Vatican City, 12 November, 2024 / 1:05 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has called for the expansion of the Vatican library and archives to a building outside Vatican City to make more “available this precious patrimony.”
In a letter dated Oct. 29 and issued on Tuesday, the pope declared that part of the archives and library be moved to a building on extraterritorial Vatican property at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
The building where the documents and books will be housed in the future is also used for Rome’s major seminary.
“The centuries-old care for the custody of the acts and documents concerning the government of the universal Church, combined with a commitment to the development and dissemination of culture, are the characteristic features of the activity of the Vatican Archives and Library,” Pope Francis wrote in a papal chirograph.
According to the letter, renovations will be undertaken to prepare the space. Francis has also asked for the creation of a commission of representatives from the Secretariat of State, the Vatican Apostolic Archives, and the Vatican Library to decide what categories of documents should be transferred to the new location.
