Vatican says it will protect pope's writings, enforce copyright

Published: 2006-01-23

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican publishing house has made it clear it will protect the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and the copyright it owns over every speech, homily and document he writes. A storm erupted in Italy in late January after the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican Publishing House, sent a bill for more than $18,000 seeking royalties and legal costs to a Milan-based publisher. Italian authors and publishers began talking about new, secret rules that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to spread the pope's message. The Vatican Publishing House said the rules are not new or secret, but they are necessary to prevent pirated copies of papal documents -- texts sold under the pope's name but with no Vatican control over the content and no compensation to the Vatican.

Copyright (c) 2006 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 The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in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 .