Catholic Archbishop Funds Sacred Art School to Spark Religious Renaissance

HUFFINGTON NEWS
By Alessandro Speciale

Students Creating at Florence's Sacred Art School

ITALY---Even in today’s secularized world, “sacred art is a booming market,” said Giorgio Fozzati, the director of Florence’s Sacred Art School. He pointed to Koiné, a church art and supplies fair held every two years in Vicenza, which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. Just in Italy, 540 new Catholic churches were built in the last two decades. And the church’s many new saints – chief among them soon-to-be-canonized John Paul II – require their own statues and shrines. Inspired by Irish sculptor Dony MacManus, Florence’s Sacred Art School was launched in 2012, with funds from donors and support from the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori. [link]