Blackouts to vaccinations: Book records year's activities at Vatican

Published: 2004-08-13

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Most of what happens each day inside the Vatican never makes the newspapers, but a lot of it is published. The "inside story" about the Vatican and its operations is reported, bound and put on sale each summer in the "Attivita della Santa Sede" ("The Activity of the Holy See"). The tome summarizing the work of every Vatican congregation, council, office and tribunal in 2003 ran to more than 1,400 pages -- excluding the 31-page, full-color "photo chronicle" inserted in the middle. The 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's election, the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the naming of 30 new cardinals dominated the book's introduction as well as the reports of the activities in 2003 of the master of papal liturgical ceremonies and the Vatican press office. But for Vatican City's director of technical services, the big news of the year was the Sept. 28 electrical blackout that left all of Italy in the dark and cut off power to the Vatican. The Vatican's backup systems have since been reinforced, the office reported. The first 611 pages of the book are devoted to a day-by-day account of the activities, meetings and appointments of Pope John Paul. The rest of the book includes reports on documents published or being worked on by Vatican offices, major restoration work on Vatican buildings and art, and reports on roadwork, telephone traffic and visitors' passes.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .