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LOOK: The Caravaggio painting referenced by Pope Francis at UST


In his address to young people at University of Santo Tomas, Pope Francis told the story of the calling of St. Matthew. But aside from merely telling the story, he told the youth to check out the painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
 
"Let’s think of St. Matthew, he was a good financier and he let people down, because he imposed taxes on his own citizens, the Jews to give to the Romans, full of money. But Jesus looks at him and says, follow Me. He couldn’t believe it. If you have time, go and see the picture that Caravaggio painted about the story," said the Pope. 
 
 
The painting depicts the tax collector Matthew at a table with other men, with Jesus and Peter having entered the room. Caravaggio, known for his dramatic use of lighting, paints a beam of light shining upon Matthew.
 
"Jesus called him and those around him said, 'This one? He has betrayed, he’s no good. And he holds money to himself!' But the surprise of being loved overcomes him... Don’t be frightened of surprises. They shake the ground from underneath your feet and they make us unsure, but they move us forward in the right direction," added the Pope in his UST address.
 
In a 2013 interview with American Magazine, Pope Francis said he became intimately familiar with the painting during his visits to Rome as a cardinal.
 
"I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of 'The Calling of St. Matthew' by Caravaggio," the Pope told ntonio Spadaro, S.J.
 
"That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That's me. I feel like him. Like Matthew." —JST, GMA News
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