Good News from the Vatican
- Form
- Short story
- Year
- 1971
Publication history
- (unknown): Gute Nachrichten aus dem Vatikan, Moewig Mass market paperback, in German as Gute Nachrichten aus dem Vatikan
- 1971: Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year 1971, Dutton Mass market paperback
- 1971: Universe 1, Ace Mass market paperback, 250 pp.
- 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, 258 pp.
- 1977: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Pocket Mass market paperback, 258 pp.
- 1977: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Sidgwick & Jackson Hard cover book
- 1977: Unfamiliar Territory, Coronet Mass market paperback, 204 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.
- 1978: Science Fiction Special #30, Sidgwick & Jackson Mass market paperback
- 1978: Unfamiliar Territory, Berkley Mass market paperback, 207 pp.
- 1981: Science Fiction Hall of Fame [UK] Volume 4, Gollancz Hard cover book
- 1981: Unfamiliar Territory, Coronet Mass market paperback, 204 pp.
- 1984: The Best from Universe, Doubleday Hard cover book
- 1986: The Best of Robert Silverberg, Baen Mass market paperback, 277 pp.
- 1986: Beyond the Safe Zone, Donald I Fine Hard cover book, 472 pp.
- 1986: Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 4, Avon Mass market paperback
- 1987: Beyond the Safe Zone, Warner Mass market paperback, 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, 605 pp.
- 1995: Beyond the Safe Zone, Grafton Mass market paperback
- 2000: Fictionwise, Fictionwise On-line
- 2004: Phases of the Moon, iBooks Trade paperback, 623 pp.
Blurb
(None on file)
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 file)