From satirical street art to Vatican designer

Ten years after his mural of Pope Francis as a superhero went viral, Italian street artist Maupal has been adopted by the Vatican, which is using his works to inspire the faithful.

"I have created a form of empathy with Pope Francis," the artist, whose real name is Mauro Pallotta, told AFP at his studio in Rome.

For Lent this year, the period of prayer and fasting running up to the Christian celebration of Easter, the Holy See has been sending out weekly images by Maupal to dioceses across the world.

It is a far cry from a few years ago, when the artist was painting images intended to satirise the Catholic Church, including one of a cardinal asking a nun to marry him.

Today, he says he has "one foot" in the Vatican, working with the Church and meeting the Argentine pontiff several times.

It is all thanks to a painting he posted one evening on a wall in January 2014 in his neighbourhood, a few steps from the Vatican.

It showed Francis in his white papal robes with one arm stretched out above his head and the other holding a briefcase inscribed with the word "Values" from which escapes a scarf from the pontiff's San Lorenzo football club back in Buenos Aires.

"I wanted to represent him as a simple, humble person, an ordinary human being who is also the pope. And therefore a totally atypical superhero," Maupal said.

The mural was immediately painted over, but not before the image was picked up by the media and went viral.

"That image changed my life", he says, leading to numerous interviews, job offers -- and ultimately, a collaboration with the Vatican.

- Change your outlook -

Since then, Maupal has created around 20 works featuring the pope, including showing him on a stepladder playing noughts and crosses with the peace sign, wearing a life vest or carrying the globe on his bent back.

He hopes to "bring him closer to people" through his art, which has been exhibited in galleries across the world, from London to Miami.

He has met Francis himself three times. The last time, around a year ago, the pontiff asked the artist: "Why do you always draw me so fat?"

A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Maupal does not only paint the pope, and also produces installations.

But he keeps returning to concerns he shares with Francis, from social justice to migration.

"I always try to understand what is happening around me, and sometimes when there is a topic I don't understand or makes me angry, I try to highlight it," he said.

Today, the 51-year-old is taking advantage of his international recognition to lead workshops in schools, prisons and old people's homes.

Raised as a Catholic but not a practising believer, Maupal says his collaboration has caused him to change his outlook on the Vatican.

"One must never underestimate the open-mindedness that exists" at the heart of the Catholic Church, he said.

"I would not be surprised if street art becomes part of the Vatican's communication, because they understand and know very well it is the most contemporary art."