Opposition is mounting in the Holy See to a spate of recent, ultra-modern churches, in Italy and abroad, by high profile architects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of integration between the architect and the faith community has at times been negative,\u201d said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican\u2019s Pontificial Council for Culture. \u201cSometimes it goes wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Ravasi said a church built in 2009 in Foligno, Italy (shown above) by the celebrated Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, which resembles a monolithic concrete cube, has been \u201chighly criticised\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his native town of Merate in Lombardy, Cardinal Ravasi said the local priest needed to bring his own image of the Madonna to mass, because Mario Botta, the architect who designed the church, had not installed one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is that in Catholicism, unlike Protestantism, things like the altar, the images, are essential, while architects tend instead to focus on space, lines, light and sound,\u201d said Cardinal Ravasi.<\/p>\n
The last architects to work closely with the church were back in the 17th century Baroque era, he added.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Ravasi\u2019s attack was backed last month by Antonio Paolucci, the head of the Vatican museums, when he spoke at the launch of a book celebrating the building of dozens of new churches in the suburbs of Rome since the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Instead of praising the churches, Mr Paolucci lashed out, claiming that: \u201cAt best, these are like museums, spaces that do not suggest prayer or meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinal Ravasi conceded that one of Rome\u2019s most controversial new churches \u2013 Richard Meier\u2019s Jubilee Church, which resembles a yacht with spinnakers hoisted \u2013 had won over locals, but complained that \u201cthe building materials were the focus of pre-construction meetings, not the liturgical life\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2013\/06\/fuksas.jpg\" "\\"fuksas\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n