Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu among writers received by Pope at event marking Holy See publishing house centenary

Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu was among a group of writers received by Pope Leo XIV on June 24 to mark the centenary of the publishing house of the Holy See.

The group included American novelists Marilynne Robinson, Elizabeth Strout, and Jonathan Safran Foer, French writers Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and Sorj Chalandon, Irish writer Colum McCann, Spanish author Julia Navarro, and Italians Vittorio Lingiardi, Daniele Mencarelli, and Enrico Brizzi, according toInfovaticana.

The Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), the Holy See’s publishing house, was established in 1926, during the pontificate of Pius XI. It publishes official documents of the Roman Catholic Church, including papal bulls, event records, and encyclicals.

At the June 24 audience, the Pope toldthe writers present that writing is an act of truth and humanity, one “of revelation, for it reveals who we are, what we believe and hope for, the world we strive toward and the future of which we dream.”

“We need your imagination, your narrative creativity and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound,” he told the authors.

Mircea Cărtărescu has published more than 25 books of poetry, criticism, and fiction. His work has received the Formentor Prize (2018), the Thomas Mann Prize (2018), the Austrian State Prize for Literature (2015), and the Vilenica Prize (2011), among many others, and has been translated into 23 languages. Last year, he was longlisted for the International Booker Prizewith his novel Solenoid, which won the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. It is the first book translated from Romanian to win the distinction.

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