Lenten campaign 2026
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These are iconic images of an era, retracing the life of a pope whose story will be remembered centuries from now. John Paul II, a man whose powerful charisma was recognized even by his opponents, revolutionized the Catholic Church's relationship with communication, paving the way for a new representation of papal authority.
Gianni Giansanti, who died prematurely on March 18, 2009, at the age of only 52, was a privileged witness to this pontificate, which lasted more than a quarter of a century and shook the world. This Italian photographer with eclectic passions worked with Formula 1 champions Ayrton Senna and Jacques Villeneuve. He won awards for reports on subjects as diverse as the Palio di Siena, military academies in the USSR, and the life of tribes in Ethiopia's Omo Valley.
In 1978, he rose to fame at the age of 22 when he managed to photograph the body of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, found in the trunk of a car in central Rome after being held hostage by the Red Brigades for 55 days. This dramatic year was also marked by the deaths of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I.
In October 1978, the election of John Paul II marked a new turning point in Gianni Giansanti's career, as he gained access to the inner circle of the first non-Italian pope in contemporary history.
Documenting “without forcing the scene”
In particular, he obtained the right to take a shot that would be seen around the world: the photo of John Paul II on his hospital bed a few days after the assassination attempt on May 13, 1981. It was a dignified photo, showing a pope with a serene face, but whose IVs revealed, for the first time, an expression of vulnerability that would become one of the hallmarks of his pontificate.
Right up until the Polish pope's death in April 2005, Giansanti was admitted into John Paul II's inner circle, both in Rome and on his travels. The 40 or so photos on display at Castel Sant'Angelo show the diversity of his visits to the most difficult places, from Papua New Guinea to the Holy Land, not forgetting, of course, his native Poland.
His encounters with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat demonstrate John Paul II's charisma as a head of state who shifted boundaries and brought little-known countries back into the global spotlight.
On the sidelines of the exhibition's opening, Andrea Giansanti, the photographer's son, recalled “a father who always appeared and disappeared with his cameras slung over his shoulder.”
He explained that “discretion was at the heart of his method: being there without casting a shadow, documenting without ever forcing the scene.” In this exhibition, “each photograph tells the story of two men bound by a deep respect and a shared mission: to portray faith through the lens.”
From small stories to big history
Gianni Giansanti's work also included photographs of moments in the Pope's daily life, which earned him a World Press Award in 1988. The exhibition features a photo taken in 1986 during a private lunch in the Pope's apartments with the cardinal archbishop of Seoul, Stephen Kim. It shows John Paul II, surrounded by his secretaries Stanislaw Dziwisz and Emery Kabongo, in discussion with the cardinal who would play a central role a few years later in the overthrow of the military dictatorship then in power in South Korea.
John Paul II's loyal support for him, which also took the form of these informal meetings, was decisive in encouraging the local Church to work for the democratization and opening up of this Asian country, which in a few decades went from extreme poverty to remarkable economic and cultural dynamism.
“By retracing the highlights of John Paul II's pontificate, the exhibition offers a privileged insight into a period of great transformation: the end of the Cold War and the world's entry into the global era,” explains Ilaria Schiaffini, professor of the history of photography at the Sapienza University of Rome.
In this jubilee year, taking place in a troubled and unstable world, this exhibition shows how much the papacy remains an institution of great symbolic power, which can help humanity find direction and hope.
