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Catholic universities offer art as a way of addressing today’s problems

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August 7, 2026

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Catholic universities offer art as a way of addressing today’s problems

An international initiative, Catholic Universities Art Triennial, brings together universities from around the world dedicated to exploring how art plays a role in addressing the most relevant issues in the world today.

Vatican News

Over the next several months, countries around the world will host artwork in the forms of exhibitions, commissions, publications, and public programs. This international initiative, titled the Catholic Universities Art Triennial, is promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See an brings together artists, Catohlic universities, curators, and cultural institutions.

It began as a project dedicated to artistic creation, academic research and dialogue, as the Dicastery’s press release states. The Triennial is dedicated to exploring how art plays a role in addressing the most relevant issues in the world today.

The Triennial will be held throughout 2026-2027 and conclude in Venice.

An inaugural exhibition

The inaugural edition, entitled “Exercises in Empathy”, is set to be held in various cities around the world: Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Bogotá, Boston, Milan, Lisbon and Luanda. Bringing together various universities and partners, it will reflect on the role of higher education, human relationships, and the concept of empathy.

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas points out that artificial intelligences “may … simulate empathy and understanding, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom” (MH, no. 99).

The Triennial is focused on providing opportunities to dive deeper into the public debate regarding safeguarding what is fundamentally human.

Centers of creativity

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, recalled how, in what is now the Magna Carta of Catholic Universities, Pope John Paul II described universities as “as centres of creativity and radiating influence, he was setting out a programme that every generation is called to implement with renewed energy” (Ex corde Ecclesiae).

“If there were one word capable of expressing the identity of Catholic universities and their integral vision of education, that word would be empathy. Empathy lies at the origin of this university project.”

Universities are an educational community and strengthen the human ability to create—new ideas, organize what was previously divided, and imagine new versions of the world. They should be seen as invitations to join in an act of “co-creation” instead of as simply a technical exercise in repetition.

Again, in Magnifica humanitas, Pope Leo urges universities to address the complexities of today’s world with creativity and to dedicate themselves to “mak[ing] the life of our societies more just and fraternal” (MH, no. 47).

“A family that educates for empathy forms people who are able to face difference without fear. A university that cultivates empathy prepares professionals who do not reduce others to data or functions. A workplace shaped by empathy becomes a place of mutual recognition, not merely of productivity.”

The Catholic Universities Art Triennial is working to respond positively to this papal call.

Universities and schedules

Seven universities are partaking in the first edition of the Triennial: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), Boston College (United States), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan (Italy), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon (Portugal), and Universidade Católica de Angola, Luanda (Angola).

The universities will have differen beginning and closing dates for their exhibitions:

· 27 AUGUST Brazil | Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, until 15 NOVEMBER 2026
· 3 SEPTEMBER Chile | Santiago – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, until 22 NOVEMBER 2026
· 9 SEPTEMBER Colombia | Bogotá – Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, until NOVEMBER 2026
· 23 SEPTEMBER United States | Boston College, until DECEMBER 2026
· 6 OCTOBER Italy | Milan – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, until DECEMBER 2026
· 12 OCTOBER Portugal | Lisbon – Universidade Católica Portuguesa, until 15 DECEMBER 2026
· 29 OCTOBER Angola| Luanda – Universidade Católica de Angola, until 20 DECEMBER 2026

“The concept of empathy offers the First Contemporary Art Triennial of Catholic Universities a fruitful opportunity to bring aesthetics and ethics into dialogue while also inviting every field of knowledge into interdisciplinary conversation. It draws us closer to one another through the demanding, patient, yet deeply rewarding practice of mutual recognition.”

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