The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City
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The Vatican will open a prayer room in the Vatican Apostolic Library for Muslim scholars.
One of world’s oldest libraries, the Holy See’s library includes millions of theologically significant texts from the Catholic Church and other religions. The Vatican Library is selectively open to scholars of all disciplines for research purposes.
Muslim scholars “have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them,” Vice Prefect of the library Giacomo Cardinali said, explaining that the library is home to “incredibly old Qurans” and Hebrew, Ethiopian, Arabic, and Chinese texts.
“We are a universal library,” Cardinali said, and the decision to grant Muslims a space for prayer is part of the Vatican’s effort to bolster an international academic community.
The Church’s library is a celebration of shared human knowledge, Cardinali added, not knowledge belonging to one particular religious sect.
The Vatican’s accommodations stand in stark contrast to other faiths, which forbid or severely restrict Christians from visiting certain holy sites. Non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Islam’s holy city of Mecca, for example.
Audio by Carbonatix
The Vatican will open a prayer room in the Vatican Apostolic Library for Muslim scholars.
One of world’s oldest libraries, the Holy See’s library includes millions of theologically significant texts from the Catholic Church and other religions. The Vatican Library is selectively open to scholars of all disciplines for research purposes.
Muslim scholars “have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them,” Vice Prefect of the library Giacomo Cardinali said, explaining that the library is home to “incredibly old Qurans” and Hebrew, Ethiopian, Arabic, and Chinese texts.
“We are a universal library,” Cardinali said, and the decision to grant Muslims a space for prayer is part of the Vatican’s effort to bolster an international academic community.
The Church’s library is a celebration of shared human knowledge, Cardinali added, not knowledge belonging to one particular religious sect.
The Vatican’s accommodations stand in stark contrast to other faiths, which forbid or severely restrict Christians from visiting certain holy sites. Non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Islam’s holy city of Mecca, for example.
Some Christians criticized the Church’s decision as “effectively allowing a rival faith to set up shop on its property.” Others described the move as a way for the Church to display that “truth has nothing to fear from study.”
Pope Leo XIV has in his ministry so far placed an emphasis on interfaith dialogue. In May, Pope Leo hosted inter-religious delegations at the Holy See to boost ecumenism, saying that Christians should unite “in a spirit of human fraternity.” Pope Leo’s language mirrors that of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who “promoted both the ecumenical path and inter-religious dialogue,” the current Pope said.
“Through his words and actions, [Pope Francis] opened new avenues of encounter, to promote ‘the culture of dialogue as the path; mutual collaboration as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard,” Leo said, adding that “[Francis did this] above all by cultivating interpersonal relations, in such a way that, without taking anything away from ecclesial bonds, the human trait of the encounter was always valued.”
A Christian witness of fraternity will “contribute to building a more peaceful world, something that all men and women of good will desire in their hearts,” Leo added.
The Vatican’s Apostolic Library admits a maximum of 60 researchers into its study rooms per day. Researches must submit an application, including a letter of introduction, proof of academic qualifications, and a copy of a valid ID to receive access to the archives.
Church leaders began the process of digitizing the Vatican’s archives in 2012, a project that works to amplify the Church’s role as a custodian of history and make accessible the Vatican’s 80,000 ancient manuscripts, 2 million books, graphic collections, 150,000 documents, and more.
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