For the first time all papal documents, including encyclicals, will be governed by copyright invested in the official Vatican publishing house, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The edict covers Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, which is to be issued this week amid huge international interest. The edict is retroactive, covering not only the writings of the present pontiff — as Pope and as cardinal — but also those of his predecessors over the past 50 years. It therefore includes anything written by John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI and John XXIII.

The decision was denounced yesterday for treating the Pope’s words as “saleable merchandise” and endangering the Church’s mission to “spread the Christian message”.

A Milanese publishing house that had issued an anthology containing 30 lines from Pope Benedict’s speech to the conclave that elected him and an extract from his enthronement speech is reported to have been sent a bill for €15,000 (£10,000). This was made up of 15 per cent of the cover price of each copy sold plus “legal expenses” of €3,500.

Vittorio Messori, who has co-authored works with Pope Benedict and John Paul II, said that he was “perplexed and alarmed . . . This is wholly negative and absolutely disastrous for the Vatican’s image.” A pope’s words should be available to all free of charge, he said, and to “cash in in this way surrounds the clergy with the odour of money”.

Publishers will have to negotiate a levy of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of the cover price of any book or publication “containing the Pope’s words”. Those who infringe the copyright face legal action and a higher levy of 15 per cent.

The Union of Italian Catholic Publishers and Booksellers said that it had not been consulted, and that the edict “flies in the face of what we do — spreading the Pope’s message to the world”.

A Vatican spokesman said that the Holy See had to defend itself against “pirated editions”. The move is also aimed at “premature publication”. Journalists accredited to the Vatican are handed papal texts under embargo. The Vatican said that if embargos were broken in future not only would the journalist face sanctions but also his or her publication would face legal action.

Last week ANSA, the Italian news agency, published what it said were brief extracts from the forthcoming encyclical, Deus Caritas Est. Vatican officials said that the final text was still being worked on and the supposed extracts were “speculative”. Publication, originally scheduled for six weeks ago, has been held up by internal Vatican wrangling, allegedly over translation.

Officials said that newspapers would be free to publish extracts from papal documents without charge once they were officially released, but only by “prior agreement”. The rules cover not only encyclicals — the most authoritative papal pronouncements, issued in Latin — but also the Pope’s homilies at his weekly audiences on Wednesdays, and his addresses at Angelus prayers on Sundays.

The decree was signed last May by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State, but put into effect only a month ago at a meeting of Vatican lawyers on the rights to works by Pope Benedict, who as Cardinal Ratzinger was the late Pope’s doctrinal adviser and a prolific author.

Signor Messori agreed that some publishers had in the past “overstepped the mark”. “But the Church exists to spread the Word, as commanded by Christ himself.” He said that he was appalled at “the very idea of placing a tax on the words of the Pope, the principal interpreter of the Gospel”. Publishers and journalists would be “terrorised”, wondering whether they would be sued for quoting the pontiff, he said.

PRINTS OF THE CHURCH

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