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.”