Pope Francis appointed Raffaella Vincenti, Head of the Apostolic Vatican Library. To date, she was the Library’s Secretary, reported at midday the Holy See Press Office.
After the compulsory break, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Apostolic Library and Archive reopened on June 1 for scholars, said Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca, the Archive’s Secretary.
The Library’s General Secretariat
Raffaella Vincenti has been the Vatican Library’s General Secretary since 2012. She has also taught Reference and Bibliography in the Vatican’s School of Librarianship since 2010. After several years working in the management of library automation systems on the network, she was in charge of the Acquisitions Office of the Vatican Library from 2007 to 2012.
Last April 20, the Holy Father appointed the Vice-Prefect of the Apostolic Vatican Library, Dr. Timothy James Janz, its Scriptor Graecus (graphic writer) and Director of the Press Department.
Origin of the Library
The Vatican’s Library is located in Vatican City’s Holy See. Its origin goes back to 1448 and it has a collection of approximately 350 Codices that Pope Nicolas V brought together. The Codices were of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew origin and some of them came from Constantinople’s Imperial Library.
Pope Sixtus IV founded the Vatican’s Library officially in 1475. At the time, it already had 3,500 manuscripts, becoming the largest Library of Western culture.
