So now we know... I had been wondering at the lack of reports on the sales of the encyclical Lumen fidei, as well as the lack of any photograph online of Pope Francis signing his first encyclical, as one might see from the image results for a Google search of 'Pope Francis signs first encyclical' [only the top part shown here], unthinkable for the most popular Pope in history.
One would think the world should share such a historic photo, but perhaps, PF is too modest for such photo-ops and finds it vain. I shall translate only the lead paragraphs of the INSIDER story (which does not appear in its English edition), because the rest of it is background stuff meant to underscore the Pope's authorship of the encyclical:
'Lumen fidei':
200,000 sold in first month
by DOMENICO AGASSO JR
Translated from the Italian service of
August 23, 2013
A publishing success for the 'encyclical by two Popes', published by Pope Francis on July 5. Great numbers for the Vatican publishing house LEV despite simultaneous editions by other publishers.
Pope Francis has been earning enthusiasm and approval even by publishing standards: his encyclical
Lumen fidei is in fact in the list of the best-selling books in Italy today.
Since it was launched on July 5, LEV alone has sold 200,000 copies in its first month of release, although it was released during a vacation month and other publishing houses have also been authorized to publish it....
[The article does not mention the publishing success of Benedict XVI's first encyclical, so I looked back and here are a couple of reports from that time, from the 'POPE-POURRI' thread of the PAPA RATZINGER FORUM. I had very little facility for reproducing graphics and for photo usage at the time, so the accounts are truly 'bare bones'...]
I will look further for similar reports on the initial sales for Spe salvi and Caritas in veritate. I recall they were just as impressive. Personally, I am disappointed that the faithful who did rush to buy the sold-out initial printings of Benedict XVI's encyclicals didn't do the same thing for Lumen fidei, which is 'his' encyclical, too, after all. And that Pope Francis's own legion of devotees have not stampeded the bookstores to set yet another 'popularity' record for PF. I wonder why... .
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/08/2013 13:01]