A place that demonstrates “the value of culture and tradition” and “preserves the historical memory” of those who “selflessly served the Apostolic See”: the restored library of the Vatican Secretariat of State, was inaugurated yesterday by the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. This was reported by the Vatican press service on June 16.
The inauguration ceremony of the new Library room was also attended by the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Cardinal Fernando Verges Alzaga, the Secretary General Sister Raffaella Petrini and her deputy Giuseppe Puglisi-Abrandi, as well as the heads of the Secretariat of State itself, headed by Cardinal Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Secretary of State Relations and International Organizations Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi and the Secretary of Pontifical Representations Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi.
The room has been restored and renovated with modern interaction systems thanks to the generosity of the “Ernesto Bertarelli Foundation”: founded in 1998, it works in the field of nature conservation and marine sciences. “We live in an era of digital technology and interconnectedness and therefore need to be ‘online’ and also use new technological tools to help us act for the benefit of the Church in the world.”stated Cardinal Parolin, then recalling the importance for the Church of bearing witness to beauty and culture, “maintaining a dialogue with the special thirst for infinity that defines the human being.”
Quoting the words of Pope Francis, the cardinal added: “We must not stop thinking and talking about beauty, because the human heart not only needs bread… it also needs culture, that which touches the soul, that which brings humanity closer to its deepest dignity.”. (from the pontiff’s speech on the occasion of the exhibition “Tutti. Humanity in motion”, November 5, 2021).
Culture, as the Secretary of State further emphasized, “lives and breathes outside the shell of self-reference when it fosters human encounters and dialogue.” For this reason, the Library is “a space of communication and fraternity, according to the wonderful insight of Saint Paul VI, who declared: “Whoever enters the Library, together with the “goods” stored there, must find a spirit of hospitality. ”. , a universality.”
Although “there are no books of purely historical value left in the premises,” Cardinal Parolin said he is convinced that the improved and modernized building will allow activities “inspired by the good that we must dream and build, according to the wishes of.” church.
Finally, it is expected that the Library, in its updated and multimedia version, will contribute to the growth of “that healthy inner curiosity that helps open us to new knowledge and elevate us to the Mystery of God, because our service to the Holy See contributes to the dissemination of what today is beautiful and noble and good for humanity.”
Source: Rossa Primavera
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