February 22, 2010. The exhibition “The Church at the service of love towards the sick and the suffering” was inaugurated at the Vatican. It includes 28 portraits that evokes John Paul II’s final years. They show his suffering and the gradual deterioration of the pope’s health. John Paul II continued tirelessly until the last minute. A pope who taught by example from his own life the value of pain.



Francesco Guadagnuolo
Painter
“He was a pope who suffered, who had this contact an dialogue with humanity because his suffering united him with the whole world. This is the most important goal an theme of the exhibit.”

Francesco Guadagnuolo has been able to capture the human and spiritual side of Pope John Paul II. Through these paintings he shows how suffering can become a moment of personal encounter with oneself and with God.

Francesco Guadagnuolo
Painter
“At first I thought it was disrespectful to show the pope while he was in pain and while he was suffering. But when a priest saw the portraits, he told me that I had to put them on display because they are a great historical and artistic contribution.”

Along with John Paul II’s final years, the exhibition also takes a look at the most significant moments of his pontificate: The Jubilee Year in 2000 and his meeting with Mother Teresa of Calcutta are immortalized in a very personal way.

Francesco Guadagnuolo
Painter
“The paintings are special moments of the pontiffs life. They are memories that live with me that I can’t forget.”

“The Church at the service of love towards the sick and the suffering” is a one of a kind exhibition that shows the possibility to make sense of pain and suffering through John Paul II.

BR/MC
FF
-WP-