The new library of the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso in Madrid will be named Biblioteca León XIV, after the institution’s Governing Board unanimously approved dedicating the new bibliographic building to the Pontiff. Its inauguration is scheduled for the first quarter of the 2026-2027 academic year.
According to the university, during his apostolic journey to Madrid the Pope blessed the plaque that will be placed at the main entrance of the building. The inscription commemorates that gesture and records the Academic Senate’s decision to name the new library after Leo XIV.
A new building in the crypt of San Francisco el Grande
The library will be located in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, under the agreement signed between the Universidad Eclesiástica San Dámaso, the Obra Pía de los Santos Lugares and the Franciscan Province of Spain and Portugal.
The facilities will offer 1,950 square meters of usable space, 152 reading places and a capacity for more than 350,000 volumes, allowing the university to expand the area available for the preservation and consultation of its bibliographic holdings.
The university notes that the San Dámaso library currently holds 217,386 volumes and 1,375 titles of specialized journals in Theology, Philosophy, Canon Law, and Christian and Classical Literature. Its collections also include incunabula, manuscripts and editions from the 15th to the 18th centuries, which form part of the university’s historic holdings and are consulted by researchers and students.
Opening planned for the 2026-2027 academic year
The university plans to open the Biblioteca León XIV during the first quarter of the 2026-2027 academic year, once the building’s fitting-out and equipping works are completed. The plaque blessed by the Pope will be permanently installed at the main entrance of the new library, where it will commemorate the dedication of the building to the current Pontiff.