WWD: How has “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity” been updated? Remember, he works in the Vatican so he sees pieces of art all the time. But that’s part of our history, so I think he would be fine with it. He’s obviously not a pope who is going to wear a three-tiered bejeweled tiara, as popes used to. I think anything that enables people to see the church in a different light is probably helpful. So he understands the need to engage culture and he’s a person very much in the world. J.M.: Cardinal Ravasi, who is his point man on culture, appeared at the opening in Rome with Anna Wintour. WWD: What do you think Pope Francis would make of “Heavenly Bodies,” since he has somewhat eschewed material possessions? (He took a vow of poverty on becoming a member of the Jesuit order in 1960.) I’m also happy to say he’s Jesuit educated so that’s a plus, too. I speak to him and sometimes it’s like speaking to a theologian. Highly intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful, well-read - you couldn’t ask for a better person to curate this, truly.
J.M.: I was so impressed with Andrew Bolton and his team. I would suspect that most people who are going to a show like this are pretty sophisticated and already understand the place of the church in art history. It is not either the people, who work with the poor, or a church that influences art. So the Catholic church is very much both/and. The Catholic imagination is very broad and includes not only priests and sisters working in the slums in the poorest countries, but also artists like Michelangelo and Caravaggio creating great works of art for the church. James Martin: I hope it helps them to realize the influence the Catholic imagination has on art. How, if at all, do you think this may make people look differently at Catholicism? WWD: The Catholic church has been in the news a lot lately.
Martin, who has just released an updated version of his book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity,” talked to WWD about his involvement with the Met and Catholic church today.
While “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” may appeal to many of the estimated 1.2 billion Catholics, the exhibition will indubitably stir up some critics, as religion-themed art often does. James Martin, a well-known writer and editor-at-large at America magazine, linked up the Costume Institute’s curator-in-charge with his Vatican contacts and tried to offer an objective view of the exhibition. Before taking on Catholicism as a museum motif, Andrew Bolton turned to a Jesuit priest for a little extra guidance.