In recent days, various publications on social media and news portals reported that the Vatican had enabled a “prayer room for Muslims” inside the Vatican Apostolic Library, which caused controversy and confusion among the faithful. However, internal sources from the institution have made a clarification on the matter but without denying the fact.
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The Vatican Apostolic Library has confirmed that Muslim scholars are allowed to use a room for prayer, but it is not a permanent worship space nor one of general access. The use was authorized at the request of the Muslim researchers themselves who work or visit the place, and not as part of an institutional initiative by the Vatican to open an Islamic oratory.
In other words, the room was not conceived as a “mosque inside the Vatican”, but as a simple room enabled in a practical way so that Muslim scholars can fulfill their daily prayers while carrying out their work in the facility.
The very vice-rector of the Vatican Apostolic Library clarified that it is, literally, “a room with a carpet”, without liturgical elements, religious symbols, or permanent installations.
A decision that generates debate
The initiative, although discreet, has not gone unnoticed. The idea of a Muslim prayer space inside a Vatican institution generates an inevitable dissonance, especially in a context where a certain openness to interreligious dialogue is perceived at the expense of Catholic identity.
However, according to the official version, the gesture responds to a logic of academic hospitality: the Vatican Library receives researchers from all religions and nationalities every year, and in this case, it simply acceded to a specific request.
A truth with context
In short, as explained by Aciprensa, it can be affirmed that the news is true, but it requires an essential context. Yes, there is a room destined for Muslim prayer inside the Vatican Library, but its use is limited, temporary, and reserved exclusively for Muslim scholars, without public or institutional character.
Therefore, it is not a high-profile interreligious gesture nor a sign of theological syncretism, but a practical concession within the academic sphere.