Pope Leo XIV spent his birthday yesterday with a visit to the Vatican Library for the first time as Pope and announced plans for the construction of a modern building to house the holdings of the library and the Vatican Apostolic Archive. Source: OSV News.
The Pope said it seemed providential to celebrate his 71st birthday at the Vatican Library because his mother was a librarian.
The Pope yesterday also issued a decree ordering the construction of a new building in Vatican City State on the site of what is now a parking lot. The facility, to be shared by the Vatican Library and the Vatican archives, will be built “according to the most modern architectural and technological principles”.
It was one of two papal decrees published by the Vatican on the Pope’s birthday. The other repealed provisions introduced by Pope Francis in March 2021 that reduced the salaries of cardinals and Vatican employees as a cost-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The library decree also reverses a prior decision by Pope Francis. Citing a lack of space in the Vatican Library, Pope Francis decided that excess library holdings would be housed outside Vatican City State at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary.
In yesterday’s decree, Pope Leo wrote that using space within Vatican City is “undoubtedly preferable for many reasons to the solution already identified”.
The seminary space designated by Pope Francis in 2022 will continue to store excess library and archive holdings until the new Vatican City facility is completed.
The Vatican Apostolic Library, formally founded in the 15th century, houses a collection of 2 million books, 100,000 archival documents, and hundreds of thousands of coins, medals, and graphic works.
During his visit to the library, the Pope had the opportunity to examine some of the library’s historic books and coins and formally inaugurated a new exhibition, “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder”.
The exhibit will be open to the public from September 25 to May 14, 2027, and features, among other works, a massive wave installation mounted on scaffolding outside the library. Pope Leo also spent time celebrating his birthday with library staff over cake.
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Pope Leo visits Vatican Library on his birthday, announces new building in Vatican City (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
