Italian Foundation prepares 5 Middle Ages style copies of Pope’s first encyclical

(Nov.19, 2008): An Italian foundation has created five Middle Ages-style copies of Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical and given him one as a gift. Marilena Ferrari, president of the Italian Franco Maria Ricci Foundation, presented the Pope on Monday with one of the handwritten manuscripts of "Deus Caritas Est", Latin for "God is love".
The five unique copies are reminiscent of monastic scripts prepared in the Middle Ages. They were made using the materials and techniques of those centuries, Ferrari told the Pope, according to Vatican’s newspaper - L'Osservatore Romano. This initiative is part of the foundation's "Civilization of Beauty" cultural project, which aims to "promote a cultural renewal that gives back to beauty its central place as an ethical and aesthetic value," said Ferrari.
Another of the encyclical manuscripts will be given to Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York, and will be put on display in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Spring.