Pope’s new book to be released in electronic format

Rome, Italy, Mar 9, 2011 / 13:06 pm

The new book by Pope Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth. From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection,” will soon be available in electronic format, the director of the Vatican’s Liberia Editrice, Giuseppe Costa, announced March 9.

Costa, who handles the publishing of the Pope's books, spoke on March 9 with  reporter Giulia Galeotti of L’Osservatore Romano. Costa explained that the process of publishing the Pope's second of three books on Christ began “almost a year ago.” At the time, “Msgr. Georg Ganswein (the Pope’s personal secretary) handed me a notebook full of notes: the Pope had written the text completely in pencil, in his unmistakably small handwriting, which ... was transcribed onto a computer by Brigit Wansing,” he said.

Speaking later about the difficulty of the translations, Costa remarked that since the Pope's books are translated by various people, “the challenge has been to find a consistency of language.”

“It’s also necessary to avoid the risk that the translations fail to preserve or even betray the author’s thinking. Fidelity to the original text has been ensured with attention and effort by the translators of the Secretary of State.”

Costa said there has been greater interest in the Pope’s second book on Jesus and that agreements have been reached with 22 publishers around the world. “In the U.S., Ignatius Press was the best choice, despite offers from Doubleday and Our Sunday Visitor. The French edition will be published by Parole et Silence, a company that is growing and is very committed to the papal magisterium, and the Spanish edition will be published by Encuentro.”

In selecting these companies, Costa said, “We chose publishers capable of promoting not only the book itself but also its content.”

On March 10, seven editions will officially hit the market: German, Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish, totaling over one million copies. A Croatian edition will be released at the end of March.  In some languages, such as English, an e-book version already exists. The second volume will soon be available as an e-reader.

Costa noted that in the preface of the new book, “the Pope himself announces a third volume dedicated to the infancy narratives of the Gospel. We are already contemplating the idea of publishing the three volumes as a single tome. We are convinced this new book by Benedict XVI will be a long seller, and we will be promoting it through presentations, conferences and other initiatives.”