Pope Benedict XVI on Friday lauded what he
said was the 'spiritual' nature of the nude figures that appear in
Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Last Judgement.
'As modern
people ... the (human) body appears to us as inert matter, as something
heavy and opposed to knowledge and freedom inherent to the spirit,'
Benedict said.
'But the bodies painted by Michelangelo are
filled with light, life and splendour. He wanted to show that our
bodies contain a mystery: within them the spirit is manifest,' the pontiff added.
The 84-year-old Benedict made the remarks in an address to members of
the Vatican's Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage
and Family, which, as the name suggests, was named after his
predecessor John Paul.
The Last Judgement, a sprawling fresco that covers the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, depicts among other scenes, the biblical story of Adam and Eve, who are portrayed naked.
Benedict cited the story to reiterate Catholic teaching that sex should only take place within marriage between a man and a woman with the purpose of having children.
'The union in one flesh becomes a union for the whole of life, until a man and a woman become one spirit,' Benedict said.
Sin, on the other hand, makes the body a instrument of 'oppression of
others, of the desire to possess and exploit,' Benedict said.