Only 3,000 or so of Nova’s 3,500 on-site drones were in the air at any one time during the Vatican’s “Grace for the World” Saturday evening concert (September 13, 2025).
LEDs on those 12-ounce mini-helicopters can display 16,000,000 different colors.
I don’t know how many the Nova team used during the concert. Colors, I mean. The 3,000 drones airborne with 500 recharging at any given time is pretty clear.
However many colors they used, the show made quite an impression on folks in St. Peter’s Square. Which isn’t a square: more of an oval with a rectangular bit on its east side, and that’s another topic.1
Faintly Humming Drones, an “Atmosphere of Solemnity and Awe”
“Vatican lights up with drone show at historic ‘Grace for the World’ concert“
Victoria Cardiel, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (September 14, 2025)“St. Peter’s Square became the stage for an unprecedented spectacle on Saturday night as tens of thousands gathered for ‘Grace for the World,’ a massive concert closing the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity.
“The event opened with breathtaking symbolism: More than 3,000 drones illuminated the night sky above the basilica, tracing the image of Pope Francis, framing Michelangelo’s dome and Bernini’s colonnade in light. The display, a first for the Vatican, drew reverent silence before the crowd erupted in applause.
“The moment was accompanied by a stirring duet of ‘Amazing Grace’ performed by world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli and American singer Teddy Swims. Their voices rose over the hushed square, blending with the faint hum of the drones in an atmosphere of solemnity and awe….”
This concert was the Vatican’s first drone show, but far from the world’s first.
Folks have been using the tech since 2012. That, and news media’s hysteria over national politics, may explain the lack of attention it’s gotten over here. All I’ve seen of it are clips from videos.
But I’m inclined to agree with the priest who said it’s “cool”, and articles that said pretty much the same thing.
I’m slightly surprised — and pleased — that nobody’s had conniptions over the Vatican having a concert in St. Peter’s Square, folks using selfie sticks at the concert, or old-fashioned art being re-imagined with newfangled technology.
I haven’t noticed anybody having fits, at any rate. And haven’t looked for soreheads.
My take on what I’ve seen of the concert’s drone art is that it’s beautiful, impressive, and part of humanity’s enduring habit of finding new ways to express ideas.2
I’ll get back to that, briefly. After sharing video clips someone took at the concert.
Moving Lights and Music in St. Peter’s Square
That five-minute video probably isn’t the best compilation you could find. You’ll see lens flares from the lighting and hear choppy transitions between segments. But it shows what the Nova folks did with their drones.
Now, about art in general.
Truth, Beauty, Valuing Both: and Making Sense
We don’t actually need to make or enjoy art, not the way we need to breathe and eat.
But making and enjoying art is very much a part of being human. It’s one of the ways we show that we’re made “in the image of God”. Sometimes I feel like we’re photocopies that went through a paper jam, and that’s yet another topic.
“Created ‘in the image of God,’ man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man’s own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill, to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2501) [emphasis mine]
Underscoring a few points, and I’m done for this week.
Art matters, but it’s not what life is all about. Or shouldn’t be.
Truth and beauty matter, too. Valuing both doesn’t mean feeling that everything we’ve learned since the 15th century is bad.
I’ve talked about that, and allegedly-related ideas, before:
- “Electing a Pope: Current Events, Ancient Heritage” (May 3, 2025)
- “Venice Biennale Holy See Pavilion: Art and Cities of Refuge” (May 4, 2024)
- “Art, Evolution and Aquinas” (March 2, 2018)
- “Art, Truth, and Reflecting” (July 17, 2016)
- “Rome’s night sky just went full Michelangelo, with 3,000 drones”
Ishveena Singh, (September 15, 2025) - Nova
Sky Stories - Wikipedia
2 A Saturday night concert, and a quarter-million years of folks making art:
- “Vatican lights up the world with music and hope (photos)”
Cerith Gardiner, Aleteia, English edition (September 14, 2025) - World Meeting on Human Fraternity 2025
Two Days to Rediscover the Path of Fraternity
Press Conference, FSP Institutional Communications Office, Basilica de San Pietro (September 10, 2025) - Wikipedia
Speaking of the Roman Catholic Church and art, I’m realizing here that as much as I don’t like how didactic and snobby rather than living and loving modern attempts at Roman Catholic art tend to be, us Roman Catholic folks of today could learn to be more forgiving rather than enabling of our faulty attempts at letting God work on and through both religious and secular means, because without forgiveness, we get sycophancy and demonization posing as good art.