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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Vatican as a Scientific Institute |
 | | The Vatican Library is the first among the great libraries of the world in the importance of its materials, but in the number of its manuscripts a few libraries surpass it, and in the number of printed books it is surpassed by many. |
 | | The title of "Scriptor of the Vatican Library" has been held by such men as Giovanni de Rossi, Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro, Stevenson, and many others, and is to-day borne by such world-famous scholars as Mercati, Franchi de' Cavalieri, Vatasso, etc. The annual budget of the library is the ridiculously small sum of 6000 dollars. |
 | | The assertions that the Vatican Library was the property not of the Church or of the Holy See, but of the late Papal States, were meant to prepare the way for the eventual seizure of the library, or at least its withdrawal from the operation of the Law of Guarantees. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/15286a.htm (10839 words) |
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