Pope Leo at the Libreria Editrice Vaticana – Vatican Publishing House

“The book is an opportunity to think, encounter and proclaim Christ”

Events underway to mark the 100th anniversary of the Holy See’s publishing house

Vatican City, Thursday 7 May 2026 – Today Pope Leo XIV received in audience the directors of the Dicastery for Communication, which includes the Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) and the employees of the publishing house. This marked the start of the events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of LEV, founded in 1926, which has served nine Popes over the years.

“Reading nourishes the mind; it helps to foster a conscious and well-formed critical sense, guarding us against fundamentalism and ideological shortcuts”, said Leo XIV, among other things, in his address, released by the Holy See Press Office Bulletin. “For this reason, I urge everyone to read books, as an antidote to closed-mindedness, which is reflected in rigid attitudes and reductive views of reality”.

In his address, Pope Leo recalled a similar audience, in 1976, when Saint Paul VI met with the employees of the Holy See publishing house on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its founding.

The directors of the Dicastery for Communication and the employees of the Libreria Editrice Vaticana gave the Holy Father some particularly significant books from the LEV catalogue: a precious collection of documents of the Second Vatican Council, the two volumes of the collected texts of Leo XIII, and an illustrated book dedicated to the first Churches of Rome.

In 2026, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana will be present in various international contexts, with special events to mark the centenary of its founding. In a few days, it will be at the Turin International Book Fair, with a number of high-profile cultural events, such as the presentation of the book by Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, Liberi sotto la grazia (“Free Under Grace”), with the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, the Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, Joseph Farrell, and the journalist Annalisa Cuzzocrea. In addition, the

presence of several LEV authors has been announced, including Cardinal José Tolentino

Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Cardinal Jean-

Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, who will present their new books, Coltivate la vita interiore (“Cultivating the Inner Life”) and L’audacia della fraternità (“The Audacity of Fraternity”).

From 28 to 31 May, LEV will be present at the Warsaw International Book Fair; in addition, appearances at the upcoming edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples in Rimini, the Pordenonelegge Festival and the Frankfurt Book Fair are to be announced shortly.

Libreria Editrice Vaticana – Vatican Publishing House

Dicastery for Communication

Via della Posta

00120 Vatican City

Press Office

ufficiostampa@lev.va