Nov 26, 2007 / 13:32 pm
The recent naming of Catholic intellectual Giovanni Maria Vian as the new director of L’Osservatore Romano, means the opening of a new era for the Vatican publication, which will include its complete publication online.
L’Osservatore Romano was founded in 1861 at the request of Pope Pius IX in order to give a public voice to the Vatican, just months after the Pontifical states were lost in the wake of Italian unification.
The Vatican daily, which is currently published daily in Italian, has a limited circulation of around 3,000, with only about 1,000 actually sold. The actual impact of the paper is much larger though because it reflects the position of the Vatican on critical issues.
Although the Vatican daily will never be profitable, as it rarely prints ads, Vian has proposed not only creating greater interest in the newspaper but also expanding its readership.