Pope Francis Giving Pricey Bible to Library of Congress

He's expected to present the gift to John Boehner tomorrow

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 23, 2015 2:25 PM CDT

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Pope Francis Giving Pricey Bible to Library of Congress — A detail from the illumination by Donald Jackson of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, based on a passage from the Book of Revelation is displayed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011. The Benedictine monks at St. John's Abbey and St. John's University in Collegeville,... (AP Photo/The Star-Tribune, Jeff Wheeler)

Pope Francis is addressing Congress tomorrow, and he plans to bring a pretty nice gift along with him. The pontiff will reportedly present lawmakers and the Library of Congress with a Bible believed to have cost $8 million to make, MSN reports. As the Hill reported last month, the Apostles Edition of the St. John's Bible is a special fine art edition commissioned by a Benedictine abbey in Minnesota and completed in 2011, and it's thought to be the first hand-written and illuminated Bible produced since the printing press was invented. The seven-volume, 1,150-page English-language edition is one of just a dozen such sets, and was given to Pope Francis by St. John's Abbey and University in Minnesota back in April. He now plans to return it to the US. (More Pope Francis stories.)

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