Pope Francis Orders Archives of Pius XII’s Entire Pontificate to Be Opened

Access to the documents, which include those on the venerable pontiff’s actions during World War II, has been long awaited.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-order-archives-of-entire-pius-xii-pontificate-to-be-opened

Pope Francis has ordered the opening of the Vatican Secret Archives for the entire period of Venerable Pius XII’s pontificate, a move that will help shed light on the contentious dispute that the pontiff either heroically supported the Jews during World War Two, or did too little.

In a message today to officials working in the Vatican Secret Archives, the Holy Father said the archives would be opened from March 2, 2020 — exactly a year after the 80th anniversary of Pius’ election, which took place last Saturday.

The Pope said all the “archival documentation” from his election on March 2, 1939, until his death on Oct. 9, 1958, would be “open for consultation by researchers.”

This would therefore include the important years of World War Two, a time that became contentious in the postwar years, with critics calling Pius XII “Hitler’s Pope” (the title of a book by John Cornwell widely viewed as discredited) for seemingly not doing enough to help save the Jews from the Holocaust.

But his supporters, some prominent Jews among them, have long argued that he acted prudently and heroically, and helped to save tens of thousands of Jewish lives. They insist he was the victim of a ‘Black Legend’ — a smear campaign masterminded by Soviet secret intelligence.

Historians and commentators on both sides of the so-called “Pius Wars” debate have therefore long wished for the archives to be opened to know what really happened during those tumultuous years.