(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 18.06.2025).- In the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo XIV received in audience on Wednesday, June 18, a group of people who participated in an event sponsored by the Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci Foundation. As part of the event, a choir performed polyphonic chants for the Pope.
Below is ZENIT’s English translation of the Pope’s first public remarks on sacred chant.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters, good evening!
After hearing these angelic voices, it would almost be better not to speak and leave us with this beautiful experience . . .
I would like to greet His Eminence Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Sister Raffaella Petrini, the esteemed speakers, and the distinguished guests. I am pleased to participate in this gathering where, with words and music, we celebrate the new Philatelic Issue promoted by the Bartolucci Foundation and produced by the Vatican Postal Service on the occasion of the fifth centenary of Palestrina.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was, in the history of the Church, one of the composers who most contributed to the promotion of sacred music, for «the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful» (Saint Pius X, Motu Proprio Inter Plurimas Pastoralis Officii Sollicitudines, November 22, 1903, 1), in the delicate and at the same time passionate context of the Counter-Reformation. His solemn and austere compositions, inspired by the Gregorian canon, closely unite music and liturgy, «both giving prayer a sweeter expression and fostering unanimity, and enriching the sacred rites with greater solemnity» (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilum, 112).
Polyphony itself, moreover, is a musical form full of meaning, both for prayer and for Christian life. First, it is inspired by the Sacred Text, which it aims to «invest with an appropriate melody» (Inter Sollicitudines, 1) so that it may better reach the «intelligence of the faithful» (Ibid.). It achieves this goal by entruting the words to several voices, each of which repeats them in its own original manner, with varied and complementary melodic and harmonic movements. Finally, it harmonizes everything thanks to the skill with which the composer develops and interweaves the melodies, respecting the rules of counterpoint, making them echo each other, sometimes even creating two dissonances that then find resolution in new chords.
The effect of this dynamic unity in diversity — a metaphor for our common journey of faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit — is to help the listener enter ever deeper into the mystery expressed by the words, responding, when appropriate, with responsories or in alternations. Precisely thanks to this richness of form and content, the Roman polyphonic tradition, in addition to having bequeathed us an immense legacy of art and spirituality, remains today, in the musical field, a reference to follow, albeit with the necessary adaptations, in sacred composition and liturgy, so that through singing «the faithful may participate fully, consciously, and actively in the liturgy» (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14), with a profound involvement of voice, mind, and heart. Of all this, the Missa Papae Marcelli, in its genre, is a prime example, as is the precious repertoire of compositions left to us by the unforgettable Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, illustrious composer and Director of the Sistine Chapel Choir for almost fifty years.
Therefore, I thank all those who made this meeting possible: the Bartolucci Foundation, the speakers, the Choir and all of you. I remember you in my prayers. Saint Augustine, speaking of the singing of the Easter Alleluia, said: «Let us sing it now, my brothers […] As wayfarers are accustomed to sing, sing, but walk […] Onward, onward in goodness […] Sing and walk! Do not stray from the path, do not turn back, do not stop!» (Sermo 256, 3). Let us make his invitation our own, especially in this holy time of jubilation. My blessing to all.
