New Arabic language guidebook on Vatican
(Vatican Radio) A new guidebook to the Vatican entirely in Arabic is hitting bookshelves. Issued by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV), its English title reads, “The Vatican, its significance and its monuments.”
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Written by Archbishop Edmond Farhat of Byblos, Lebanon, the guide is intended to offer the thousands of Arab tourists and pilgrims who visit Rome each year insight into the history, art and workings of the world’s smallest city-state. In addition to the Vatican’s artistic monuments and treasures – including St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, the Vatican gardens and catacombs, the volume gives historical background and describes the activities of the various dicasteries and other offices of Vatican City State. It also illustrates its significance through the ages.
Archbishop Farhat has been a longtime diplomat for the Holy See. He is former Apostolic Nuncio to Austria, Turkmenistan, Slovenia, Turkey and Macedonia. His diplomatic career also took him to Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.
Presenting the volume at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum 20 May in Rome: Giuseppe Costa, Director of the Vatican Publishing House (LEV); Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches; Lebanon’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Georges El-Khoury; Egypt’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Wafaa Bassim; and Professor Onorato Bucci, from the Pontifical Lateran University.