The archives will present "four or five documents, accompanied by photographs" that will convey a sense of the drama and emotion of the war, which marked the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. But a real picture of the pope and his actions during the war will not be possible until the archives have organized and catalogued all of the papers from his pontificate and the Pope has authorized their being opened to scholarly study and scrutiny, he said.
The archives staff has been preparing the papers for three years, Pagano said, but it will take another three or four years to get all the material together.
Pagano said the material, which is still being chosen for the exhibit, probably will consist of testimonies or diaries of victims of the Nazis and will not include documents by or about Pope Pius because, "since the (documents of the) pontificate have not been opened, it would not be just or honest to display" texts that give only a partial picture of his actions.
The normal Vatican practice is to catalogue and open all the archival material from an entire pontificate at the same time. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI authorized the archives to make available to researchers all the documentation from the pre-Second World War pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
Exhibit for anniversary of Vatican archives to include WWII material
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Documents from the still-sealed Second World War section of the Vatican Secret Archives will be part of a major exhibition of Vatican papers hosted by the city of Rome.
The exhibit marking the 400th anniversary of the Vatican archives will be open February-September 2012 at Rome's Capitoline Museums.
Bishop Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, said that with special permission from the Vatican Secretariat of State "a very limited number" of documents related to the Second World War would be among the 100 documents and objects from the eighth to the 20th century placed on public display.
"The exhibit certainly will not be able to shed new light on Pius XII because (the archival papers from) this pontificate are still closed," the bishop said July 5 at a news conference announcing the exhibit.
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