‘Now tell me, what’s your attitude to religion?’ is Margarethe’s often-quoted question to Faust. She demands a confession. And indeed, who is able to make a confession today? Faust answers: ‘Call it happiness! Heart! Love! God. I have no name.’

Is there only a Faustian answer to the Gretchen question, an answer full of contradictions? How do you avoid ambivalence, complexity, being understood as an evasion? How do we show that truthfulness takes the place of truth?

We live in crazy times! The American president sends his son to Greenland; Elon Musk provides a platform and actively controls European politicians; the climate crisis, wars, terror, sexualised power, etc. All of these crises together – not to mention the private ones – are causing many people to lose hope.

What can help? A keel under the boat, stability as a way of dealing with life. Don’t turn your back on the past, but recharge your attitude with fresh emotions.

In Rome, the eternal city, the centre of the Catholic world, the Holy Year is being celebrated this year! A special jubilee that only takes place every 25 years and attracts pilgrims from all over the world. This year is a unique opportunity to experience the spiritual and cultural heritage of the city in its full splendour.

Pope Francis has given the motto ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ for the Holy Year 2025. In doing so, he is picking up on a central theme. Those who go on pilgrimage do not remain seated. Pilgrims set out on a journey and have a goal in mind. Pilgrims do not aim to cover as many kilometres as possible as quickly as possible, but are open to encounters with people, with silence and with nature.

Fundamental elements of the Holy Year are the pilgrimage to Rome and passing through the Holy Doors in the four patriarchal basilicas (St Peter’s Basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore, St Paul Outside the Walls and St John Lateran).

In spring, I plan to travel back to where it all began. The Vatican has already announced information on spiritual offerings and cultural events relating to the Holy Year 2025 and I am personally looking forward to exciting performances in the fields of art, music and film.

Chagall, Dali, de Sica, Malaparte

Among other things, individual religious works of art by Marc Chagall and Salvador Dalí will be shown in Roman churches. The surrealist Dalí returned to the Catholic faith after 1948 and illustrated Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ with watercolours, among other works.

A film retrospective is also planned. Besides others, the largely forgotten film ‘La porta del cielo’ (The Door to Heaven) by Vittorio De Sica will be shown. It was filmed in 1944 despite German occupation on the grounds of the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, which is part of the Vatican grounds. It tells the story of a pilgrimage.

The only film by writer Curzio Malaparte ‘Il Cristo proibito’ (The Forbidden Christ) from 1951 is also part of the programme. The film deals with the theme of guilt and atonement in the context of the Italian post-war period.

An exhibition of icons from Russia and Ukraine and a series of concerts are also planned.

Faith, dialogue and shared values

Other initiatives aimed at offering an experience of faith and promoting dialogue and shared values await visitors, including the ‘In Cammino’ project (which translates roughly as ‘On the Way’). This is a pilgrimage to Europe’s historic monasteries that symbolises a path of faith, reason and environmental protection.

You can find an overview of the different programmes here and I would be delighted to meet you in Rome or on the way!

State, economy, labour, poverty, family and other value semantics such as justice, solidarity, subsidiarity, responsibility and security. The spiritual offer shows how the debate between the denominations as well as between religious and secular actors about the social world is taking place.

What does your dream world actually look like?

All photos courtesy Christoph Wieynk und Dirk Halledt