Vatican Opens Pius XII Archives
The Vatican has announced it will open its archives related to Pope Pius XII, sometimes called "Hitler's Pope," inviting renewed scholarship and debate on one of the 20th century's most controversial religious figures. The move is expected to provide new insights into the Catholic Church's role during World War II. Historians have long sought access to these documents to better understand Vatican diplomacy during the Nazi era.
- The archives, covering his entire 1939-1958 pontificate, were opened to researchers on March 2, 2020, the 81st anniversary of his papal election. Pope Francis announced the opening a year prior, stating, "The Church is not afraid of history." - Initial access was granted to over 150 researchers, including scholars from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. The complete catalog is estimated to contain approximately 16 million documents. - One of the major points of contention for historians is a 1942 Christmas radio message from Pius XII, which referred to "hundreds of thousands of people who, without any fault of their own and sometimes for the sole reason of their nationality or race, were doomed to death or gradual extermination," but never explicitly named the Jews or Nazis. - Research by historian David Kertzer, detailed in his book "The Pope at War," suggests the Vatican worked hardest to save Jews who had converted to Catholicism or were the children of mixed marriages. His work also uncovered previously unknown secret negotiations between Pius XII and Adolf Hitler. - In contrast, Vatican archivist Johan Ickx's book, "The Office: The Jews of Pius XII," argues that the documents reveal the Pope's support for an escape route for the persecuted and diplomatic attempts to influence the Third Reich. - Early findings by some researchers suggest Pius XII was provided with detailed reports about the mass murder of Jews in Warsaw and Lviv as early as the fall of 1942. However, the Vatican allegedly told the U.S. government it could not confirm reports of Nazi atrocities. - Defenders of Pius XII argue that his public silence was a calculated diplomatic measure to avoid Nazi retaliation against Catholics and to allow the Church to quietly hide thousands of Jews in convents and other institutions. - The process of reviewing the millions of documents is expected to take many years, with scholars continuing to analyze the extensive materials from the Vatican Secretariat of State and other Holy See departments.
