Vatican demands royalties for Pope’s writings and speeches

ROYALTIES for Pope Benedict XVI’s writings and speeches? The Italian publishing world is aghast.

The demand by the Vatican to respect copyright on the pontiff’s writings and pay for their use has triggered hot debate: should an institution which exists to spread the word of God be putting a price on papal writ?

While the question is pondered, the new papacy is shaping up as a publisher’s dream. Benedict’s first encyclical, God is Love, is a best-seller.

After Ratzinger was elected Pope April 19, the Holy See’s Number Two, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, signed a decree assigning “in perpetuity and worldwide” the copyrights of all Benedict’s works - including the hundreds he wrote before becoming pope - to the Vatican’s publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, known as LEV.

La Stampa’s Vatican correspondent, Marco Tosatti, and his Italian publisher, were hit with $15,500 in copyright fees for Pope Ratzinger’s dictionary, a slim volume of the Pope’s thoughts on abortion, freedom, conscience and other issues that was rushed out after his election.

LEV says news organisations can quote from the Pope’s speeches, encyclicals and other writings without charge. They can also publish full texts for free provided they cite Vatican copyright, it says, but if a text is published separately, as Mr Tornielli did in a book, payment is due.

However many royalties are collected, though the Pope won’t get rich. The Pope, like John Paul before him, gave his profits from the book he wrote with Mr Messori to charity.