The Vatican, trying to counter charges that Pope Pius XII did too little to stop the Holocaust, said yesterday it would open some of its secret archives for the period.
Pope John Paul has decided selected archives for the period leading up to 1939, when the future Pius XII served as Vatican ambassador in Germany and later secretary of state, would be opened to scholars next year.
The first documents set for release deal with relations between the Vatican and Germany from 1922 to 1939. Yesterday's Vatican statement said documents concerning relations with Germany during Pius' pontificate, which ended with his death in 1958, would be available for scrutiny in about three years.
Scholars around the world, particularly Jewish groups, have asked the Vatican to open the archives relating to Pius before and during his pontificate. Some have accused him of inaction during the Holocaust. The Vatican's position is that Pius did not speak out more forcefully for fear of worsening the fate of Catholics, as well as Jews.
The Vatican statement said Pope John Paul, who has strongly defended his wartime predecessor and in 1998 called him "a great Pope", had decided to open the archives "to help bring an end to unjust and thankless speculation".
The World Jewish Congress said the move was not good enough. "I think any release of documents is a positive step and should be viewed as such, but we hope that this signals what independent scholars have been asking for - unfettered access to the archives," said Mr Elan Steinberg, executive vice president.
- (Reuters)