"Good News from the Vatican"

by Robert Silverberg

Form: Short story

Year: 1971

ID: 396

Publication history:

• ????: Gute Nachrichten aus dem Vatikan, Moewig Mass market paperback, in German
• 1971: Universe 1, Ace Mass market paperback, 250 pp.
• 1971: Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1971, Dutton Mass market paperback
• 1973: Nebula Award Stories 7, Harper & Row Hard cover book
• 1973: Unfamiliar Territory, Scribner's Hard cover book, 212 pp.
• 1975: The New Awareness, Delacorte Hard cover book
• 1975: Social Problems Through Science Fiction, St Martins Hard cover book
• 1975: Unfamiliar Territory, Gollancz Hard cover book, 212 pp.
• 1976: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Pocket Mass market paperback, ISBN 671-80282-8, 258 pp.
• 1977: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Pocket Mass market paperback, ISBN 0-671-83497-5, 258 pp.
• 1977: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Sidgwick & Jackson Hard cover book
• 1977: Unfamiliar Territory, Coronet Mass market paperback, ISBN 0340219785, 204 pp.
• 1978: Science Fiction Special #30, Sidgwick & Jackson Mass market paperback
• 1978: Unfamiliar Territory, Berkley Mass market paperback, ISBN 425-03882-3, 207 pp.
• 1978: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Orbit Mass market paperback, 258 pp.
• 1978: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Volume 1, Gregg Hard cover book, 288 pp.
• 1981: Science Fiction Hall of Fame [UK] Volume 4, Gollancz Hard cover book
• 1981: Unfamiliar Territory, Coronet Mass market paperback, ISBN 0340219785, 204 pp.
• 1984: The Best from Universe, Doubleday Hard cover book
• 1986: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Baen Mass market paperback, ISBN 0-671-65586-8, 277 pp.
• 1986: Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 4, Avon Mass market paperback
• 1986: Beyond the Safe Zone, Donald I Fine Hard cover book, 472 pp.
• 1987: Beyond the Safe Zone, Warner Mass market paperback, ISBN 0-446-30173-6, 565 pp.
• 1989: Beyond the Safe Zone, Warner Mass market paperback, 565 pp.
• 1993: The Norton Book of Science Fiction, Norton Trade paperback
• 1995: Beyond the Safe Zone (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 3), HarperCollins UK Trade paperback, ISBN 0-586-21371-6, 605 pp.
• 1995: Beyond the Safe Zone, Grafton Mass market paperback, ISBN 0586213716
• 2000: Fictionwise, Fictionwise Online
• 2004: Phases of the Moon, iBooks Trade paperback, ISBN 0743498011, 623 pp.

Comments:

Winner of the Nebula Award for best short story, 1971, and a perennial favorite among readers.

Ever since I read Baron Corvo's Hadrian the Seventh in 1955 I have entertained the desire to become the Pope—an ambition complicated to some degree by the fact that I am not in holy orders, nor a Roman Catholic, nor even a Christian at all. As my friends know, I duly submit an application whenever a vacancy occurs in Rome, but as of this date [1975] the Church has not seen fit to make use of my services. (From Silverberg's introduction in The Best of Robert Silverberg) The story concerns the election of a robot Pope, but Silverberg gives no background or explanation for the phenomenon of robot faith, so for me there are more questions than answers. Still, it's a fun little story.

Other resources:

[None on record]