Pope Leo XIV welcomes world museum directors to the Vatican
Pope Leo XIV told directors of major world museums that the works they keep hold a history that speaks to every person.
He delivered the message on 10 October 2026 at the Vatican, in a meeting with the Bizot Group. The group is officially known as the International Group of Organisers of Major Exhibitions, a network of leaders who run large museums and arrange large loan exhibitions between them.
The guest list was short. Those present included Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Art Newspaper reported.
The Bizot Group was founded in 1992. It meets in private to discuss loans, exhibitions and practical issues that affect collections shared across borders.
The Vatican audience took place in the Clementine Hall, the richly decorated reception room the pope uses for formal meetings. The Holy See later published the full text of the address on its official site, vatican.va, according to the official record.
In his remarks, the pope said works preserved in museums bear witness to a history that speaks to every person. The line set the tone for a short address about care, access and shared responsibility for objects held in public trust.
The 10 October meeting was listed in the Vatican's official events calendar for that date. It was described as a meeting with participants in the Meeting of Museum Directors from around the world, another name used for the Bizot Group gathering.
It was not the pope's first museum meeting. On 2 August 2025, he received a delegation from the Vatican Museums in Vatican City in the little hall of the Paul VI Hall, the Vatican's large audience hall, Vatican News reported at the time.
For museum-goers, this matters in a simple way. Loan decisions, exhibition plans and conservation rules decide what travels, what stays home and what you get to see. When the directors who make those calls sit in one room, even a short welcome speech signals how seriously those choices are taken.
