VATICAN CITY, Italy—The Vatican has announced plans for a campaign to inspire the creation of contemporary religious art, the Independent reports. The Holy See, the government of the Catholic Church, is seeking patrons to sponsor new works by "world-famous" artists that will be housed in churches designed by contemporary architects, such as Renzo Piano's Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church and Richard Meier's Jubilee Church, both in Italy.

The Pontifical Council for Culture will inaugurate the campaign by commissioning a number of new religious and spiritual works, which are to be shown at next year's Venice Biennale. This will be the first time the Vatican attends the Biennale, having once dismissed it as a "debacle" that displayed "the breakdown of art in modern times." An anonymous U.K.–based benefactor has already been found to sponsor the project.

"We are trying to get a dialogue up and running between the church and contemporary art — particularly artists at the highest level," said Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council. "The [current] artworks are not at the same level as the buildings." He mentioned that British sculptor Anish Kapoor is the kind of artist the Vatican is seeking.