A few days ago, the Vatican announced that it was developing a gallery of NFTs with manuscripts, paintings and other works, whose objective would be to “democratize art” and bring it to those who cannot travel to the pontiff city. Many media have echoed the news without questioning anything, but the guys at VICE have put their finger on it and, as they say, things are not looking good at all.
The Vatican metaverse shines by its opacity
A few days ago, the Vatican announced its jump to web 3.0 with an art gallery on Sensorium , an NFT platform that is used almost entirely by DJs like Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta and Steve Aoki. Apparently, everything would be a collaboration between the art gallery and Humanity 2.0, a company affiliated with Vatican City. This organization defines itself as “a public-private partnership aimed at expanding the availability of the Vatican’s heritage,” according to a press release that offered very few details about the project in question.
VICE journalists became interested in this release weeks ago, when all this information was still under embargo. On April 19, VICE contacted one of Sensorium’s spokespeople to ask if the Vatican was really behind this project. He offered them advance information and an interview with Father Philip Larrey , the priest who is apparently the president of Humanity 2.0.
After receiving the email address, VICE journalists contacted Larrey’s team. They introduced themselves and asked if the organization was really linked to the Vatican. However, they were rewarded with silence.
No one has managed to talk to Father Philip Larrey
A week later, the Sensorium spokesman sent them the press release that they subsequently used all the media to break the news, with an embargo until May 2. VICE insisted on interviewing Philip Larrey. The spokesperson offered to do so in writing or by phone call.
After choosing the latter, the real problems began. The spokesperson very kindly asked VICE to share the questions in advance so that Father Philip could answer quickly. VICE replied that they don’t usually send questions in advance, but they did offer to give a preview of the general topics of the interview. That’s when, in the blink of an eye, Father Philip Larrey’s schedule was filled. The answer was the following:
“We’re very sorry, but Father Philip just replied that he won’t be available for two weeks.”
According to the Futurism medium , there is not a single medium on the planet that has published the news and managed to speak with Father Larrey . For the same reason, the project has a rather cloudy tint. Is the Vatican really aware of this? Considering that most of the projects with NFTs today are scams, we would not be surprised if this was one more. If it is not, both the Larrey and Sensorium teams should rethink their communication strategy, because with the information we know at the moment, the project does not inspire any confidence.
