Leo XIV has Vatican building constructed to accumulate more and more things.
In a chirograph issued today, Leo XIV has announced a new building inside Vatican City for the Apostolic Archive and Library. The vast and growing collections have exhausted existing storage capacity. Leo XIV cites the “considerable increase” in the Holy See’s bibliographical holdings and documentary output.
No budget, architect, building dimensions, construction timetable or completion date has been announced.
The complex will rise in the Fontana dell’Autoparco area. Space will be divided equitably between the Archive and Library, with part reserved for other Vatican City services.
The decision modifies a plan approved by Francis in 2024, which envisaged new storage in the extraterritorial Lateran area.
The scale is enormous: the Apostolic Archive holds more than 600 archival fonds spanning roughly 12 centuries and over 85 km of shelving. The Library preserves around 180,000 manuscripts and archival documents …More