Pope Francis’s Encyclical on Climate Change Now Available as a Free Download at Audible.com

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Audible Studios, a production arm of Audible.com, along with Vatican Radio and Libreria Editrice Vaticana, today announced the release of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s influential encyclical on climate change and the environment. The audio, in which Pope Francis calls for renewable fuel subsidies and efficient energy, is narrated by Philippa Hitchen and Sean Patrick Lovett and is available as a free download at Audible.com.

The release of the encyclical coincides with Pope Francis’s arrival in the United States today. He will address the United States Congress and the United Nations later this week.

“We are glad to provide our customers with the opportunity to listen to the Pope’s encyclical on the environment,” said Audible EVP and Publisher Beth Anderson. “Climate change is an issue that impacts everyone in the world, and this offering is a convenient and environmentally friendly way for our listeners to hear this leader’s perspective on this important topic.”

Because of the global interest in climate change and in Pope Francis, Audible will carry the Encyclical in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, and French. This is the first time that Audible has made a single piece of content available free in so many languages.

Among the acclaimed performers who have narrated works of literature for Audible are Dan Stevens, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kate Winslet and Tim Robbins. In 2013, Audible Studios won its first Grammy Award, for its production of Janis Ian’s memoir Society’s Child, and also won the Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year, for Colin Firth’s performance of Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair.

Audible, the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word content, invented and commercialized the first digital audio player in 1997, and has since been at the forefront of the explosively growing audiobook download segment. In 2014, listeners around the world downloaded 1.2 billion hours of audio from Audible.com outlets; Audible members downloaded an average of more than 17 books over the course of the year. More than half of current Audible members are first-time audiobook buyers.

ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ: AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible’s mission is to establish literate listening as a core tool for anyone seeking to be more productive, better informed, or more thoughtfully entertained. Audible content includes more than 225,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes Store.

ABOUT VATICAN RADIO

Vatican Radio is the broadcasting station of the Holy See based in the Vatican City State.

It is a means of communication and evangelization created to serve the Pope’s Ministry established by Guglielmo Marconi and inaugurated by Pius XI on February 12th, 1931.

The mission of Vatican Radio is to proclaim the Christian message freely, faithfully and efficiently and keep the center of Catholicism in contact with the different countries of the world by diffusing the voice and the teachings of the Roman Pontif, informing about the activities of the Holy See, giving information about the life and the activities of the Catholic Church in the world and helping the faithful to evaluate today’s problems in light of the Teachings of the Church.

Vatican Radio broadcasts its programs worldwide in 40 languages. Its schedule is available on the website www.radiovaticana.va.

ABOUT LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA

The publishing activity of the Holy See is connected to the foundation of the Vatican Printing Press which dates back to 27 April 1587, during the pontificate of Pope Sixtus V. It was only in 1926, during the pontificate of Pius XI, that the old Sales Office was separated from the Printing Press in order to become a new and autonomous entity. It was entrusted with the sale of books printed by the Holy See in its own Press. Over time, little by little, the Bookstore became the Vatican Publishing House (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the LEV), and today the LEV is recognized as the official publishing house of the Holy See, with its statutes approved in 1991 by the Secretary of State.

A decisive step towards a more qualified editorial role for LEV came with the election of John Paul II in 1978. From the beginning of this great pontificate the Vatican Publishing House was assigned the task of managing the writings of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła (whose works were little known outside of Poland) in addition to the traditional texts of the Magisterium and of the Holy See. Thus, in the course of just a few years, the LEV began to receive numerous inquiries from around the world seeking permission to publish the works of Cardinal Wojtyła and Pope John Paul II.

Another important step forward was taken with a Decree of the Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, on 31 May 2005. With this decree, Cardinal Sodano confirmed and made official the arrangement whereby all rights of authorship with regard to the Holy Father’s texts were entrusted to the LEV. Later, the management of the copyrights for the writings of Cardinal Ratzinger, like those of Cardinal Wojtyła, were also entrusted to the LEV.

Alongside the publication of books—its principle patrimony—the Publishing House has expanded its role to include developing structures for their distribution.

In addition to the bookstore in the Braccio di Carlo Magno, in the colonnade of St Peter’s Basilica—inaugurated in 1983 and dedicated to John Paul II—two other stores have been opened: The Paul VI International Bookstore, on the Via di Propaganda Fide; and the Benedict XVI International Bookstore, located in Piazza Pio XII.

http://www.libreriaeditricevaticana.va

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150922005257/en/

Audible.com
Esther Bochner, 973-820-0781
[email protected]

Source: Audible Studios

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