The Vatican’s Apostolic Library houses more than 1,600,000 printed books, most of which are rare and ancient works.
Newsroom (15/02/2023 9:58 AM, Gaudium Press) — Pope Francis has appointed Father Mauro Mantovani as the new prefect of the Apostolic Library, one of the oldest Vatican institutions. The priest, who succeeds Cesare Pasini, will be responsible for a collection of documentary treasures consisting of documents with more than six centuries of history. Father Mauro Mantovani was born on January 3, 1966 in Moncalieri, near Turin, in Piedmont Italy.
Mauro Mantovani joined the Salesian Order in the late 1980s, taking his first vows in 1986 and being ordained a priest in 1994. He obtained a doctorate in philosophy and letters at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (Spain) in 2006. Five years later, he completed his doctorate in Thomistic theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas-Angelicum in Rome. Since 2007 he has been a professor at the Pontifical Salesian University of Rome, where he has held the following positions: Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy; Dean of the Faculty of Social Communication Sciences; Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the University. He is currently a member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and of the Scientific Committee of the Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality of Universities and Ecclesiastical Faculties of the Holy See.
The Vatican Library: 54 Km of Shelves
The Vatican Apostolic Library was founded during the Renaissance, and institutionalized in 1475 under Sixtus IV. The Vatican’s Apostolic Library houses over 1,600,000 printed books, most of which are rare and ancient works, including over 8,600 incunabula. Its 54 kilometers of shelves contain precious manuscripts from the collections of the Palatine Counts of the Rhine, Queen Christina of Sweden, who converted to Catholicism, or illustrious families from the Urbs, such as the Borghese and the Barberini.
The Apostolic Library is a distinguished instrument of the Church for the development and dissemination of culture, in support of the activity of the Apostolic See. It is tasked, through its various Sections, to collect and preserve an extremely rich heritage of science and art and to make it available to scholars in search of truth.
Compiled by Donna Smolders
