An apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis is the best-selling papal document in Britain since the Second Vatican Council.
More than 25,000 copies of Evangelii Gaudium have been sold since December.
This is the highest figure for any Vatican document since Unitatis Redintegratio, the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism sold 85,000 copies in Britain.
Sales are already twice as much as for any previous papal document.
The managing editor of the Catholic Truth Society, which publishes such documents in Britain, said some bishops were buying it for their priests.
But parishes are also being encouraged to buy copies, Pierpaolo Finaldi said.
“If we as British Catholics can emulate the enthusiasm for evangelisation that shines through the text then it will be good news, not just for the Church but for the country at large,” he said.
Evangelii Gaudium is also rocketing off book shelves in Korea, ahead of a papal visit.
Since being published in Korean two weeks ago, 25,000 copies have been sold.
Usually, about 4000 copies of papal documents are sold in Korea.
A Catholic sister who works in the “Daughters of Paul” book shop said: “Christians, Catholics but also Protestants and Anglicans, have come in droves to buy the book.”
“Even non-Christians have begun to read it, and the announcement of the visit has boosted sales”.
A Korean Catholic newspaper also put the document’s success down to its easily accessible language.
Sister Kown, from the Pauline bookshop said papal documents usually don’t sell well in Korea because there is “a certain prejudice against these texts among Koreans”.
“They consider them complicated, far removed from the life of the faithful.”
“Instead this exhortation is seen as a letter, which speaks of current issues and explains how to live well in a normal language”.
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