The Pope declares during a historic visit to the Venice Biennale that "the world needs artists."

During a visit to a female jail and to restore the legacy of a trailblazing American nun artist, Pope Francis became the first pope to attend Venice's contemporary art festival.

On April 28, the 87-year-old Pope arrived in the northeastern Italian city via helicopter. He landed at the jail on Giudecca Island in the Venetian lagoon, which is under Holy See control for the biennale, an eight-month event.

Curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine, the pavilion "Con i miei occhi" (meaning "With my eyes") features pieces by numerous female artists and represents the Pope's concern for the outcasts of society, particularly prisoners. Francis greeted all eighty or so prisoners in the prison courtyard at the start of his tour to Venice, several of whom are part of the show.

Some prisoners' poems are displayed on the prison walls, and others appear in a short film directed by Italian filmmaker Marco Perego and his wife, "Avatar" star Zoe Saldaña. (Saldana portrays an imprisoned alongside other prisoners on the day of her release.)

Francis informed them, "Parallelly, a stay in prison can signify the beginning of something new...as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting." "Let us not forget that I, too, have wounds that need to be healed and mistakes that need to be forgiven."

The Pope then met with artists from the Holy See pavilion and the biennale in the prison chapel. He informed them that their work can address issues of injustice, xenophobia, racism, ecological "imbalance," and "fear of the poor."

He emphasized that "the world needs artists."

His meeting with them also represented a turning point in the life of Corita Kent, dubbed the "pop art nun," whose creations are on display at the Holy See pavilion but who had previously run afoul of a prominent cardinal. The pope mentioned Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, and Kent in his speech as examples of female artists whose creations had "something important to teach us."

Kent, a religious sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary community in Los Angeles who later left the order, was renowned for her colorful screen-prints which raised awareness of racial injustice and championed civil rights. But in the late 1950s and 60s, her progressive religious order clashed with the then Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, James McIntyre, who took a particular dislike to some of Kent’s art, calling it blasphemous.

Although he has struggled with bouts of ill health in recent months, Francis seemed animated and engaged while in Venice on a trip that lasted just five hours and was jam-packed with events. At one point, he joked with a local journalist about the weather and said that every time he goes to a prison he asks: “why them and not me?”

Francis traveled around Venice on a motorboat, an open-air golf buggy with the Holy See coat of arms emblazoned on it and his wheelchair, something which he is increasingly using due to mobility difficulties.

Along with the trip to the female prison, Francis also held a meeting with young people, presided at an open-air Mass in St. Mark’s Square, led the Sunday midday prayer, and prayed in front of the relics of Saint Mark in the basilica.

During his homily, he warned against the threats Venice faces including from climate change, saying that rising sea levels mean the city “may cease to exist” and talked about the need for “adequate tourism management.” His visit comes just days after Venice began charging day-trippers an entry fee.

The Vatican first entered a pavilion for the biennale in 2013, but this is the first time it has shown at a prison. The 2024 pavilion was commissioned by its culture office, which is led by the Portuguese prelate, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, an award-winning poet. The cardinal explained that the pavilion is an attempt to involve visitors “directly in reality.”

As it is a working prison, those who visit the Holy See pavilion have to hand in their cell phones, while the façade of the building is covered with a mural of the soles of two dirty feet by Maurizio Cattelan, who is known for his sculpture of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite.

The Venice Biennale was first held in 1895 and takes place every other year, with each country having their own pavilion (the Vatican is the world’s smallest sovereign territory). For 2024, it has taken the theme “Foreigners Everywhere” and seeks to highlig

ht artists from marginalized backgrounds.