“The idea of City” was the theme of the American Academy in Rome Residency during the summer of 2021. Catherine Opie took the challenge and doubled it, focusing on the concept of a city within a city. And there was no better place to start than the Vatican. During the pandemic Opie had the Vatican Museum and City largely to herself. She spent hours in its empty halls, capturing windows, paintings of martyrs, and even Pope Francis. Interested in themes of transparency and violence, Opie brings a fresh, unflinching eye to the world’s smallest country and its 1.3 billion believers. —Clara Molot