Vatican secret archives for World War II will open within 6 years: Cardinal Kasper

May 26, 2010

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who coordinates the Vatican outreach to the world's Jews, has promised that the secret archives covering the pontificate of Pius XII will be open to scholars within 6 years. Speaking to an audience in Liverpool, Cardinal Kasper said that the contents of the archives could help resolves longstanding questions about the efforts of the wartime Pontiff to protect Jews from the Holocaust. "It is our belief that we have nothing to hide and that we do not need to fear the truth," he said.

Although Cardinal Kasper's announcement drew keen interest from reporters, his timetable for the opening of the World War II archives was not new. Earlier this year Bishop Sergio Pagan, the Vatican Archivist, told an Italian newspaper that he thought that section of the archives would be open within 5 years. Bishop Pagan said that only the "technical" difficulties involved in sorting and cataloguing 16 million documents are now delaying the date.

 

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Further information:

• At last, the Vatican will open Pius XII archive (Daily Telegraph)
• Vatican promises to open wartime archives (London Times)
• Vatican archives for WWII era may be opened by 2015 (CWN, 1/29)