'Santa Marta' homilies available in Italian volume

April 23, 2014:: The homilies of Pope Francis during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta Residence in the Vatican are now available in an Italian volume. These homilies of the Pope are one of the most eagerly anticipated items for listeners tuning in to Vatican Radio. It’s also one of the most clicked-on stories for those browsing the different language pages of Vatican Radio website. And it’s one of the most popular pieces picked up by the many other agencies, sites and social networks which share our daily output of news from the Vatican. Ever since his election as pontiff on March 13^th last year, Pope Francis has been living at the Santa Marta Residence where he celebrates the daily morning mass in it’s chapel .
These homilies numbering some 186 have been gathered together in one Italian language volume which will go on sale from Thursday April 24th with the title “The Truth is an Encounter. Homilies from Santa Marta”. Produced by Italy’s Rizzoli publishers, the volume contains an introduction by Jesuit Fr Antonio Spadaro, editor of the twice monthly publication Civiltà Cattolica, and a preface by Vatican Radio Director General, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi.
For the past 83 years, Fr Lombardi notes, since the Radio was founded by Guglielmo Marconi, it has been carrying out its mission “to spread the word of the Pope” to the very ends of the earth. Its technicians, secretaries and journalists, he says, have now committed themselves “with dedication and joy” to this new task of sharing the very personal reflections on the daily readings that Pope Francis gives to those members of the congregation lucky enough to be present at his Mass.
From May 7th, bookshops will also be selling the new volume together with a CD of all the homilies, recapturing the very distinctive voice of the Argentinean Pope, with his memorable expressions and colourful turns of phrase that have been captivating listeners around the world for the past 13 months.