Pope Leo XIV presented the award following the Christmas Concert in the Aula Paolo VI
At the conclusion of the Christmas Concert in the Aula Paolo VI, Pope Leo XIV presented Riccardo Muti with the 2025 Ratzinger Prize, recognising, in the Pope’s words, “a life entirely devoted to music, a place of discipline and revelation”.
During his address, Leo XIV recalled reflections by Pope Benedict XVI, who described true beauty as something that “wounds, opens the heart and enlarges it”. Music, the Pope noted, was for Benedict XVI a way of seeking “the voice of God in the universe”. Within this perspective, the Ratzinger Prize was described as part of a dialogue open to mystery and oriented towards the common good and harmony.
Harmony, silence and listening
In his remarks, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the deeper meaning of harmony, defining it as the ability to “hold together differences that might otherwise collide”, allowing them to generate “a higher unity”. He also emphasised the role of silence, not as absence, but as preparation — a space in which meaning matures and truth can emerge.
Addressing Muti directly, the Pope spoke of his conducting as “an art of listening and responsibility”, closely linked to education. He referred to Muti’s ongoing relationship with Italian conservatoires and his practice of open rehearsals, presenting conducting as an act of sharing, where gestures function less as commands than as invitations grounded in trust.
It was in this fidelity to beauty — capable, in the Pope’s words, of making audible “a spark of the presence of God” — that Leo XIV identified the core of the artistic path embodied by Riccardo Muti.
The concert
The Christmas Concert, conducted by Riccardo Muti, featured Luigi Cherubini’s Mass for the Coronation of Charles X. The performance brought together the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and the Guido Chigi Saracini Cathedral Choir of Siena.
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