The Vatican Secret Archives have captured people's
imagination for centuries, not just on account of their
particular history, but as a result of the stories and
conspiracy theories that have been dedicated to them in film
and literature alike.
So what exactly are the Vatican Secret Archives?
Known today as the Vatican Apostolic Archives, the Vatican
Secret Archives is the central repository that houses all acts
disseminated by the Holy See.
The Pope holds ownership of the material preserved in the
archives until his death or resignation, with a possession
passing on to his successor.
The secretive nature of the Catholic Church has fueled
years of speculation about what was inside the archives.
Even today, conspiracy theories abound over its contents.
The archives were and still are designed to house the Holy
Sea's official paperwork, along with correspondence and other
information related to the Pope.
The Vatican Secret Archives include state papers,
correspondence, account books and many other documents that
the Church has accrued over the centuries.
Prior to the 17th century, the secret archive was actually
part of the Vatican Library.
At the turn of the 17th century, however, Pope Paul V separated
the two so that today there is the Vatican Library, which
includes historical items as well as priceless art and the
Vatican Secret Archives.
The archives contain some of the Catholic Church's most
impressive treasures and documents that date back from
the 9th century, including a letter from Mary, Queen of
Scots, who was executed after being forced to abdicate her
throne and serving 20 years in custody.
She was finally sentenced to death for conspiring to murder
Queen Elizabeth I.
Facing beheading, she wrote a desperate letter to Pope
Sichtis Vagging for her life and slamming heretics who would
eventually kill her.
Another priceless document found in the archives literally
changed the history of religion.
It documents the Catholic Church's excommunication of
Martin Luther, the German who inflamed Europe by turning his
back on Catholicism and writing his 95 theses.
Now seen as the document that sparked Protestantism,
the Vatican Secret Archives is home to the largest collection
of Catholic books, documents and doctrine in the world.
It boasts letters from wellknown figures such as
Abraham Lincoln and Mary.
The archive also houses notes from the trial against the 17th
century scientist Galileo, who questioned the Catholic
Church's view about the movement of the Earth around
the sun.
This was the trial that led to Galileo being put under house
arrest for the remainder of his life.
The oldest document in the archives is on a loose
parchment page from 809 Ad.
It is a receipt for a donation to the Church in Venice.
A well renowned letter in the archives is the request from
Henry VIII, who wanted an annulment from his wife,
Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Angela in.
The letter was supported by the signatures of 85 clergymen,
including the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Pope denied the request, however, declaring it a direct
threat to the Catholic Church.
After the request was rejected, Henry VIII started the Church
of England and granted himself a divorce.
The secret archives also hold an extremely secret document,
The Minutes of the Trials against the Knights Templar.
Known as the ChenOn Parchment, it's a large document the size
of a dining room table
and enrolled is 197ft long.
It documents the trials of the nights for things like
blasphemous behavior and heresy during the Crusades.
Thanks to an archival mistake, the parchment was lost for
centuries and was only found in a box containing other
documents in 2001.
When the Chenan Parchment was made public in 2007, it
effectively rehabilitated the legacy of the Knights Templar
by proving that, unbeknownst to history, Pope Clement V
actually absolved the group of heresy in 13 eight.
Probably one of the most controversial documents in the
secret archives are the ones that relate to the ongoing
sexual abuse scandal within the Church.
But documents at the Vatican Secret Archives are only
released once they're at least 75 years old, and the Archive's
true owner is not the Church but the Pope.
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, a large part of
these archives vanished
during the 14 four sack of the Vatican.
Papal registers and historical documents were thrown into the
streets, and Pope Innocent VII fled through secret passages
out of the city.
His successor, Pope Grechory XII, sold off a large number of
archival resources in 14 six, including some of the papal
registers.
In 1612, Pope Paul V ordered all Catholic Church records to
be collected in a single location.
A policy of strict access to the archives was initiated,
fearing that Protestant scholars might use their access
to defame or embarrass the Catholic Church.
By 1879, however, limited access was allowed to historians.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II allowed researchers access to
documents from the historical archives relating to the Holy
Sees relations with Germany during World War II.
The objective was to put an end to speculation about the
Catholic Church's relationship with the Nazi Party.
The documentary heritage, housed in its vast storerooms,
spans about twelve centuries.
It consists of over 600 archival fawns and is stored
over 85 linear kilometers, or 53 miles of Shelving, with 350
volumes in the index catalog alone.
The archives contain the index room, which is the gateway all
researchers pass through.
It contains the tools used to describe and research the
documentary material in the archives, including the
Chandario garbaldi that was the first index made available to
scholars in 1881.
Prior to 1881, not even scholars of Christianity were
permitted access to the archives.
The Vatican archives, however, lack a complete catalog, and
even publication of the partial indexes in part or as a whole
is forbidden.
Next is the document reading room, which adjoins the index
room and is used to consult material from the archives
ordered at the distribution counter,
the room overlooks the hushed and peaceful Quartile Della
Biblioteca.
Next are the printed matter reading rooms.
They are accessed by a stairway leading from the Leo XIII room.
They contain bibliographical AIDS essential for researchers,
as well as dictionaries, encyclopedias, journals and
monographs on historical, legal and diplomatic matters.
Every year, some 1500 scientists from all over the
world come to the reading rooms to do research, but this is as
far as anyone gets.
The bunker, a version of which was reconstructed in the film
Angels and Demons, is a fireproof underground vault two
stories below the Cartilage de la Pena.
The vault contains half of the collection of the 85 shelves in
the entire archives.
The Piano Nobile overlooks the Cortilla de la Biblioteca,
which connects the Sistine Hall of the Vatican Museums to the
Archivio Apostolico Reticano.
The Kiji rooms are rooms beside the Gallery of Tapestries of
the Vatican Museums and above the Piano Nobile, they house
the oldest collection of the Secretariat of State Archives,
including diplomatic correspondence of the Holy See.
The wing tower can be reached by a narrow staircase and is
covered with frescoes dating from the 16th century.
Solar observations from this room form the basis for our
Gregorian calendar.
The rooms in the diplomatic floor accommodate the entire
collection of official correspondence and
irreplaceable study of the relationship between the Roman
Church and the States of ancient Rome.
The lofts above the west wing contain documents from the
Curia, the councils, the Congregation of the Rights, and
the modern section of the State Secretariat.
Special documents are kept in two acclimatized rooms located
next to the bunker under the best possible conditions.
There is also an Edict of Worms with a signature of Emperor
Charles V and many other important documents with
original wax seals.
The edict forbade anyone, by words or deeds to receive,
defend, sustain or favor Martin Luther
conspiracy theories also claim that the secret archives may
contain parts of the cross.
Jesus was crucified on the Crown of thorns.
He wore the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant.
What we know is in the Vatican Secret Archives.
What has been confirmed by the Vatican itself is a treasure
trove of world history.
Some archives are accessible to the public, but the Vatican
Secret Archives are held strictly in a fortresslike part
of the Vatican.
The biggest factor that makes the archives secure is that
these documents were completely out of bounds to anyone outside
the inner circle of the Catholic Church before 1818.
Today it is possible to request limited access.
However, the process to gain entry is among the severest
anywhere in the world.
Reporters, students and amateur historians are prohibited from
accessing the archives, and authorizations are only
provided to academic researchers who have to renew
their access requests every six months.
Since 2003, scholars have been allowed in the archives as long
as they know exactly which document they'd like to look at.
Because browsing is not allowed,
approved scholars are admitted only when they present their
research requests in writing in advance.
This gives the librarians time to decide to one bring out the
requested document to
claim the document doesn't exist, or three admit the
document exists, but refuse to give the scholar access to
research a specific topic, fearing the request would show
that the scholar was anticatholic.
Also, a scholar's access can be revolt at any time, which puts
pressure on the researcher to not write anything the Vatican
might find seriously damaging.
When authorized academics enter the Vatican via a special entry
point that is secured by the Swiss Guard, they are ushered
into the archives where they can access a maximum of only
three prerequisite documents in a day.
And even though today personal computers are permitted into
the archives.
Photographing the content is prohibited.
The Vatican Archives are run by a Cardinal who has sworn to
preserve the secrets of the Church.
Recently, however, the Church has declared that the Vatican
Secret Archives are not actually secret.
The word secret comes from a misunderstanding of the Latin
word section,
referring to something more like being private or personal
rather than secretive.
Also, in 2019, Pope Francis issued a motiproproprio
officially changing the name of the Vatican Secret Archives to
the Vatican Apostolic Archives to avoid negative associations
with the word secret.
Since 2006, members of the Archives Department have been
organizing the projected 16 million pages of documents to
prepare them for inspection by scholars.
Early in the 21st century, the Vatican Secret Archive started
an internal digitization project to help preserve aging
physical documents.
By 2018, the archives had 180 terabytes of digital storage
capacity and had digitized more than 7 million images.
However, given how vast the archives are, only a small
fraction of the total material is available online.
An even smaller percentage has been transcribed into
searchable computer text.