Vatican slow to authorize use of papal image
July 18, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Shopkeepers in Rome are restlessly waiting for Vatican approval to sell souvenirs featuring the image of Pope Leo XIV: approval that has been delayed.
The Vatican carefully controls the use of the Pontiff’s portrait and coat of arms, to prevent various forms of exploitation. Under tight tight new rules issued by the Vatican Secretariat of State, in 2018 Italian police confiscated 18,000 illegal souvenirs. Vatican officials have been especially careful to guard against illicit use of the papal image during the current Jubilee Year, with its extraordinary influx of tourists in Rome.
The Vatican took only a week to authorize use of the image of Pope Francis after his election in 2013. More than two months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, no authorizations have been issued.
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