VATICAN CITY— Pope Benedict XVI met with a crowd of 260 artists Saturday in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. This is not the first instance of the Vatican reaching out to artists, 45 years ago art-loving Pope Paul VI set up a similar initiative, and just 10 years ago Pope John Paul II, himself an accomplished playwright, wrote in a letter that the church "needs art."

Pope Benedict XVI did not address any previous tension that the church has had with contemporary art or artists such as Andres Serrano, Martin Kippenberger, Chris Ofili, but instead chose to focus on encouraging artists to strive toward artistic production centered around beauty with statements including:

"What is capable of restoring enthusiasm and confidence, what can encourage the human spirit to rediscover its path, to raise its eyes to the horizon, to dream of a life worthy of its vocation - if not beauty?"

"The experience of beauty does not remove us from reality, on the contrary, it leads to a direct encounter with the daily reality of our lives, liberating it from darkness, transfiguring it, making it radiant and beautiful."

He told artists, "You are the custodians of beauty: thanks to your talent, you have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement."

The pope urged non believers to "enter into dialogue with believers, with those who, like yourselves, consider that they are pilgrims in this world and in history towards infinite beauty," and for artists to be "fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty."

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