to seek his blessing for the project.
The Saint Nicholas Foundation was represented by the project initiators: Dariusz Karłowicz and Joanna Paciorek, while the John Paul II Vatican Foundation was represented by Msgr. Paweł Ptasznik (chairman) and Fr. Tomasz Podlewski (director for media and events).
Pope Leo XIV listened attentively and kindly to the proposal of the painting project presented by Dariusz Karłowicz. He then urged the initiators to “renew culture in the spirit of Christian faith” and bestowed his personal blessing upon this noble mission.
The organizers of Let's Paint Catholicism Again presented Pope Leo XIV with a painting of Mary with the Child by Beata Stankiewicz, an outstanding Polish painter, along with catalogues of previous exhibitions and an invitation to the opening of the latest exhibition in Rome, which our Foundation has the honor of co-organizing this autumn.
The exhibition in question is “Visitations”, which can be visited until 25 October at the Roman museums Santuario di San Salvatore in Lauro, Piazza San Salvatore in Lauro 15, near Castel Sant’Angelo. The official presentation of the exhibition is scheduled for 9 October 2025 at 6:30 PM, while outside the vernissage, the artworks can be viewed from Monday to Saturday between 10:30 AM–1:00 PM and 3:30 PM–7:00 PM (free admission).
The exhibition, co-organized by our Foundation together with the Saint Nicholas Foundation and the Saint John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, is held under the patronage of two Vatican Dicasteries: the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Evangelization. Moreover, it has been included in the official program of the Jubilee Year 2025 in Rome.
As summarized by the chairman of our Foundation, Msgr. Paweł Ptasznik, a long-time close collaborator of Saint John Paul II: “Saint John Paul II placed great emphasis on promoting culture and on dialogue between the Church and the world of culture. In recent times, this has weakened, but the exhibition in Rome, which we have prepared together, is an attempt to renew this dialogue. In my opinion, the interest shown today by Pope Leo XIV bodes well for the future.”
The co-organization of the “Visitations” exhibition in Rome by the John Paul II Vatican Foundation, together with the Saint Nicholas Foundation and the Saint John Paul II Institute of Culture at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), fits into the broader context of our close cooperation.
