“Encounter” between Art and Faith
The sculpture entitled Encounter – Encontro, by Portuguese architect and artist Álvaro Siza Vieira, was unveiled in the Vatican Gardens on Thursday, 24 September, by the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, in the presence of the President of Portugal, António José Martins Seguro.
The Governorate of Vatican City State presents the proof versions of the two €2 commemorative coins, dedicated respectively to the 550th anniversary of the birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti and to the Holy Year MMXXV [2025], as well as the €5 bimetallic coin commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of Saint John Paul II, all bearing the year 2025.
The newly redesigned institutional website, www.vaticanstate.va, is now online.
The launch marks another step in the Governorate of Vatican City State’s ongoing efforts to enhance its institutional communications and public information services.
From September 17 to 20, the annual international meeting of the leaders of the Chapters of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums was held at Saint John’s Resort in Plymouth, Michigan, in the United States.
From September 9 to 11, 2026, a delegation from the Vatican Postal and Philatelic Service of the Governorate of Vatican City State, led by its Head, Fr. Felice Bruno, participated in the Interregional Postal Business Meeting in Paris, organized by PostEurop and UPAEP and hosted by La Poste Groupe. The meeting brought together approximately one hundred representatives of the postal sector from Europe and South America, providing an important opportunity to exchange views on the changes transforming the postal and logistics industries.
On September 4 and 5, “AI as a Catalyst – Roma,” an event organized by MIT Critical Data to place immigrant communities at the center of discussions on the transformation brought about by artificial intelligence, was held at the Pontifical Filipino College in Rome.
As of Friday morning, 11 September, a new large flower bed of shrubs and plants has adorned the Vatican Gardens. It is a green gift from the Netherlands, as tribute to the country’s ties with the See of Peter. For the occasion, 2 pyramidal Taxus baccata, 3 variegated Hosta, 10 Phlox, 10 Agapanthus, 40 variegated Carex, and 40 Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’ were planted.
Mario Deluigi’s Litanies of the Virgin – A Dialogue between the Sacred and Abstraction” [“Le Litanie della Vergine di Mario Deluigi - Dialogo tra sacro e astrazione”] is the title of the exhibition inaugurated on the evening of Thursday, 10 September, at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
The Vatican City State Postal and Philatelic Service at the RADAR Circle CEO Forum 2026
A delegation from Vatican City State, represented by the Director of Telecommunications and Information Technology Services and the Head of the Postal and Philatelic Service, took part in the RADAR Circle CEO Forum, the annual meeting that brings together the senior executives of Europe’s small and medium-sized postal administrations. The event was held on September 2 in Mellieħa, as part of a day of discussions organized by PostEurop and MaltaPost.
The Postal and Philatelic Service of the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems of the Governorate has produced a commemorative cover, a special postmark and a folder to mark the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, celebrated on September 12.
