ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican Library for the first time as pope on his birthday, Sept. 14, and announced plans for the construction of a new modern building in Vatican City to house the holdings of the library and the Vatican Apostolic Archive.

The pope said it seemed providential to celebrate his 71st birthday at the Vatican Library because his mother was a librarian. 

On the day of his visit, the pope also issued a decree ordering the construction of a new building in Vatican City State on the site of what is now a parking lot. The facility, to be shared by the Vatican Library and the Vatican archives, will be built “according to the most modern architectural and technological principles.”

It was one of two papal decrees published by the Vatican on the pope’s birthday. The other repealed provisions introduced by Pope Francis in March 2021 that reduced the salaries of cardinals and Vatican employees as a cost-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Library decree reverses a prior decision by Pope Francis

The library decree also reverses a prior decision by Pope Francis. Citing a lack of space in the Vatican Library, Pope Francis had decided that excess library holdings would be housed outside Vatican City State at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary. In the Sept. 14 decree, Pope Leo wrote that using space within Vatican City is “undoubtedly preferable for many reasons to the solution already identified.”

The seminary space designated by Pope Francis in 2022 will continue to store excess library and archive holdings until the new Vatican City facility is completed.

The Vatican Apostolic Library, formally founded in the 15th century, houses a collection of 2 million books, 100,000 archival documents, and hundreds of thousands of coins, medals, and graphic works. 

During his visit to the library, the pope had the opportunity to examine some of the library’s historic books and coins and formally inaugurated a new exhibition, “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder.” The exhibit will be open to the public from Sept. 25 to May 14, 2027, and features, among other works, a massive wave installation mounted on scaffolding outside the library. Pope Leo also spent time celebrating his birthday with library staff over cake.

A pivotal moment in conversion of St. Augustine

The pope recalled the pivotal moment in the conversion of St. Augustine when he heard the voice of a child singing, “Take and read, take and read,” leading the future fifth-century bishop and doctor of the Church to read St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. St. Augustine later wrote in “The Confessions” that the passage “penetrated his heart,” dispelling the darkness of doubt.

The Augustinian pope added that St. Augustine’s “doubt was dispelled, but not his desire — which, in fact, grew stronger, driving him to explore the full breadth and depth of the Holy Scriptures.”

“He himself speaks of this on several occasions, when he says that he studied carefully — bent over like a question mark — various manuscripts of the Biblical books in order to determine the best text,” the pope said. “The book of Scripture that came into Augustine’s hands is the very one that opened his spirit wide.”

“Dearest friends, all of you, by preserving, studying, and making the books of Peter’s successor available to scholars, you help the Church and humanity to rise to the depth of that desire,” the pope said. “Without it, everything drifts away from the living God, the source of truth and love.”

Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.