THE VATICAN first dipped its toes in the digital ocean when it joined Twitter and soon it will be taking the plunge by providing the content of its entire library online.

More than 40 million pages of Vatican records will be preserved in digital format, including 80,000 historic manuscripts and 8,900 rare "incunabula", early form books published prior to 1501.

Other documents that will be made available online include: The Sifra, a Hebrew manuscript written between the end of the 9th Century and the middle of the 10th, one of the oldest Hebrew codes in existence. Greek testimonies of the works of Homer, Sophocles, Plato and Hippocrates will also be digitised along with the famous incunabulum of Pius II's De Europa, printed by Albrecht Kunne in Memmingen in around 1491. The Vatican will also be digitising a document known as "The Code-B" which is one of the oldest existing manuscripts of the Greek Bible which is believed to have been written in the 4th Century.

So it's understandable that this is kind of a big deal and a huge step forward for The Vatican.

Timothy Janz, scriptor gracius for The Vatican said in a documentary last year that people often incorrectly think the Vatican library is where secrets are stored.

"The point of the library was the exact opposite," he said. "It was to make information accessible."

Monsignor Cesare Pasini, Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library said that it contained some of the oldest texts in the world that represent a priceless legacy of history and culture.

"It's very important that these documents are protected, and at the same time made available to scholars around the world," he said.

The project would ensure the "treasure-trove of rare and unique texts" were preserved in a format that "will not suffer from the passage of time".

Michele Liberato, President of EMC Italy, the company whose job it is to digitise all Vatican records safely, said it was its "mission" to manage and protect the information.



“The Apostolic Library is one of the oldest libraries in the world and we have a duty to ensure that the knowledge and beauty of the manuscripts in it are available to all in the future," he said. "This project will help to preserve and make available a unique heritage of knowledge."

The project is expected to take nine years to complete and its first phase will store 2.8 petabytes worth of information.

