Beauty can be a path to God - Pope

Pope Benedict met artists from around the world in the Sistine Chapel and urged them to inject spirituality into their work, saying contemporary beauty was often "illusory and deceitful".

The Pope told the gathering of hundreds of painters, sculptors, architects, poets and directors, held beneath the vaulted ceiling of the chapel painted by Michelangelo, that he wanted to "renew the Church's friendship with the world of art".

"Beauty... can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God," Pope Benedict said.

The Vatican said it invited some 500 artistes to the event, regardless of religious, political or stylistic allegiances.

More than 250 accepted, mostly from Italy, including singer Andrea Bocelli and award-winning film composer Ennio Morricone.