Margins of the Night: A Little Levity (part 2)

[ed. note: the more we look into Laudato si’, the more impressed we are. We look forward to detailing many aspects of this revolutionary document. But lately, IRL has been oppressive, a dark cloud in search of a release. So today we’re going to have some fun, with respect, with the encyclical]

We are continuing our series Margins of the Night, where we look at Pope Frances’ 2015 encyclical Laudato si’, addressing mankind’s moral responsibility to act against climate change.

What is an Encyclical?

In a nutshell, and encyclical is a letter sent from the pope to a select group of bishops, or all the bishops.

Much more detail can be found at Papal Encyclicals.

Bulls and Briefs

Father forgive us…. we just couldn’t resist. But WLBOTT would be remiss if we didn’t include bulls in briefs.

The Actual Letter

So…. we picture St. Frances wrapping up his encyclical, then asking, “Anyone got a stamp? Hey, can someone run by the post office later?”

And where would his letter get posted? At any one of the four Vatican City post offices.

Details at
https://www.postevaticane.va/en/post-offices

The Central Post Office (Posta Centrale)

Posta Centrale
Palazzo delle Poste 00120 Città del Vaticano
dal lunedì al venerdì: 8,00-18,45
sabato: 8,00-13,30

How WLBOTT imagines the interior:

And the Stamp?

Commemorative stamps for the 1^st and 2^nd Laudato Si’.

The Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State (Italian: Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico), managed by Poste Vaticane, is responsible for issuing Vatican postal stamps and Vatican coins.

The office was created on 11 February 1929 in the nations founding, and issued the first of the nations postal stamps on 1 August of the same year. While Vatican stamps may only be used within the Vatican City State and the quantity of euro coins is limited by treaty with Italy (the total value of all coins minted in 2002 was restricted to €310,400), Vatican coins and stamps serve as an important sign of Vatican sovereignty, and their scarcity and design makes them popular with collectors.
Wikipedia

Postage stamps and postal history of Vatican City

The Vatican has acquired a reputation for producing handsome and attractive issues in limited quantities (even today, the average production run for most issues is only between 300,000 and 500,000 stamps).

Many Romans, distrustful of the unreliable Italian post office, make weekly trips to the Vatican just to post their important letters.
Wikipedia

The Vatican issued a postage stamp in 2017 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, featuring Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon kneeling before a crucifix, with Luther holding a Bible and Melanchthon the Augsburg Confession. This stamp, released on November 23, 2017, was part of a positive approach by the Vatican to ecumenical dialogue and mutual understanding between Catholics and Lutherans.

Gemini