(ZENIT News / Aparecida, 20.08.2023).- The placement has been suspended of the mosaics in the Basilica of Aparecida, made by Marko Ivan Rupnik, accused of sexual abuse in Europe between 1980 and 2000 by 20 women, nine of whom being nuns. On June 14 of this year, Rupnik was permanently expelled from the Society of Jesus, because of “his obstinate refusal to observe the vote of obedience.” 

The construction of the mosaics on the façades of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, in Brazil, was interrupted after the Delegate of the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, Father Johan Verschueren, informed about the Congregation’s decision, reported in the news of Brazilian Radio Itatiaia.

The priest worked on the mosaics of the Basilica of Aparecida, whose construction began in 2019. Rupnik is associated to the Aletti Center, entity that has installed 200 mosaics in churches of five Continents. “As the priest is a member of this institution, the National Shrine follows the case closely and hopes for the guidance of the Church for its definitions.”  The Basilica is installing in its façades a “Biblical Journey,” with mosaics that represent  110 passages in the four façades of the Shrine, projected as an “Outdoor Bible.”

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Pope Francis’ Vicar in Rome, communicated a year ago the diocese’s position on Father Marko Rupnik, differentiating between the criticisms of accusations made in the media,” which accentuate the scandalous dimension of the facts and the willingness to find the truth in the accusations. 

As in so many cases, the victims demand words of solidarity and of rejection against the sexual abuses pointed at the Slovenian priest while directing groups of Spiritual Exercises. 

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated in October of 2022 that the complaints referred to prescribed cases. However, the Society of Jesus maintained the measures taken against him. The Slovenian Bishops have condemned. The “unacceptable acts of Father Rupnik, deploring that they remained concealed for such a long time.” 

The analysis being made in the Shrine of Aparecida, about removing the mosaics made by Father Rupnik, recalls the action of the Oregon Catholic Press, which published the songs of Father Cesáreo Gabaráin, and which it removed from its Website as adherence to the accusations made against the composer. Thus the approach opens of removing all artistic works in churches of official places of the Church of authors who have committed crimes. 

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The Mexican producers’ film focuses on a story related to the life of former U.S. Government agent Tim Ballard, in his fight against child trafficking. 

Eduardo Verástegui was interviewed about the film on the YouTube channel of political scientist Agustín Laje. During the interview, Verástegui made strong revelations, such as the fact that the film was sold to Fox but, when Fox was bought by Disney, Disney refused the film. When Verástegui was able to recover the film’s ownership, he himself revealed that he offered it to Amazon Prime and also Netflix but both rejected it (instead, the philo-paedophile production “Cuties” did enter in Netflix). Finally, it reached Angel Studios, the same producer of the famous series “The Chosen,” and this is how the “Sound of Freedom” ended up in movie theaters. 

But in the interesting interview published by Agustín Laje, producer Eduardo Verástegui made other no less surprising revelations: for example, that the film will be presented in the U.S. Congress  and that Elon Musk will project it on Twitter, after its premier ends in movie theaters worldwide. “Elon Musk committed himself, once the film has premiered in cinemas around the world, to bring it out on Twitter for the whole world. Imagine hundreds of millions of people seeing this film and getting its message. No one can stop this now,” said Verástegui, who added that thought is being given to a march in Washington, D.C., against child trafficking. Thus the battlefield opens against the best positioned mafias in the world, such as that of paedophilia. 

In regard to this fight, Jim Caviezel, the film’s leading actor, appears in a part of the interview. The interviewer makes Verástegui as well as Caviezel seen as a sector of the progressive press, such as Rolling Stone, Washington Post (of Amazon Prime’s proprietor who rejected Verástegui’s film) and The Guardian, which ridicule the film saying that it’s a conspiratorial film. To this accusation, the producer and leading actor replied that one can say they liked or did not like the film, but they can’t attack the argument. Child trafficking is something that everyone should be concerned about. Even more so when the film is based on real events, with the names of those that took part in them. In another part of the interview, Jim Caviezel points out the case of Hunter Biden, who is associated with the problem of relations with children. 

In addition to Jim Caviezel and Eduardo Verástegui himself, the film “Sound of Freedom”  (which will be released in Mexico at the end of August 2023), includes the participation of the Oscar winning actress Mira Sorvino and actors of the stature of Bill Camp.

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Native Ball: Legacy of a Trailblazer is from Emmy®, Gabriel, and Christopher Award-winning Family Theater Productions, who also produced the Emmy®-winning basketball documentary The House That Rob Built and Gabriel-award winning documentary PRAY: THE STORY OF PATRICK PEYTON.

Native Ball will be available to broadcast on PBS affiliates nationwide, starting in November of 2023. It will also available to stream via PBS.org or the PBS app at that time.

“We are so pleased to share Native Ball, an inspiring story of Malia Kipp, a member of the Blackfeet Nation. She exemplifies how playing sports can develop character, unite people, and forge friendships,” said Reverend David L. Guffey, C.S.C., National Director of Family Theater Productions. “The film is sure to open hearts to the ways one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”

Father Guffey continued, “The Holy Father, Pope Francis, like so many other popes of the past, celebrates the value of athletics.  He said, ‘Sport fosters contact and relationships with people who come from diverse cultures and walks of life. It accustoms us to live and welcome differences, to turn them into a precious opportunity for mutual enrichment and discovery. Above all, sport is a precious opportunity to recognize one another as brothers and sisters on the journey, to foster the culture of inclusion’.”

Family Theater Productions creates content that touches the hearts of believers and non-believers. Founded by famous, globetrotting Rosary priest Venerable Patrick Peyton in 1947, the company produces feature films such as PRAY and free online series Catholic Central and Spanish-language Lente Católico, which teach the Catholic faith in fun and informative ways. The company also produced The Dating Project, a documentary about the current dating scene in the United States.

The company’s team writes a popular, faith-and-family-friendly entertainment blog, which shares insights on media from a Catholic perspective. Learn more at www.familytheater.org.

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“Excavation work in the area immediately in front of the Aedicule, in the Holy Sepulchre complex in Jerusalem, was completed on June 27th, 2023. It is part of the restoration programme of the floor of the basilica. The archaeological investigations in this area were carried out by the Department of Antiquities of Sapienza University of Rome, under the direction of Francesca Romana Stasolla. The particular location of the excavation area meant that the access to the Aedicule had to be temporarily closed. For the same reason, the excavation was carried out in a continuous cycle, in just 7 days and 7 nights of work.

The excavation revealed the early Christian layout of the Aedicule, which was accessed via two white marble steps.

In front of it, a floor of lithic slabs extended, traces of which were found in the preparation mortar. Their measurements and course can be reconstructed. This floor continued for approximately 6 meters eastwards, until it joined a plane of large, well-smoothed white lithic blocks, arranged in a north-south direction (Fig. 4). This arrangement represents the final appearance of the Rotunda at the end of the 4th century, as is dated by the coin hoard found underneath the lithic slab floor preparation. It has the coins of the emperor Valens (364-378) as its last issues.

Sections of masonry were discovered. They date back to before the end of the 4th century and it confirms the presence of forms of organisation of the Rotunda during the course of the century. They have still to be reconstructed in their entirety.

Furthermore, remains of the base of the balustrade of the 16th-century liturgical enclosure have also emerged. They remained in use until the 19th-century renovations.

Among the artefacts, a fragment of wall cladding, most likely from the Aedicule, is significant. It dates back to before the 19th-century reconstruction and it is rich in graffiti datable to the 18th century in various languages, including Greek, Latin and Armenian (Fig. 5).

The restoration of the floor inside the Aedicule allowed for archaeological cleaning beneath the slabs. In the Chapel of the Angel, a grey marble slab floor rested directly on the rock face. Regarding the marble slab, very little remains below the socle of the present Aedicule. There also remain fragments of walls with a north-south orientation. It must have formed the bases of the liturgical enclosures also mentioned by the pilgrim Egeria at the end of the 4th century (Fig. 6). A little further towards the centre, cuts in the rock mark the position of the small altar that supported part of the stone closing the tomb.

Between the Chapel of the Angel and the tomb, the working of the rock and very few remains of marble wall cladding make it possible to reconstruct the configuration of the opening of the chamber. It is slightly apsidal towards the chapel itself.

Inside the tomb, a section shows an earlier marble floor from the Middle Ages and the working of the rock itself, with traces of intense frequentation that made it extremely smooth. Part of the bottom of a burial chamber similar to those found in the northern portion of the Rotunda has been traced and documented. It has been filled in and arranged to encourage pilgrims to visit it since the early Christian period.

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The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was in charge of blessing the sculpture by artist Timothy Schmalz, which evokes the figure of St. Josephine Bakhita with the intention of raising awareness of the problem of human trafficking.

During the blessing, Parolin – a native of the Italian province of Vicenza – said: “Seeing this work, one would think that people end up at the height of the trap door, but in reality they are still underground. If not all the people in the world, at least those of us who are here can see ourselves represented in this sculpture because I believe that we all have a slavery from which we must free ourselves.”

In front of the new sculpture, the Cardinal invited everyone to “ask St. Bakhita, who is the patron saint of victims of trafficking, to help us free ourselves from this slavery. And do you know what that is? It is closing ourselves off. The individualism that prevents us from caring for others as we should. Pope Francis continues to make an appeal about this, about the indifference with which we look at the reality of our day, of our days, especially, the reality of suffering, pain, and vulnerability. Only if we free ourselves from this slavery will we truly be able to help others.”

Schio, the city of Saint Bakhita

The place chosen for the installation of the sculpture was Schio, the town where Saint Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of victims of trafficking, lived and died.

The Mayor of Schio, Valter Orsi; the benefactor of the work and President of the Rudolph P. Bratty Family Foundation, Christopher Bratty; the creator of the sculpture, Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz; the Superior General of the Canossian Daughters of Charity, Sister Sandra Maggiolo, FdCC; the International Coordinator of Talitha Kum, Sister Abby Avelino; the parish priest, moderator of the St. Bakhita Pastoral Unit: Monsignor Carlo Guidolin; and the president of the Bakhita Schio-Sudan Association, Gianfrancesco Sartori; led the unveiling ceremony of “Let The Oppressed Go Free”.

In front of nearly a thousand people who participated in the homage to Saint Bakhita, the Arcangelo Michele de Schio choir was in charge of opening the ceremony while the veil with Schio colors (yellow and red) that covered the sculpture was removed. After Cardinal Parolin’s blessing, the G.E.S. choir – directed by Marco Manzardo – sang two songs while the public left in procession from the Church of St. Francis to the Cathedral of St. Peter of Schio where the central mass was celebrated.

Yesterday, during the General Audience, Pope Francis had a touching conversation with Schmalz and the president of the Rudolph P. Bratty Family Foundation, Christopher Bratty, about the legacy of Saint Bakhita. After the meeting, His Holiness blessed a miniature version of the sculpture made with a 3D printer that was brought to him by the artist and the benefactor of the work.

A problem beneath the surface

“Let The Oppressed Go Free” is inspired by a passage from The Bible (Isaiah 58:6), from which Schmalz takes the name of his work: “This is the fast that I love – oracle of the Lord: to loose the unjust chains, to untie the bonds of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break all yokes.”

Every February 8, on the occasion of the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, the Church celebrates the World Day of Reflection and Prayer against Human Trafficking. In the last edition, Pope Francis emphasized that the vulnerable populations most seriously exposed to suffering this crime are “people impoverished by the economic crisis, wars, climate change, and so much instability is easily recruited”. In this sense, he encouraged to “seek ways to transform our societies and prevent this shameful sore that is human trafficking”, which he described as a “dark phenomenon”.

A sculpture to raise awareness

Schmalz’s sculpture displays St. Josephine opening the lid of a manhole from which emerge figures representing the various forms of trafficking that exist in the world. In line with the words of the Holy Father, the artist seeks to point out that the problem of trafficking will continue to exist as long as we keep it in the dark.

Measuring 6 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and 2.4 meters high, “Let The Oppressed Go Free” was made thanks to the financial contribution of the “Rudolph P. Bratty Family Foundation“, belonging to a family of immigrants from northern Italy.

The sculpture in Schio is the original, but other replicas already exist, such as the one blessed by the Cardinal and Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral (New York, USA) in October last in October last year, or the one that will be installed at Regis College in Toronto (Canada) during the month of July.

This sculpture maintains a relationship with “Angels Unawares“, another outstanding work by Schmalz installed in St. Peter’s Square, in Rome, and which was blessed by Pope Francis in 2019. In both works, the Canadian artist speaks of human vulnerability: in “Angels Unawares” the tragedy and helplessness suffered by refugees is highlighted, while in “Let The Oppressed Go Free” Schmalz seeks to make the problem of human trafficking visible.

Human trafficking, a global problem

One in five victims of human trafficking are children worldwide. Those living in the poorest regions and sub-regions, such as Africa and the Greater Mekong, make up the majority of trafficked persons, while women account for two-thirds of the world’s human trafficking victims.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit businesses in Europe, with criminal groups making profits of US$3 billion a year, a substantial business that preys on the world’s most marginalized population.

The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2022 – also produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – indicates that war and conflict increase the number of victims inside and outside crisis zones, providing opportunities for criminals to exploit. Meanwhile, another finding from the report indicates that climate change also multiplies the risks of human trafficking, as displacement by natural disasters increases the vulnerability of people in situations of poverty, leading them to seek or accept jobs they would not traditionally take in order to survive. Within the Catholic Church, the Talitha Kum network (UISG) works against human trafficking by actively supporting victims, survivors, and people at risk around the world.

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Here is the Holy See’s translation into English of the Pope’s address given in Italian.

* * *

Good morning and welcome. Here [in the Sistine Chapel], we are surrounded by art . . .  and by artists: yourselves. Welcome!

Thank you for accepting my invitation; I am happy to be with you, because the Church has always had a relationship with artists that can be described as both natural and special. A natural friendship, because artists take seriously the richness of human existence, of our lives and the life of the world, including its contradictions and its tragic aspects. This richness risks disappearing from the view of the many specialized disciplines that respond to immediate needs, but find it difficult to view life as a polyhedron, a complex and multifaceted reality. 

Artists remind us that the dimension in which we move, even unconsciously, is always that of the Spirit. Your art is like a sail swelling with the wind of the Spirit and propelling us forward. The Church’s friendship with the arts is thus something quite natural. Yet, at the same time, it is also a special friendship, especially if we think of the many periods of history that we have travelled together and which are part of the patrimony of everyone, whether believers or non-believers. Mindful of this, let us look forward to a new season of rich fruits in our own time, born of a climate of listening, freedom and respect. People need those fruits, those special fruits.

Romano Guardini once wrote that: “The situation of the artist is not unlike that of a child and even that of a visionary” (The Work of Art, Brescia, 1998, 25). I find these two comparisons intriguing. For Guardini, “a work of art opens a space into which we can step, in which we can breathe, move about and encounter objects and persons as they open up before us” (ibid., 35). It is true that in the encounter with art, boundaries become more fluid and the limits of our experience and understanding broaden. Everything seems more open and accessible. We experience the spontaneity of the child filled with imagination and the intuition of the visionary who grasps reality.

For the artist is a child — by this I mean no offence — who gives free rein to originality, novelty and creativity, and thus brings into the world something new and unprecedented. In doing so, artists unmask the lie that man is a “being towards death.” We must certainly come to grips with our mortality, yet we are beings not towards death, but towards life. A great thinker like Hannah Arendt affirms that the hallmark of humanity is the ability to bring newness into the world. This is part of our richness as human beings: to bring newness. Even in nature, procreation brings newness with every child who comes into the world. Openness and newness. 

That is what you bring, as artists, by cultivating your own originality. In your creations, you always put something of yourself, as unique beings like the rest of us, but for the sake of creating something even greater. With your talents, you bring to light something exceptional; you enrich the world with something new. I think of those words found in the Prophet Isaiah, where God says: “Behold, I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). In the Book of Revelation, God says the same thing: “See, I am making all things new” (21:15). The creativity of the artist can thus be said to share in God’s own passion for creation, the passion with which He created. You are sharers in God’s dream! Yours are eyes that see, eyes that dream. It is not enough simply to see; we also need to be able to dream. As a Latin American writer has said, we human beings have two eyes: an eye to see what is before us, and another to see our hopes and dreams. When someone lacks these two eyes, or sees things only with one or the other, something is lost. The ability to see our hopes and dreams . . .  artistic creativity . . . It is not enough simply to see; we also need to dream. As human beings, we yearn for a new world that we will not see fully with our own eyes, yet we desire it, we seek it, we dream of it.

As artists, then, you have the ability to dream new versions of the world, to introduce novelty into history. New versions of the world. That is why Guardini also says that you are like visionaries. You are a bit like prophets. You can see things both in depth and from afar, like sentinels who strain their eyes, peering into the horizon and discerning deeper realities. In doing so, you are called to reject the allure of that artificial, skin-deep beauty so popular today and often complicit with economic mechanisms that generate inequality. It is not a beauty that attracts, but one that is born dead, lifeless. A fake, cosmetic beauty, a greasepaint that conceals rather than reveals. In Italian, the word for “makeup” is also the word for “trick”, since a touch of deception is always present. You want to distance yourselves from that kind of beauty; instead, your art strives to act as a conscience critical of society, unmasking truisms. You want to make people think, to be alert; you want to reveal reality also in its contradictions and in those things that it is more comfortable and convenient to keep hidden. Like the biblical prophets, you confront things that at times are uncomfortable; you criticize today’s false myths and new idols, its empty talk, the ploys of consumerism, the schemes of power. 

This is an intriguing aspect of the psychology of artists: the ability to press forward and beyond, in a tension between reality and dream.

Often you do this with irony, which is a marvellous virtue. Humour and irony are two virtues we need to cultivate more. The Bible is rich in touches of irony, poking fun at presumptions of self-sufficiency, dishonesty, injustice and cruelty lurking under the guise of power and even at times the sacred. You can also serve to discern genuine religiosity, which is all too often presented in trite or demeaning ways. As visionaries, men and women of discernment, critical consciences, I consider you allies in so many things that are dear to me, like the defence of human life, social justice, concern for the poor, care for our common home, universal human fraternity. The humanness of humanity is dear to me, the human dimension of humanity. Because that is also the great passion of God. One of the things that draws art closer to faith is the fact that both tend to be troubling. Neither art nor faith can leave things simply as they are: they change, transform, move and convert them. Art can never serve as an anaesthetic; it brings peace, yet far from deadening consciences, it keeps them alert. Often, as artists, you attempt to plumb the depths of the human condition, its dark abysses. We are not all light, and you remind us of this. At the same time, there is a need to let the light of hope shine in that darkness, in the midst of our selfishness and indifference. Help us to glimpse the light, the beauty that saves.

Art has always been bound to the experience of beauty. As Simone Weil wrote: “Beauty seduces the flesh in order to gain entrance to the soul (L’ombra e la grazia, Bologna, 193). Art touches the senses in order to enliven the spirit, and it does so through beauty, which reflects things that are good, just and true. Beauty is a sign of fullness; it makes us spontaneously say of something: “How beautiful!” Beauty makes us sense that life is directed towards fullness, fulfilment. In true beauty, we begin to experience the desire for God. Many today hope that art can return more and more to the cultivation of beauty. Certainly, as I have said, there is also a kind of beauty that is futile, artificial, superficial, even dishonest. Cosmetic beauty.

I believe that there is an important criterion for discerning the difference, and that is harmony. True beauty is in fact a reflection of harmony. Theologians speak of God’s fatherhood and Christ’s sonship, but when they speak of the Holy Spirit they speak of harmony: Ipse harmonia est. The Spirit creates harmony. The human dimension of the spiritual . . .  True beauty is always the reflection of harmony. If I may say so, harmony is the operative virtue of beauty, its deepest spirit, where the Spirit of God, the great harmonizer of the world, is at work. Harmony exists when elements different from each other nonetheless form a unity, different from each of the parts and different from the sum of the parts. This is not easy; only the Spirit can make this possible: differences that do not become conflicts, but mutually integrating diversities, and unity that is not uniformity but open to multiplicity. As at Pentecost, harmony works these miracles. I like to think of the Holy Spirit as the one who takes the greatest disarray — we can think of the morning of Pentecost — and then creates harmony. A harmony that is not balance, because harmony is born out of imbalance; harmony is something more than balance. How much we need to hear this message! We live in an age of media-driven forms of ideological colonization and devastating conflicts; a globalization that standardizes everything coexists with any number of particular interests that are closed and self-absorbed. This is the great danger of our time. The Church too feels the effects of this. Conflict can act under a false pretense of unity, from which arise divisions, factions and forms of narcissism. All the more do we need to make the principle of harmony dwell in our world and eliminate uniformity. 

As artists, you can help us to make room for the Spirit. When we see the work of the Spirit, which creates harmony from differences without destroying or standardizing them but bringing them into harmony, we come to understand what beauty really is. Beauty is that work of the Spirit which creates harmony. Brothers and sisters, let your artistic genius pursue this course!

Dear friends, I am pleased that we have been able to meet. Before taking leave of you, I have one more thing to say to you, something close to my heart. I would like to ask you not to forget the poor, those especially close to the heart of Christ, those affected by all of today’s many forms of poverty. The poor too have need of art and beauty. Some are living lives of great hardship, and so have even greater need of this. Usually, they have no voice to make themselves heard. You can choose to become the interpreters of their silent plea.

I thank you and once more I affirm my esteem for you. I hope and pray that your works will prove worthy of the women and men of this earth, and render glory to God who is the Father of all and whom all seek, also through the testimony of works of art. And finally I ask you, please, in harmony, to pray for me. Thank you.

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Here is the list of the museums occupying the first ten places:

1st The Louvre (Paris, France) – 7.7 million visitors

2nd The Vatican Museums (Vatican City) – 5.08 million visitors

3rd The British Museum (London, England) – 4.09 million

4th The Tate Modern (London, England) – 3.88 million

5th The National Museum of Korea (Seoul, South Korea) – 3.41 million

6th The Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France) – 3.27 million

7th The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., USA) – 3.25 million

8th The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA) – 3.21 million

9th The Pompidou Center (Paris, France) – 3.09 million

10th The Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia) – 2.8 million

Other famous museums occupy these places:

13th The Prado Museum (Madrid, Spain) – 2.4 million

16th The Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) – 2.2 million

28th The Acropolis Museum (Athens, Greece) – 1.4 million

29th The Accademia Gallery (Florence, Italy) – 1.4 million

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The film was produced by Angel Studios, the same company that did “The Chosen,” a narration of Jesus’ life with His disciples, which was very successful, with 420 million screenings worldwide. Jared Geesey, Angel Studios’ spokesman, said about the new production: “We had to take this great story of faith to the screen.” 

David Helling, former US marine, is the Director of “His Only Son.” The original idea of the film was the experience he had after passing through Iraq’s desert and sharing biblical stories with the public on the stage of a theatre. Helling believes that the quality of “The Chosen” is comparable to Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.”

The readings of the Bible he did during his stay in Iraq led him to a clear conclusion: “The Lord gave life to the Bible and I said to myself: I must go to the school of film and learn to tell biblical stories. I spent the last five years doing this film.” 

The film has made history even before its premiere, as it is the first film financed collectively with the contributions of many people and distributed in all the cinemas of the United States. Lebanese actor Nicholas Mouawad plays Abraham. Sara Sayem who was born and grew up in Teheran, plays Sarah. Edaan Moskowitz plays the role of Isaac, he is a Jewish-American actor born in California. 

The producers followed the biblical guideline, which highlights the powerful event in Abraham’s life, who is willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, and expresses the parallelism of Jesus’ surrender on the cross with the ram that Abraham offers to God instead of Isaac, as the biblical text states. The choice of the day of the film’s premiere isn’t accidental, but seeks to enhance the sense of the production. 

Neal Harmon, Angel Studios’ CEO, collected the first crowdfunding for the premiere in a large number of cinemas in the whole country, a figure that increases constantly.

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Written and directed by Antonio Peláez and produced along with his wife Laura Peláez, MIRANDO AL CIELO stars Julian Fidalgo and tells the story of Mexican Cristero José Sánchez del Río, a young Mexican Catholic saint who sacrificed everything for his love of Christ the King.

“Our movie tells one of the many beautiful stories that exist in México,” said Antonio Peláez, writer, producer, and director of MIRANDO AL CIELO. “Joselito’s story plays out during the religious persecution in México in the years 1926 to 1929, and believe it or not, there are many people to this day who don’t know about this crucial period of history or Saint José’s remarkable and valiant story. This true story of heroic faith, forgiveness, and sacrificial love will touch hearts and lives when audiences of all ages experience this beautiful love story.”

Releasing in Spanish with English subtitles, MIRANDO AL CIELOis part of Fathom Events’ ongoing series on the saints and will be a perfect moviegoing experience for all ages and especially for families during Eastertide. José Sánchez del Río was declared a saint of the Catholic Church and canonized on October 16, 2016, at St. Peter’s Square by Pope Francis. He is the patron saint of persecuted Christians, children, and adolescents.

“There is no greater time to experience a film that helps us to look at how we are living our own life of faith,” said Laura Peláez, producer of MIRANDO AL CIELO. “In our movie, you will meet a fourteen-year-old Mexican boy who leads the way in showing all of us what Christian witness looks like. José radically follows Christ amid persecution. José forgives like Christ amid betrayal. He does so out of great love and fidelity to Jesus Christ the King. We can all learn from his example and aspire to grow in virtue and grace, especially now when Christian persecution is on the rise. Our prayer is that this movie will inspire a new generation of young people to know this young example of faith, hope, and love and then live it.”

Exclusive to the Fathom Event, MIRANDO AL CIELO will feature added value content from leaders in the United States who will share more about the themes in the film and the importance of San José Sánchez del Río’s story for today. The added value content will feature commentary from Antonio and Laura Peláez, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, Archdiocese of San Antonio; Sr. Nancy Usselmann, FSP, Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles; and Rafael Sanchez, nephew of San José Sánchez del Río.

Tickets for MIRANDO AL CIELO are on sale now and groups are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance where movie tickets are sold. Visit Fathom Events page to find your theater and purchase tickets here.

ABOUT MEDIAQUEST

MEDIAQUEST, is a Film & Television Production Studio, with more than 30 years of experience in the Entertainment and Advertising industry, in countries such as the United States, Mexico, and Spain, which through wholesome entertainment seeks to dignify the human person and the family, bringing values to the world of entertainment.

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The ceremony took place at 11:30 am in the Profane Gregorian Museum with the presence of Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. 

“After his Apostolic Journey to Cyprus and Greece, the Holy Father decided to give the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Athens, His Beatitude Ireonymos II, three fragments of the Parthenon, which for more than two centuries have been kept in the Vatican Museums,” said Cardinal Vérgez. The three fragments, which entered the Pontifical Collections after periodic purchases made at the beginning of the 19th century, represent different themes of the decoration of the emblematic Athenian temple and now they are returned to their place of origin as an ecumenical gesture,” he added. 

Also attending the ceremony was Papamikroulis Emmanouil, in representation of His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece; the Honourable Styliani-Lina Mendoni, the Hellenic Republic’s Minister of Culture and Sports, and Dr. Barbara Jatta, Directress of the Vatican Museums. 

Cardinal Vérgez also said:

I believe the most important value of this act is, once again, to see how the Roman Pontiff’s art collections become a privileged point of friendship between peoples, religions, Churches, overcoming all barriers. In fact, they make it possible to create a path of unheard of union and thus continue witnessing to the whole world that in open and fecund dialogue, it is always possible to find harmony and encounter. As Pope Francis teaches us: “Beauty unites us.” And today we feel united here, gathering under the sign of this most significant gift. 

In this context, I would like to stress that this donation is a gesture of peace in this historic moment, so marked by wars. It intends to build bridges of fraternity and to show the world that there is always a path to dialogue and peace, as the Pontiff has requested repeatedly, that arms be silenced and an end be put to the suffering of the people and the systematic destruction of entire cities. 

Cardinal Vérgez wished to mention a tragic accident that happened in Greece: “At this moment I cannot fail to recall the tragic train accident that took place in Tempi, in Larisa, on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 28. Unfortunately, the number of victims grew continually and who were, in the majority, students returning from Thessalonica. According to many, it is the worst train accident Greece has had. Expressing my closeness and solidarity with the Greek institutions and people, I pray for the survivors and their families, and for those that died.”

For his part, the representative of the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, acknowledged that “This act, this initiative of His Holiness Pope Francis, has great historical significance and will have multiple positive repercussions. In the first place, because it constitutes a concrete sign, an incentive, to continue in the common ecumenical path of giving witness to the Truth.”

This coming March 24, a representative of the Dicastery for Christian Unity will attend the ceremony in Athens, on the occasion of the arrival of the fragments.  

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