Mircea Cărtărescu Meets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican Literary Celebration
Pope Leo XIV invited Mircea Cărtărescu and other renowned authors to celebrate the centennial of Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Cărtărescu, a Romanian poet and novelist, described his meeting with the Pope as inspiring, noting that he found him to be a good man. The invitation surprised Cărtărescu, who had never interacted directly with the Vatican before. He discussed how his atheistic upbringing led him to discover the Bible, which he read like any other book and incorporated into his mystical and gnostic-oriented works. The event also featured an exhibition of his poetry translated by Ernest Wichner. More: Die Tagespost
