The Vatican Apostolic Library, located in Vatican City, has designated a prayer space for visiting Muslim scholars, marking a notable gesture of inclusivity at one of the world’s most important centers of religious and cultural scholarship.
The move, confirmed by Vice Prefect Giacomo Cardinali, comes after several Muslim academics requested a quiet area for daily prayers during their research visits. In response, the library provided a room equipped with a prayer rug to meet their needs.
Cardinali told La Repubblica, an Italian daily, that the request was modest and easily fulfilled. He emphasized that the library serves a global academic community, and accommodating prayer was in line with its broader mission.
This development reflects a growing effort by the centuries-old institution to welcome scholars of all backgrounds.
A universal repository of knowledge
Founded in 1451 under Pope Nicholas V, the Vatican Library is widely regarded as the intellectual heart of the Catholic Church. It holds a vast collection of manuscripts and texts that span multiple faiths and cultures.
Cardinali noted that along with rare Christian works, the library preserves ancient Qurans, as well as writings in Hebrew, Ethiopian, Arabic, and Chinese. He described the institution as a universal library built on the principle of shared knowledge.
Among the collection’s rarest items is a medieval Japanese archive believed to be the oldest of its kind outside Japan. Cardinali explained that it was saved by Salesian missionary Mario Marega, who lived in Japan in the 1920s.
Marega discovered the documents when he saw local children playing with paper made from old manuscripts. Recognizing their historical value, he rescued them from a crumbling castle—preserving them years before the region was devastated by the atomic bomb.
Preserving the past, embracing the future
The Vatican Library currently houses around 80,000 manuscripts, 50,000 archival documents, nearly two million printed volumes, and over 100,000 prints, engravings, coins, and medals.
Recent discoveries include a rare manuscript of Spinoza’s Ethics, further underscoring the institution’s ongoing relevance to global scholarship.
As its digital catalogue expands, the library has become more accessible to researchers worldwide. Cardinali said this openness occasionally invites eccentric inquiries, particularly from the United States, including questions about time machines, the Holy Grail, and lost temple artifacts.
He also commented on the rising use of artificial intelligence in academic work. While AI may assist with cataloguing, he expressed doubt about its ability to detect forgeries or trace the complex history behind ancient texts, reinforcing the continued need for human expertise.
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