Introduction

Your Eminence (Excellency),

After having addressed the topics of libraries and archives (see Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, Circular Letter Church Libraries in the Mission of the Church, March 19, 1994, Prot. N. 179/91/35 [Enchiridion Vaticanum 14/610-649]; ibid, Circular Letter The Pastoral Function of Church Archives, February 2, 1997, Prot. N. 274/92/118 [pamphlet, Vatican City 1997]) as well as the urgent task of taking inventory and cataloguing the art-historical heritage of the Church (see Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, Circular Letter The Inventory and Cataloguing of the Cultural Heritage of the Church:  A Necessary and Urgent Task, December 8, 1999, Prot. N. 140/97/162 [pamphlet, Vatican City, 1999]), the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church now wants to focus its attention on Church museums that have the function of the material preservation, juridical protection and integration into pastoral life of the important art-historical patrimony that is no longer in regular use.

Appeal of cultural treasures in promoting the new evangelization

With this new document, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church wishes to help reinforce the activity of the Church, in dealing with her cultural heritage in the hope of fostering a new humanism as part of the new evangelization. In fact, the Pontifical Commission has the principal task of leading God's people, and especially those working with the Church's cultural heritage (laity and clergy), to press for the integration of the art-historical patrimony of the Church in the pastoral field.

Variety of artistic forms shows constant creation of Christian cultures

Christianity is characterized by the announcement of the Gospel in the "hic et nunc" (here and now) of every generation, and by faithfulness to the Tradition. The Church throughout her history "has made use of different cultures in order to spread and explain the Christian message" (Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, December 7, 1965, n. 58.

Such a Conciliar magisterium, expressed also in other passages, [Ad Gentes, n. 21] has also been referred to by Pope John Paul II in the Encyclical Letter Slavorum Apostoli, June 2, 1985, n. 21 [Enchiridion Vaticanum 2/1554-1614]). Thus, "faith tends by its nature to express itself in artistic forms and historical witness that have an intrinsic evangelizing force and cultural valence before which the Church is called to pay her maximum attention" (John Paul II, Motu Proprio Inde a Pontificatus Nostri initio, March 25, 1993, Proemio [L'Osservatore Romano, May 5, 1993, pp. 1, 5]). For this reason, and especially in countries enriched by ancient traditions of evangelization, but also in those with a more recent tradition, an abundant cultural patrimony has accumulated that has great value and supports the mission of the Church.

In this sense, even a Church museum, with all the actitivites that go with it, has a close connection with the whole mission of the Church in the given place where it is set up, since it documents visibly the path followed by the Church down through the centuries in her worship, catechesis, culture and charity. Thus, a Church museum is a place that documents not only human genius, but also offers an insight into the cultural and religious life in order to guarantee its existence at the present time. It cannot be set apart in an "absolute" sense from other pastoral activities, but should be integrated into the totality of the life of the Church and into the art historical patrimony of the national culture.

Thus, it has to be integrated into the range of pastoral activities, and reflect the total life of the Church by making use of the art-historical patrimony.

Museums are structures that bring to light the variety of Christian cultural contributions

In the Christian mentality, Church museums belong entirely with those structures that serve to present the cultural patrimony "placed at the service of the mission of the Church" (The "cultural assets" include "first of all the patrimony of painting, sculpture, architecture, mosaics and music, put at the service of the mission of the Church. To these we should then add the wealth of books contained in ecclesiastical libraries and the historical documents preserved in the archives of the ecclesial communities. Finally, the concept covers the literary, theatrical and cinematographic works produced by the mass media". John Paul II, Address to the participants at the First Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, October 12, 1995, n. 43 [L'Osservatore Romano, October 13, 1995, p. 5]). Thus, they should be organized in a way that allows them to communicate the sacred, the beautiful, the old and the new. They are an integral part of the cultural manifestations and the pastoral action of the Church.

Place to store and protect what is no longer in use

The art-historical patrimony not in regular use in a parish, put aside or left unprotected, can be adequately protected and presented in Church museums. In fact, one should work towards establishing an interaction between the treasures in use and those not in use, in order to guarantee a retrospective vision, as well as a real functional role for these treasures for the advantage of the community in a given country. This means coordinating museums, monuments, furnishings, sacred representations, popular devotional forms of piety, archives, libraries, collections and all other local customs and traditions. In the case of a sometimes disintegrating culture, initiatives should be launched that aim at rediscovering what belongs culturally and spiritually to the community, not just in the tourist sector, but in an overall human way. It would allow one to rediscover the reason for the original creation of the art-historical patrimony in order to present it as a cultural treasure.

Museum centre for bringing together culture and evangelization

In this vision, the ecclesiastical museum can become an important centre that can help people to become acquainted with the past and discover the present in its best and often hidden aspects.

Moreover, it is also the place to coordinate the activities of preserving the past, of educating the human person and of evangelizing our contemporaries in a given area. Its organization must therefore reflect the dynamic social, political, and cultural realities of the place and the pastoral plans that have been devised.

Community has to support work of museum

When we admit that museum structures are important for the Church, then safeguarding the cultural assets is a task that belongs first and foremost to the Christian community. The community has to understand the importance of its past, nourish a sense of belonging to the world in which it lives, and grasp the pastoral usefulness of its artistic patrimony. This involves its developing a critical conscience, in order to present the art-historical patrimony produced by the waves of civilization that travelled through time, aware that the Church as an enlightened patron, is also a careful custodian of ancient remnants.

It is therefore evident that the organization of Church museums requires an ecclesiological foundation, a theological perspective, a spiritual dimension, because only in this way can these institutions be integrated within pastoral planning. The Circular Letter primarily offers general and practical reflections on the importance and the role of Church museums in the framework of social and ecclesial life. In fact, the originality and effectiveness of Church museums depends on their becoming an integral part of the pastoral life of the Church.