Pope Francis became the first pontiff in history to visit the Venice Biennale, touring the Vatican's Holy See pavilion at the 60th edition on April 28, 2024. The exhibition, titled "With My Eyes," was installed inside a women's prison on Giudecca Island and featured works by artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Simone Fattal, and Corita Kent. The pope met with about 80 female inmates, delivered a speech on art's power to address societal ills, and praised the contributions of women artists such as Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois. He also held an open-air mass in St. Mark's Square and spoke with young people at Santa María della Salute.
This visit matters because it marked a historic intersection of the Catholic Church and contemporary art, underscoring the Vatican's engagement with pressing social issues like incarceration, climate change, and overtourism. By choosing a prison as the venue for its pavilion and aligning with the Biennale's theme "Foreigners Everywhere," the Holy See highlighted art's capacity to foster moral and material rebirth in marginalized communities. The pope's emphasis on women's roles in art and society also amplified ongoing conversations about gender equity in the cultural sphere.