'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 13th 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.