The Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, long seen as required reading for those wanting to know the standpoint of the Holy See, but also known for an austere black and white layout, is appearing in colour for the first time – writes Luigi Sandri.
“Introducing colour on the first and in the last page, we hope that ‘the Pope’s newspaper’ will be more airy and readable,” said Giovanni Maria Vian, who was chosen last October by Pope Benedict XVI to become the new editor of the newspaper.
The newspaper, printed in the Vatican City, the smallest State in the world, usually has eight pages. With its new face lift, it appeared in colour for the first time in its edition dated 3 February. Alongside the new editor’s adjustments to the layout, US-based Vatican commentator John Allen has noted a “bold new direction” for the newspaper.
“In just 100 days, L’Osservatore has metamorphasised into a paper widely seen as creative, provocative, and a virtually indispensable resource on church affairs,” Allen wrote in his National Catholic Reporter online commentary (www.ncrcafe.org/node/1586).
There are now interviews with Vatican cardinals, which have sometimes been used to break news about forthcoming announcements, as well as interviews and articles by prominent non-Catholic figures.
Vian, a 53-year-old historian, said he had been asked by Pope Benedict to open up the newspaper to the voices of women and to non-Catholics.
An interview with the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, marked recent celebrations in Rome to mark the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The president of the Conference of European Churches, the Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, a French Protestant who has been fiercely critical of some Vatican pronouncements, wrote a first-page commentary on ecumenism, on the eve of a November meeting of cardinals that was to discuss this issue.
L’Osservatore Romano is not an official Vatican publication. Only a short section about the papal nominations of bishops and other dignitaries is “official”. But in Rome the newspaper is seen as representing the “mind” of the Holy See.
The newspaper’s circulation is not known but Italian press reports said that Vian hoped to increase it to a daily circulation of 100 000, sold in kiosks and by subscription in Italy and throughout the world.
L’Osservatore Romano has weekly, shorter editions in seven languages: Italian, English, French, German, Polish, Spanish and Portuguese.
[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]