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 The Last World Youth Day Stamp: 34th World Youth Day, Panama Scott 1707 (2019) As reported late last month, the Vatican Post Office released a stamp to celebrate World Youth Day (WYD) on May 16th, 2023. Due to the perceived controversy surrounding the image on the stamp, on May 18 the Vatican Post Office pulled the stamp from its sales counters and stopped further sales. To view an image of the recalled stamp, click on the National Catholic Reporter article link in the references below. There have been several reports from VPS members regarding their attempts to purchase the stamp. Some members purchase stamps through CFN, and had placed and paid for orders for the May 16 stamp releases (which included six new issues: WYD, Bicentennial of the Lateran Union, Protection of Historic and Artistic Monuments of the Holy See, the Cathedral at Spoleto, Centenary of the Italian Air Force and Europa 2023). On May 30, members reported the receipt of the following email message from CFN: Dear customer, due to the delayed delivery of the philatelic sets issued on May 16th all the requests of material will be shipped starting from June 20, 2023. It has been speculated that a new WYD stamp is in the works and will be released in place of the recalled stamp, and will be shipped to CFN customers as part of the delayed shipment of the May 16 stamps. The speculation in May that the Vatican Post Office has created a very expensive item that few collectors will have in their stamp albums seems to have come to fruition. A check of Vatican stamp listings on Ebay by VPS member Dennis Oniszczak on June 4 showed at least five listings for the stamp with prices ranging from $520 to $670 each, depending on margins. That is a 150 to 200 times increase over the 3.10 euro face value for the stamp. A check of the listings, all from a dealer in Milan (Filatelia De Simoni), gives the following description: 2023 Vatican - World Youth Day in Portugal - Withdrawn Stamp…this stamp was issued on May 16, 2023 but withdrawn almost immediately following the protests, as they associated the figure of the Pope with the famous Portuguese conqueror Henry the Navigator known for the Colonizations, in fact this monument is located in Lisbon and symbolizes the Portuguese conquests by Henry the Navigator........ the circulation of this stamp could be around 2000 copies ....... it seems that the Vatican City is making a new specimen with a new design A reference to one of the dealer’s listings is provided below. The claims by the dealer are unsubstantiated, and nothing official has been released by the Vatican regarding the number of stamps that reached the market or the issuance of a new stamp design. Unfortunately, this has created several issues for collectors, dealers, and the Vatican Post Office, which is forced to deal with its second stamp controversy in three years (following that of the Easter stamp of 2020, which reportedly used the work of a street artist for the stamp illustration without attribution). Thanks to VPS members Marvin Lanahan, Dennis Oniszczak, Daniel Beyer and “Charlie from Williamsburg, Virginia” for providing information included in this report, through their emails and chats in the VPS Chatroom. There will certainly be more to come on this interesting story. REFERENCES: Justin McLennan, National Catholic Reporter, May 18, 2023, Vatican Reportedly Pulls Controversial World Youth Day Stamp Filatelia De Simoni, Ebay listing number 225598931598, 2023 Vatican - Giornata Mondiale Of Youth IN Portugal |
