Para uma museologia da religião: análise da carta-circular “a função pastoral dos museus eclesiásticos” vinte anos depois

The Catholic Church has a long tradition of safeguarding its cultural, historical and artistic heritage. Medieval ecclesiastical treasures, fulfilling the functions of deposit, inventory, conservation and exhibition, are the historical antecedents of ecclesiastical museums and century, the institution of museums and the related incorporation of ecclesiastical goods marked the conversion of the sacred or religious object into a museological object. Since then and, in particular, after the Second Vatican Council, the Church has shown a growing concern to guarantee a destination worthy of the original liturgical status for objects removed from worship. In this sense, the circular letter "The pastoral function of ecclesiastical museums", published in 2001, determined that the ecclesiastical museum should be considered a valid and adequate resource for preserving these objects, keeping them close to the cultural group of origin and giving continuity to their original catechetical function. Thus, the ecclesiastical museum differs from the others for being confessional, linking a spiritual and pastoral perspective to the museum's cultural function. If the information accuracy is assured, this particularity becomes a positive factor in the recontextualisation and intelligibility of the religious object. The Charter proposes an interaction between the ecclesiastical museum and the territory within the integrated and diffuse museum context, which coincides with the development of current museology centred on the public and the visitor's experience. Two decades after its publication, a critical analysis of the Letter is proposed within the theoretical framework of museological studies. Considering the recovery object's original meaning in the museum discourse, the connection to the territory, and the interaction with the plural and heterogeneous audience, the updated and, in some way, pioneer character of the Letter is underlined. So, it is aimed to evaluate how the Letter remains actualised and adapted to contemporaneity, and the challenges and transformations museums face now.