Pope Leo XIV has ordered the construction of a new building within Vatican City primarily intended to expand the spaces of the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Vatican Apostolic Archive, after the growth of their collections has rendered the currently available facilities insufficient.
The decision is set out in a chirograph published this Monday, September 14, coinciding with the day on which the Pontiff inaugurates the exhibition “AQVA” at the Vatican Library.
The new building will be erected in the area known as the “Fontana dell’Autoparco” and its surroundings, within the territory of the Vatican City State.
The growth of the collections requires new spaces
Pope Leo XIV explains that in recent decades there has been a “considerable increase” in the bibliographic heritage of the Holy See and the documentation generated by its institutions.
As a result, the spaces available for the Apostolic Library and Archive have proved insufficient.
The need to expand the facilities had already been addressed during the previous pontificate. Francis had identified a site in the extraterritorial area of the Lateran to provide new storage spaces.
The project has now changed location.
According to Pope Leo XIV, new possibilities have emerged in recent months to build within the Vatican City State itself, a solution he considers “undoubtedly preferable for multiple reasons” to the one previously planned.
A building shared by the Library and the Archive
The Pope decrees that the area of the “Fontana dell’Autoparco” and its surroundings be allocated to the Apostolic Archive and the Apostolic Library.
In that space, a new building will be constructed “according to the most modern architectural and technological principles” and in compliance with current regulations.
The spaces intended for the two institutions must be distributed in an equitable manner, although part of the building will be reserved for other services of the Vatican City State.
The Governatorate will carry out the work in coordination with the Apostolic Library and Archive.
The Vatican State will assume the cost corresponding to the spaces intended for its own services. The relocation of the motor pool and the new parking facility, however, will be borne by the Archive and the Library.
A new foundation to finance the project
Pope Leo XIV has also established the mechanism by which the resources for the works must be obtained and managed.
The Apostolic Library and the Apostolic Archive will establish, as founding and promoting entities, a Vatican instrumental foundation.
The new entity will have the purpose of securing the financial resources necessary to build the spaces corresponding to both institutions and to manage those funds.
It must be governed by the norms established in the apostolic letter in the form of a motu proprio issued by Francis on December 5, 2022, concerning the instrumental juridical persons of the Roman Curia.
While the new building is under construction, the Apostolic Library will continue to use the storage spaces it currently occupies in the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary.
The chirograph has “immediate, full, and stable force” and will be published in L’Osservatore Romano.