On Sunday, Benedict will visit a parish church located on the outskirts of Rome, one of 50 new parish churches built in the diocese for the Jubilee. It’s Church Dio Padre Misericordioso .

Today, Sandro Magister wonders what the Pope will say, considering that the design of the church stands as an antithesis to everything he has said and written about Christianity, art, architecture, the sacred, and liturgy:

The church is held to be a masterpiece of contemporary religious architecture, and is the destination for many visitors and tourists.

These are told that the church is in the form of a boat: the barque of the church, with the successor of Peter at the helm.

It is explained that the three sails of smooth white cement symbolize the Trinity, and that the largest sail indicates God’s protection of his people.

It is pointed out to them that, at sunset, a ray of light illuminates the crucifix placed above the altar.

But the point is that all of this must be spoken and explained. Because the church is bare, barren, taciturn, both inside and outside. It was designed this way, in homage to the absence of images that is the dogma of so much of modern sacred architecture.

The same crucifix that is above the altar – a beautiful seventeenth century crucifix made of wood and pasteboard – had to be brought in from another church on the outskirts of Rome.

In another corner, a blue and white statue of Mary on a plastic pedestal has been set up haphazardly.

These last instances are signs of a desire to fill up an emptiness that is felt as unbearable.

He finishes the  column by reprinting an essay by another writer reflecting on the cathedral in Monreale, Sicily – rather a different space.