Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Beginning July 3, L'Osservatore Romano will have an edition in the Malayalam language, dedicated to the six million Catholics in the Indian state of Kerala. For the occasion, Benedict XVI has sent a message in which he speaks of "a highly significant event in the life of the Church in India".
Reading the Vatican newspaper, the message continues, "will keep the over six million Catholics in Kerala State fully informed about the ministry of the Pope and the work of the Holy See and strengthen the bonds of faith and ecclesial communion linking the Catholic community to the See of Peter".
The Malayalam language edition will be a translation of the weekly edition in English, which in turn will undergo a few changes in order to dedicate more attention to the Indian Catholic community. "It is my hope", the pope writes in this regard, "that this new translation of the English edition, which now takes its place alongside the other language editions of L'Osservatore Romano, will prove a valuable source of instruction and enrichment in the faith, an incentive to ever greater fraternity and cooperation within Kerala's richly diverse Catholic community, and an indispensable aid to the continuing work of evangelization".