''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of
Vatican City State
Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—'
* german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ')
* pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—'
* pt, Cidade do Vati ...
which reports on the activities of the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world.
[ It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role reserved for the '']Acta Apostolicae Sedis
''Acta Apostolicae Sedis'' ( Latin for "Acts of the Apostolic See"), often cited as ''AAS'', is the official gazette of the Holy See, appearing about twelve times a year.Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ...
'', which acts as a government gazette
A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...
.[John Hooper, "Behind the scenes at the pope's newspaper"]
in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 20 July 2009 The views expressed in the Osservatore are those of individual authors unless they appear under the specific titles "Nostre Informazioni" or "Santa Sede".
Available in nine languages, the paper prints two Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
mottos under the masthead of each edition: ''Unicuique suum'' ("To each his own") and ''Non praevalebunt'' (" he gates of Hellshall not prevail"). The current editor-in-chief is Andrea Monda.
On 27 June 2015, Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
, in an apostolic letter
Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
Letters of the pop ...
, established the Secretariat for Communications
The Dicastery for Communication ( it, Dicastero per la Comunicazione) is a division (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed thro ...
, a new part of the Roman Curia, and included ''L'Osservatore Romano'' under its management.
Editions
''L'Osservatore Romano'' is published in nine different languages (listed by date of first publication):
* Daily and weekly in Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
(1861/1950)
* Weekly in French (1949)
* Weekly in English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
(1968)
* Weekly in Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
(1969)
* Weekly in Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
(1970)
* Weekly in German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(1971)
* Monthly in Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
(1980)
* Weekly in Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
(2007)
The daily Italian edition of ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is published in the afternoon, but with a cover date of the following day, a convention that sometimes results in confusion. The weekly English edition is distributed in more than 129 countries, including both English-speaking countries
The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers.
List
* The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total En ...
and locales where English is used as the general means of communication.
''L'Osservatore della Domenica''
''L'Osservatore della Domenica'' is a weekly publication in Vatican City
Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—'
* german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ')
* pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—'
* pt, Cidade do Vati ...
. It is the Sunday supplement to the ''L'Osservatore Romano''. Founded in 1934, an illustrated weekly was published with the title ''L'Osservatore romano della Domenica'' (since 1951 ''L'Osservatore della Domenica''. In 1979 it was reduced to a Sunday supplement. In 1985, the graphic layout of the magazine was updated.
History
19th century
''Giornale di Roma'' was the newspaper of the Papal States, with first issue published in Rome on 6 July 1849. It continued until 19 September 1870 and is considered the predecessor of ''L'Osservatore Romano''.
The first issue of ''L'Osservatore Romano'' was published in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
on 1 July 1861, a few months after the Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
was proclaimed on 17 March 1861. The original intent of the newspaper was unabashedly polemical and propagandistic in defence of the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, adopting the name of a private pamphlet financed by a French Catholic legitimist group. 18 September 1860 defeat of papal troops at Castelfidardo
Castelfidardo (Marchigiano: ''Castello'') is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Ancona, in the Marche region of central-eastern Italy.
It is remembered for a Piedmontese victory over an army composed of foreign volunteers defending th ...
substantially reduced the temporal power of the Pope, prompting Catholic intellectuals to present themselves in Rome for the service of Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
. This agenda supported the notion of a daily publication to champion the opinions of the Holy See.
By July 1860, the deputy Minister of the Interior, Marcantonio Pacelli (grandfather of the future Pope Pius XII
Pius ( , ) Latin for "pious", is a masculine given name. Its feminine form is Pia.
It may refer to:
People Popes
* Pope Pius (disambiguation)
* Antipope Pius XIII (1918-2009), who led the breakaway True Catholic Church sect
Given name
* Pius ...
), had plans to supplement the official bulletin of the Catholic Church ''Giornale di Roma'' with a semi-official "rhetorical" publication. In early 1861, controversialist Nicola Zanchini and journalist Giuseppe Bastia were granted editorial direction of Pacelli's newspaper. Official permission to publish was sought on 22 June 1861, and four days later, on 26 June, Pius IX gave his approval for the regulation of ''L'Osservatore''.
The first edition was entitled "''L'Osservatore Romano'' – a political and moral paper" and cost five baiocchi. The "political and moral paper" epithet was dropped before 1862, adding instead the two Latin mottoes that still appear under the masthead today. The editors of the paper initially met in the Salviucci Press on the Piazza de' Santi Apostoli, where the paper was printed. Only when the editorial staff was established on the Palazzo Petri in Piazza dei Crociferi and the first issue printed there on 31 March, was the wording "daily newspaper" added to the masthead.
After the breach of Porta Pia
The Capture of Rome ( it, Presa di Roma) on 20 September 1870 was the final event of the unification of Italy (''Risorgimento''), marking both the final defeat of the Papal States under Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian Peninsula ...
by Italian troops in September 1870, ''L'Osservatore Romano'' solidified its opposition to the Kingdom of Italy, affirming obedience to the Pope and adherence to his directives, stating it would remain faithful "to that unchangeable principle of religion and morals which recognises as its sole depository and claimant the Vicar of Jesus Christ
Vicar of Christ (from Latin ) is a term used in different ways and with different theological connotations throughout history. The original notion of a vicar is as an "earthly representative of Christ", but it's also used in the sense of "person a ...
on earth". Soon after, ''L'Osservatore'' began to replace the ''Giornale di Roma'' as the news organ of the Pontifical State. ''Giornale di Roma'' stopped publication on 19 September 1870 almost a decade after launch of ''L'Osservatore Romano''. During the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII, The Vatican acquired the paper's ownership in 1885.
20th century
The Osservatore continued to be published as a newspaper in Vatican City, but in 1904 ''Acta Sanctae Sedis'' which had existed since 1865, was declared the formal organ of the Holy See in that all documents printed in it were considered "authentic and official". ''Acta Sanctae Sedis'' ceased publication four years later and on 29 September 1908 ''Acta Apostolicae Sedis'' became the official publication of the Holy See.
The English weekly edition was first published on 4 April 1968. On 7 January 1998, that edition became the first to be printed outside of Rome, when for North American subscribers, it began to be printed in Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. The edition was printed by the Cathedral Foundation, publishers of '' The Catholic Review''.
21st century
As of 1 July 2011, the English language edition of the ''L'Osservatore Romano'' for North American subscribers is once again published in Rome.
In the 21st century, the paper has taken a more objective and subdued stance than at the time of its foundation, priding itself in "presenting the genuine face of the church and the ideals of freedom", following the statement by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine o ...
in an October 2006 speech inaugurating a new exhibit dedicated to the founding and history of the newspaper. He further described the publication as "an instrument for spreading the teachings of the successor of Peter and for information about church events".
Official views of the Magisterium
It is a common error to assume that the contents of the ''L'Osservatore Romano'' represent the views of the Magisterium
The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...
, or the official position of the Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
. In general, this is not the case, and the only parts of the Osservatore which represent the views of the Holy See are those that appear under the titles "Nostre Informazioni" or "Santa Sede".[Matthew Bunson, The Pope Encyclopedia: Crown Publishing, 1995 pp 229.]
[Philippe Levillain, The Papacy, An Encyclopedia Routledge Publishers 2002 pp 1082]
At times the Magisterium disputes the contents of the Osservatore, e.g. a 2008 article expressed the desire that the debate on brain death be re‑opened because of new developments in the medical world. An official spokesman said that the article presented a personal opinion of the author and "did not reflect a change in the Catholic Church's position".
Leadership
;Editors-in-chief
* Nicola Zanchini and Giuseppe Bastia (1861–1866)
* Augusto Baviera (1866–1884)
* Cesare Crispolti (1884–1890)
* Giovan Battista Casoni (1890–1900)
* Giuseppe Angelini (1900–1919)
* Giuseppe Dalla Torre di Sanguinetto (1920–1960)
* Raimondo Manzini (1960–1978)
* Valerio Volpini (1978–1984)
* Mario Agnes (1984–2007)
* Giovanni Maria Vian (2007–2018)
* Andrea Monda (2018–present)[
]
See also
* Index of Vatican City-related articles
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Vatican News
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osservatore Romano
1861 establishments in the Papal States
Catholic newspapers published in Italy
Dicastery for Communication
Holy See
Italian-language newspapers
Newspapers published in Vatican City
Publications established in 1861