Vatican asserts sole control of Pope's name, image

December 21, 2009

In a curious public statement, the Vatican announced on December 19 that “the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff …, and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical', must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See.”

The directive, issued by the Secretariat of State, was designed to curtail unauthorized use of the Pope’s name. The Vatican press office, in announcing the new policy, observed that “attempts have been made to attribute credibility and authority to initiatives by using ecclesiastical or papal symbols and logos.” The statement did not give any examples of such misuse of the Pope’s name—leaving readers wondering about the real purpose of the new policy—but did mention that the heightened popularity and visibility of the Pontiff in recent years has prompted many institutions to use his name.

It is not clear how aggressively the Vatican proposes to enforce the newly announced policy. In May 2005, just weeks after the election of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Roman Pontiff, the Secretariat of State announced that the Vatican publisher, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, had assumed control of all copyrights for written work by the Pope. That claim surprised several publishers who had produced previous works by Cardinal Ratzinger, and forced renegotiation of their existing contracts.

 

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Further information:

• Declaration on the Protection of the Figure of the Pope (VIS)
• Vatican Cracks Down on Phoney Use of Papal Image (AP)