(Source Vatican News)
From April 13, 2025 to October 13, 2025, the Universal Exposition 2025 will take place in Osaka, Japan. The theme chosen for this edition is "Designing Future Society for Our Lives", with three distinct sub-themes: "Saving Lives", "Empowering Lives" and "Connecting Lives". The Holy See, thanks to the collaboration with the Italian Pavilion, will be present at the event with a recognizable space to organize cultural events and important art exhibitions.
Monsignor Fisichella general commissioner
Monsignor Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization - Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World, appointed by the Pope to prepare and take care of the official participation of the Holy See in the next EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan as general commissioner, appointed as deputy commissioners for the event Monsignor Pietro Bongiovanni, parish priest of San Salvatore in Lauro and Father Nuno Alexandre Henriques De Lima, parish priest of the Tamatsukuri Catholic Church, St. Mary's Cathedral of Osaka. General Commissioner Fisichella, as stated in a note, "is confident in their support to assist and represent the Holy See in the preparation and for the duration of the entire event".
The pavilion on the theme "Beauty brings Hope"
The theme of the Holy See Pavilion will be "Beauty brings Hope". Through an exploration of art and aesthetics, the press release explains, the Pavilion aims to convey the profound concept that beauty, understood in its many facets, can be a source of inspiration and hope for the construction of a more harmonious and participatory future society. Beauty has always played a fundamental role in Christian evangelization, embodied since the origins of Christianity in artistic expression. Over the centuries, art has become the privileged way through which the Church has been able to express and represent the depth of faith. The "Via Pulchritudinis" has been the most effective vehicle to tangibly communicate the heart of faith through beauty itself.
A reflection in view of the Jubilee
Through exhibitions, artistic installations and unique perspectives, the Pavilion of the Holy See will offer a reflection on how beauty can act as a catalyst for Hope, uniting people on the path towards a shared future of renewal in spirituality. Furthermore, the theme intersects with that of the Jubilee 2025, entitled "Pilgrims of Hope", playing the role of a bridge that connects and unites the two events.
"Today's man lives with multiple hopes thanks to the advancement of scientific and technological progress", underlines Pro-Prefect Fisichella. "But, as already expressed for the theme of the Jubilee, the theme of EXPO also wants to communicate the importance of Hope, in the singular, which comes only from God. Man still needs to hope."
