More than two hundred historians are preparing to dive into the archives that the Vatican will open on March 2 on Pius XII, the most controversial pope in history, criticized for never having publicly condemned the Nazi Holocaust.
This is a moment “decisive for the contemporary history of the Church and of the world“, said Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonca, archivist and librarian of the Holy Roman Church, on Thursday.
The prelate wants attention not only to focus on the Holocaust, but also to touch, for example “the tumultuous post-war period“.
Decided a year ago, the availability of these documents should make it possible to respond to the controversy over Pius XII (1939-1958), which started late in the 1960s. In particular, to determine whether the head of the Catholic Church during the World War II, a former diplomat of the Holy See in Germany, was too silent and passive, faced with the enactment of racial laws in Europe and the worst genocide in history.
Could a public speech explicitly condemning the actions of the Nazis and the fate of the Jews have influenced German Catholics and changed the course of history?
Critics of Pius XII think so. His supporters argue that thunderous statements by a pope, surrounded in the Vatican by the Nazis and then the Italian fascists, would have endangered Catholics in Europe.
The controversy has given birth to dozens of books, including devastating bestsellers going as far as talking about “Hitler Pope“(John Cornwell in 1999).
A gray legend
For the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo di Segni, “the story of Pius XII is not + a black legend + but rather gray“.
In a text published by the Italian press, he believes that “historians will have to work as if they were in a sterile and isolated room, free from prejudice and influence“. But he thinks that it is a utopia, as the subject is monopolized on the one hand by defenders at all costs of Pius XII, on the other by inflexible accusers.
Italian historian Ana Foa does not expect anything spectacular, but details, confirmations. “If there were things justifying the Pope they would have gone out, if there were terrible things they would have been hidden“, she told AFP.
One hundred and fifty researchers from around the world have already requested access to “apostolic archives“Vatican power stations (old”secret archives“), said Thursday Monsignor Sergio Pagano, who oversees this section, making available 121 documentary collections and 20,000 fascicles on Pius XII.
First served will be experts from the American Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Jewish community in Rome, he said. The researchers will compete for around twenty places every day.
But dozens of others will consult other significant archives. For example, those of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (ex-Inquisition). According to its archivist, Archbishop Alejandro Cifres Giménez, 200 meters of shelves housing 1,749 papers are dedicated to the 19 years of pontificate of Pius XII. Available in a 14-seat reading room.
Johan Ickx, from the historical archives of the State Secretariat (central government) on diplomatic relations with other states will propose “1.3 million documents scanned and indexed, to help researchers move quickly“, a novelty. It promises the disclosure of things”very hot“from its shelves.
Historians will for example be able to find documents on the contacts between the nuncio (ambassador of the Holy See) in Berlin and the German authorities.
“It will take years to review all of these cases and make a historic judgment“, said Bishop Pagano. According to him,”nothing surprising emerged“, the period of the Second World War having already been largely unveiled by the Church in 1981. On the other hand, he dread lovers of”scoops“fond of cookie-cutter conclusions.
Vatican requires, some documents of the period will remain secret, like the archives documenting the conclave – the election of the pope – or the trials against bishops during his pontificate, which was the longest of the 20th century after that of John Paul II. Buried out of sight in the Vatican Archives bunker, which houses 85 km of shelves.
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