L'Osservatore Romano
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox newspaper
L'Osservatore RomanoTemplate:Efn is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Guardian/> It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role reserved for the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, which acts as a government gazette.<ref name="cwndef">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Guardian>John Hooper, "Behind the scenes at the pope's newspaper" in The Guardian, 20 July 2009</ref> The views expressed in the Osservatore are those of individual authors unless they appear under the specific titles "Nostre Informazioni" or "Santa Sede".<ref name="Bunson"/><ref name="PLev"/>
Available in nine languages, the paper prints two Latin mottos under the masthead of each edition: Template:Lang (Template:Gloss) and Template:Lang (Template:Gloss).Template:Efn The current editor-in-chief is Template:Ill.
Editions
L'Osservatore Romano is published in eight different languages (listed by date of first publication):<ref name="vathist"/>
- Daily and weekly in Italian (1861/1950)
- Weekly in French (1949)
- Weekly in English (1968)
- Weekly in Spanish (1969)
- Weekly in Portuguese (1970)
- Weekly in German (1971)
- Monthly in Polish (1980)
- Weekly in Malayalam (2007)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<ref name="cwndef"/> The weekly English edition is distributed in more than 129 countries, including English-speaking countries and locales where English is used as the general means of communication.<ref name="vathist"/>
L'Osservatore della Domenica
L'Osservatore della Domenica is a weekly publication in Vatican City. 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.<ref>"L'Osservatore Romano", Treccani</ref>
L'Osservatore di Strada
Since 29 June 2022, another edition of L'Osservatore Romano has been published: L'Osservatore di Strada. It is published on the first Sunday of every month.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 29 June 2022, the first printed edition was distributed to those present at St. Peter's Square. On the same day, at the end of the Pope's service, the Pope made a remark at the end of his Marian prayer praising the newspaper.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
19th century
The first issue of L'Osservatore Romano was published in Rome on 1 July 1861, a few months after the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861.<ref name="vathist">Template:Cite news</ref> The original intent of the newspaper was unabashedly polemical and propagandistic in defence of the Papal States, adopting the name of a private pamphlet financed by a French Catholic legitimist group.<ref name="vathist" /> The 18 September 1860 defeat of papal troops at Castelfidardo substantially reduced the temporal power of the Pope, prompting Catholic intellectuals to present themselves in Rome for the service of Pope Pius IX.<ref name="vathist" /> This agenda supported the notion of a daily publication to champion the opinions of the Holy See.<ref name="vathist" />
By July 1860, the deputy Minister of the Interior, Marcantonio Pacelli (grandfather of the future Pope Pius XII), 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.<ref name="vathist"/>
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.<ref name="vathist"/>
After the breach of Porta Pia 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 on earth".<ref name="vathist"/>
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".<ref>Template:CathEncy</ref> Acta Sanctae Sedis ceased publication four years later and on 29 September 1908 Acta Apostolicae Sedis became the official publication of the Holy See.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Template:ISBN, article Acta Apostolicae Sedis</ref>
The English weekly edition was first published on 4 April 1968.<ref name="vathist"/> 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.<ref name="baltsun98">Template:Cite news</ref> The edition was printed by the Cathedral Foundation, publishers of The Catholic Review.<ref name="baltsun98"/>
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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 in an October 2006 speech inaugurating a new exhibit dedicated to the founding and history of the newspaper.<ref name="cnsnobs">Template:Cite news</ref> He further described the publication as "an instrument for spreading the teachings of the successor of Peter and for information about church events".<ref name="cnsnobs"/>
On 27 June 2015, Pope Francis, in an apostolic letter, established the Secretariat for Communications, a new part of the Roman Curia, and included L'Osservatore Romano under its management.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Relation with the Magisterium
It is a common error to assume that the contents of the L'Osservatore Romano represent the views of the Magisterium, or the official position of the Holy See. 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".<ref name="Bunson">Matthew Bunson, The Pope Encyclopedia, Crown Publishing, 1995, p. 229.</ref><ref name="PLev">Philippe Levillain, The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, Routledge Publishers, 2002, p. 1082</ref> 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 reopened 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Leadership
- Editors-in-chief<ref name="vathist"/>
- 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)<ref name=ncr20181218>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Template:Ill (2018–present)<ref name=ncr20181218/>
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
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