An art exhibition featuring 36 works by 29 artists opened at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City on October 20, bringing together Catholic artists and other creators to explore the relationship between faith, reason, and beauty.
The exhibition, titled “Faith and Wisdom,” runs through October 27 and coincides with the patronal feast of the archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Vietnam’s largest city.
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Bui Cong Trac attended the opening ceremony alongside Fr. Francis Xavier Bao Loc, director of the Pastoral Center; Fr. Vincent Nguyen Thanh Tin, secretary of the Commission for Sacred Art and spiritual director of Dominiart; priests, religious, artists, and other guests.
Bishop Bui Cong Trac thanked the artists for sharing works that express not only artistic beauty but also their faith and aspirations.
“Thank you to all the artists who have contributed their works, their spiritual children, so that others can perceive not only the beauty of art, but also the faith and dreams embedded in those works,” he said.
Fr. Bao Loc said art could help the Church communicate the Gospel to a wider audience, including people who do not belong to the Catholic faith.
“God is True, Good, and Beautiful, but it seems that for many decades, in preaching and catechesis, we have often emphasized the True and the Good without highlighting the beauty of Catholicism,” he said.
Beauty, he added, can attract people regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds and lead them toward the Creator.
The Pastoral Center hopes the exhibition will help promote the 2026 pastoral orientation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam, “Each Christian is a missionary disciple,” by encouraging evangelization through art and creating opportunities for dialogue among artists and people from different backgrounds.
The exhibition’s theme draws inspiration from Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), the 1998 encyclical of Pope John Paul II, which explores the relationship between faith and reason in humanity’s search for truth.
The works include traditional religious subjects such as the Good Shepherd, the Last Supper, the Virgin Mary, and Advent Mass, alongside reflections on nature, family, science, history, and human life.
Fr. Nguyen Thanh Tin welcomed the artists’ commitment to beauty and encouraged efforts to build what he described as the true, the good, and the beautiful in society.
Artist John Baptist Cao Ba Hung said artists serving the Church hope to communicate the Christian faith through their work.
“I hope to have enough ability to do that, and to receive everyone’s sympathy through the ‘Faith and Wisdom’ exhibition in order to proclaim the Gospel of Christ in the environment of Sacred Art,” he said.
During the opening ceremony, organizers presented commemorative certificates to participating artists. Artists also presented two works to Bishop Bui Cong Trac and Father Bao Loc: a lacquer portrait of Blessed Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep and Salvation, by artist Do Anh Hoa, who is not Catholic.
The ceremony concluded with a performance of “Living in Love,” composed by Cao Ba Hung and sung by artists and attendees.
Through the exhibition, the archdiocesan Pastoral Center seeks to demonstrate how art can serve as a means of evangelization while fostering cultural exchange and dialogue in Vietnam’s diverse urban society.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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