Vatican to open key pre-WWII archives

Christian Century, Jan 25, 2003

Starting February 15, the Vatican will give scholars access to key pre-World War II archives, which may help to clarify the attitude of Pope Pius XII toward the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

The documents deal with relations between the Vatican and Germany during the years 1922 to 1939 when Pius XI was pope and Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, served first as ambassador to Germany and then secretary of state. As Pius XII, he was pope from 1939 to 1958.

Pope John Paul II last February had directed Vatican officials to release files on the Vatican's prewar relations with Germany to try to "put an end to unjust and ungrateful speculation" about Pius XII's conduct. The files are expected to have a direct bearing on accusations by English writer John Cornwall in his 1999 book Hitler's Pope that Pius XII was anti-Semitic and sympathetic to Adolf Hitler in hopes that the Nazi leader would provide a buffer against communism.

Historians have continued to demand access to all World War II files, most of which remain sealed. The issue has soured Catholic-Jewish relations and blocked Pius XII's beatification at least for the present. Three Catholic and three Jewish historians named by the Vatican and Jewish agencies in November 1999 to end the controversy over Pius XII's wartime role suspended work in July 2001 because they were allowed to examine only archives up to 1922 and 11 volumes of already published World War II documents.

A Vatican spokesman said scholars now will be able to study the documents of the Vatican missions to Bavaria from 1922 to 1939 and Berlin from 1922 to 1930. He noted that an Allied bombing of Berlin in 1945 destroyed documents dated from 1931 to 1934. Officials have promised to release all remaining documents on the pontificate of Pius XI (from 1922 to 1939) in 2005.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will open documents in its archives relating to Hitler's National Socialism movement and the Vatican's condemnation of racism, said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. Officials had announced earlier that the archives would be available on the first working day after January 1, but sources said the delays stemmed from organizing files, many of which were stored in cardboard boxes.--RNS