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Wednesday, 5 August 2026 · Anno V
Retouched photos to inflate attendance? The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music’s social media blunder
Vatican City21 March 2026

Retouched photos to inflate attendance? The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music’s social media blunder

The PIMS celebrates the success of Festival Concertando on Facebook, but some of the images shared on social media show questionable retouching: people appear to have been digitally added to the photographs in order to give the impression of a larger turnout.


The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music has published on Facebook the photographs taken during the eleventh edition of Festival Concertando, the International Chamber Music Festival.

The PIMS writes: “The compositions of PIMS students, the young performers, the masterpieces of the choral and chamber repertoire, and the guest artists gave rise to moments of rare intensity and of educational, as well as artistic, value. These days of shared music-making left an indelible impression on each of the participants, whether they were performers or simply recipients of that unfailing instrument of elevation which is Music.”

Attendance, evidently, did not appear sufficient to the organisers, who saw fit to alter the images by adding people through a rather questionable use of Photoshop.

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