For a Vatican site I found it to be actually quite constrained and subdued. What "hip" designers don't get is something very simple: Modernism is Protestant, B

For a Vatican site I found it to be actually quite constrained and subdued. What "hip" designers don't get is something very simple: Modernism is Protestant, Baroque is Catholic. Do you want simplicity, cleanness and functionality? Go look for Bauhaus, Ikea and industrial revolution in Northern Europe. Catholicism belongs to another world. It belongs to the aesthetics of excess, over decoration, big European cathedrals, ostentation, Michelangelo and Handel. In case of doubt look at the pictures on that site: gold, purples, reds, churches full of Carrara marble. Like Hindus and Muslims, Catholics preach humbleness but what they find beautiful is actually excess and ostentation. There is a reason why Italy succeeds on luxury goods (Armani, Ferrari, Murano crystals, etc): they know that bling sparkles and that sparkles fascinate people.