The Vatican 2023 stamp program starts with an outline of what collectors can expect. No specific dates, images or details at the moment. As of mid January, the cancel and stamp pdfs hadn’t been issued. As the year progresses, the list below will morph into a calendar format, but for now, enjoy the topics.
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No dates were available as of today (January 15, 2023) so the following list of topics (from the Vatican website) will not be in chronological order.
2023 Vatican stamp themes
Stamps celebrating the 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis
- Pontificate of Pope Francis MMXXIII
- Easter of Resurrection MMXXIII
- Holy Christmas MMXXIII
- Postal whole envelope 2023: 10th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis
Annual sets and themes
- Europe 2023: “Peace is the highest value of humanity”
- An ideal pilgrimage around the earth on the way to the Jubilee 2025: Africa
- An Ideal Pilgrimage Around the Earth on the Way to the 2025 Jubilee: America
- Pope Francis’ travels around the world in 2022
- Decade for Ecosystem Restoration – Year II
- Commemorative issues of anniversaries
Commemoratives / Anniversaries
- Centenary of the Italian Air Force
- 825th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Spoleto
- XXXVII World Youth Day – Lisbon
- Bicentenary of the Lateran Union
- 150th Anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni
- 150th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Peguy
- 250th anniversary of the establishment of the Pontifical Lateran University
- Centenary of the Permanent Commission for the Protection of Historical Monuments and
- Artists of the Holy See
- 850th anniversary of the death of Saint Nerses Shnorhali
Joint emissions
- 550th Anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (Joined Emirates)
Misc
- Postcards 2023: V centenary of Perugino’s death
- Aerogram 2023: 700 years since the canonization of St. Thomas Aquinas
- Vatican Volume 2023
What isn’t on the list is upcoming commemorative/special cancels. I usually find them when I tour through the Vatican news releases and pdfs every couple of weeks.
Enjoy the year.
Cheers
Catpaw
January
Stamp and Special Postmark In memory of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
1 stamp, cancel, souvenir folder with special cover & cancel
Photo taken between 13 to 29 July 2009
Designer: Vatican Media
Release date: January 31, 2023
Pope Francis Visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo
commemorative cancel
1 cancel
Release date: From January 31 – February 3, 2023
February
Pope Francis Visit to the Sudan
commemorative cancel
1 cancel
Release date: From February 3 – 5, 2023
10th Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis
philatelic cover
1 cover
offset
Artist: Vitaliy Shtanko
Vitaliy Shtanko | Hagan Fine Art
Release date: February 27, 2023
An Ideal Pilgrimage Around the Earth on the Way to the Jubilee 2025: Africa
1 stamp on souvenir sheet, cancel
offset
Artist: Patricia Daniele
Release date: February 27, 2023
550th Anniversary of the Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus
Joint issue with Poland
Painting: Copernicus Astronomer or Conversation with God @ 1871 and 1873 on the 400th anniversary. Property of Museum of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow
Artist: Jan Matejko (1838-1893)
This painting was recently (2021) on loan to The National Gallery in UK. Both Conversations with God: Jan Matejko’s Copernicus | Past exhibitions | National Gallery, London and “The Astronomer Copernicus. Conversations with God” – Jan Matejko’s epic painting in London for the first time – English (niepodlegla.gov.pl) have brief descriptions of the painting and Matejko.
Poland issued the same image on their stamp. As well as a souvenir sheet, Poland also released a FDC and special cancel by designer Joanna Fleszar-Haspert
Release date: February 27, 2023
Easter 2023
stamp, cancel
offset
The Vatican website states the stamp was “freely inspired by the Byzantine icon of the Descent into Hell”.
Artist: Raúl Berzosa
Release date: February 27, 2023
Pontificate of Pope Francis MMXXIII
4 stamps,cancel
offset
Release date: February 27, 2023
March
Centenary of the Italian Air Force
1 stamp on souvenir sheet, cancel
offset
Release date: March 23, 2023
April
Easter 2023
Special folder with stamp & FDC
Artwork: The Miraculous Fishing by Raffaello Sanzio
c 1515-1516 tempera on paper
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Release date: April 9, 2023
May
EUROPA 2023 – Peace, Humanity’s Highest Value
2 stamps, cancel
offset
More images coming of cancel and FDC
First image shows Pope Francis holding a Ukrainian flag
Designers Peace knot: Linda Bos / Runa Egilsdottir, Esch-sur-Alzette
Designer Pope Francis: Vatican Post
Release date: May 16, 2023
Lateran Union of Canons Regular, Bicentenary
1 stamp
offset
Photographer: Francesco Marsili
Release date: May 16, 2023
825th anniversary of the dedication of Spoleto Cathedral
1 stamp, souvenir folder with FDC, cancel
offset
COMPLEX OF THE CATHEDRAL OF SPOLETO (duomospoleto.it)
Artist: Daniela Longo
Release date: May 16, 2023
XXXVII World Youth Day Congress, Lisbon – WITHDRAWN
1 stamp
offset
World Youth Day takes place August 1 to 6, 2023.
This stamp was released to celebrate this year’s World Youth Day Congress in Lisbon, Portugal. After severe backlash due to the use of images associated with Portugal’s former colonial empire and dictator Antônio Salazar, the stamp has been withdrawn. The memorial the Pope and children are climbing has been denounced as wildly inappropriate for a Youth Day Congress celebration. Portuguese Bishop Carlos Moreira Azevedo stated the stamp was “in bad taste.”
The original intent was to show “a ship that guides young people and the Church towards the future.” (Vatican withdraws World Youth Day 2023 stamp after criticism in Portugal | Catholic News Agency). However, the Vatican Post’s choice of a monument associated with colonial violence which is strongly tied to the fascist dictatorship of Salazar was deemed to be contrary to “Pope Francis’ message of universal fraternity,”
The Vatican will release a new image at a yet to be announced date.
Release date: May 16, 2023
Commission to Protect Monuments of Holy See, Centenary
1 stamp on souvenir sheet, cancel
offset
Release date: May 16, 2023
July
XXXVII World Youth Day – Lisbon
1 stamp, FDC, cancel, souvenir folder
offset
The new logo replaces the problematic previous issue that was withdrawn in May. The logo was designed by Portuguese artist Beatriz Roque Antunes and symbolises the “dynamism of Mary visiting Elizabeth, according to the motto of the event: “Mary got up and went quickly.”
Logo designer: Beatriz Roque Antunes
Release date: July 6, 2023
80th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Institute for Works of Religion
souvenir folder with FDC, cancel
offset
Artwork: part of the fresco The Church between faith and justice
Artist:Carlo Malli (ca. 1760)
Release date: July 21, 2023
September
Decade for Ecosystem Restoration Year II
2 stamps, cancel, souvenir sheet
offset
Artist: Fra’ Giuseppe Murdaca
Watercolour represents fire, earth, water & air
Release date: September 21, 2023
Centenary of Death of Perugino (Pietro Vannucci)
postcards
5 postcards, cancel
Perugiono’s artwork is from frescos commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508.
- Holy Trinity
- the Creator enthroned between Angels and Cherubim
- Christ as Sol Iustitiae and Christ tempted by the devil
- Christ between Mercy and Justice
Artist: Perugiono (1448-1524)
Pietro Perugino Paintings, Drawings and Biography (thehistoryofart.org) has one of the better biographies on him. Approachable and interesting.
Release date: September 21, 2023
50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations Between the Holy See and Australia
1 stamp, cancel
offset
Artist: Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann
Australian Aboriginal Baumann donated this piece of art to the Vatican art museum in June 2023.
The wisdom of deep listening: Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann and Fleur Magick Dennis – ABC listen
Release date: September 21, 2023
850th Anniversary of the Death of Saint Nerses Shnorhali (1102-1173)
1 stamp
A pioneer in the arts of Christian music and poetry, and a leading theologian of the Christian East, St. Nerses was also a figure of international standing in the dialogue among Christian churches. His humane, peace-oriented approach to the controversies of his day was a model of effective diplomacy … Roman Catholic and Armenian churches to honor 850th anniversary of St. Nerses Shnorhali (armenianweekly.com)
Release date: September 21, 2023
250th Anniversary of the Pontifical Lateran University
1 stamp
offset
Established November 24, 1773, by Pope Clement XIV
Designer: Patrizio Daniele using a 1937 mosaic created by the Vatican Mosaic Studio
Release date: September 21, 2023
150th anniversary of the birth of St. John Calabria
1 stamp
offset
Release date: September 21, 2023
November
100th Anniversary of the Birth of Don Lorenzo Milani
1 aerogramme
offset
Release date: November 23, 2023
60th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations Between the Holy See and the Republic of Korea
2 stamps
offset
Images:
- Pope’s visit to Korea (Aug 2014) showing the Pontiff with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and H.E. Msgr. Peter Kang U-il, Bishop Emeritus of Jeju
- From the 2023 WYD in Lisbon – the Pope greeting and welcoming a young Korean woman
Release date: November 23, 2023
Beatification of Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio
1 stamp
offset
Release date: November 23, 2023
150th Anniversary of Alessandro Manzoni’s Death
1 stamp, sheets of 6
offset
He thought of himself as a writer, if anything, and in his early years he produced some poems and essays and two verse tragedies—on Lombard themes, prophetically—but he had difficulty putting pen to paper and would leave his desk on any pretext, sometimes for long periods. Finally, however, Italy’s great political cause of the nineteenth century—the Risorgimento, the conversion of the peninsula from a nice kitchen garden for French, Spanish, and Austrian invaders to a single, united nation—galvanized him, and he began a novel in the service of that ideal. “The Betrothed” took place not in the nineteenth century but, rather, in the seventeenth, a terrible time, the period of the Thirty Years’ War and of resurgent bubonic plague. This permitted Manzoni to make his book more sensational and exotic. (The men wear those floppy-cuffed seventeenth-century boots, like Puss in Boots.) It also, by relieving him of the temptation to allude to people in power in his time, kept him out of jail.
Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed,” Reconsidered | The New Yorker This article is paywalled, but the New Yorker offers a handful of free articles. It’s a lengthy dive into both Manzoni and his most famous novel, and in typical New Yorker fashion, offers much to think about.
Artist: Stefano Morri
Release date: November 23, 2023
An Ideal Pilgrimage Around the Earth on the Way to the Jubilee of 2025: America
1 stamp on souvenir sheet
offset
Artist: Patrick Daniel
Release date: November 23, 2023
Pope Francis’ Travels Around the World in the Year 2022
1 stamp on souvenir sheet
offset
Release date: November 23, 2023
Holy Christmas MMXXIII
1 stamp, booklet of 2 stamps
offset
Artist: Franciscan friar Michelangelo Cianti
Painting: Miracle of Greccio 1902
Location: Franciscan convent of San Bonaventura, in Frascati
Release date: November 23, 2023
December
Philatelic volume – Vatican 2023
Album containing all the philatelic offerings of 2023 – in Italian, French, German and English.
Release date: December 18, 2023
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