Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 13: Vatican Publishing House, Via della Posta

Sixtus V founded the Vatican Publishing House in 1587, and for centuries it included both a press and a bookstore. That bookstore was spun off into its own entity in 1926 by Piux XI, and became a publishing house charged with the production and sales of books printed by the publishing house. 

The house mostly handled official documents and publications of the Vatican, but would later move into publishing works by popes. It turns out that the house holds the copyright to all papal writings, but didn't enforce the copyright until Benedict XVI took office. They stated that the copyright is only enforced in cases where a text no more than 50 years old is republished without citing the Vatican copyright.

In 2015 Francis announced the formation of a Secretariat of Communication, and the house (along with the press) was moved under its umbrella.