the vatican city it may be a small
nation
the smallest in the world in fact but
what it lacks in size it more than makes
up for in intrigue
the setting for angels and demons it's a
country that has inspired countless
conspiracy theories
horror stories and thrillers and right
at its heart lie
a collection of archives that are up to
12 centuries old and contain some of
history's best kept secrets
along 50 miles of shelves you can find
letters from some of the most prominent
historical figures
and texts that hold details of deep dark
secrets
modern scandals and ancient mysteries
everything from the existence of aliens
to the actions of the illuminati
is rumored to be held inside these old
dusty files
it's not hard to see why journalists
scholars and even members of the public
have been scrambling to get their hands
on the documents for centuries
and now finally they can as of the 2nd
of march
2020 the files have been released into
the public domain
so what lies inside let's turn to one of
the most infamous scandals of
all it's 1939 in vatican city you're in
the midst of mussolini's reign over
italy
a fascist dictator consolidating his
power by constructing a cult of
personality and police state
while trying to rebuild italy's empire
and persecuting minorities
but on the plus side he's just signed a
treaty to recognize the independence of
vatican city
you win some you lose some as if the
drastic change in the political
landscape within italy wasn't big enough
big changes are happening all over the
continent a man called
adolf hitler has recently risen to power
in germany
and began his own totalitarian
dictatorship he's said to be inspired by
mussolini in many ways
due to the similarity of their
ideologies hitler has now invaded poland
a bold aggressive move that leads to the
persecution of polish jews
a few years later the fascist dictator
spreads his web of terror further
and sets his sight closer to you in
italy jews are taken from homes in rome
itself and held close to the vatican
doomed to be sent to auschwitz in the
near future
it's a desperately sad situation and
many are fearful
but you can't lose hope yet there's one
man who might be able to solve the
problem
and save the jews at least within italy
it's not a bird or a plane it's pope
pius xii
the head of the catholic church since
1939. the pope has always commanded a
huge amount of respect and influence
across the globe
and he's also the head of a now
sovereign nation the vatican city
if anyone could sway public opinion away
from hitler or even reason with the man
it would be the pope and he should at
least be able to save the jews within
his own territory from persecution
the vatican city has remained neutral in
world war ii after all with a population
of just a few hundred people
their involvement would have been
marginal and the bombing of such a
hugely historically important site as
saint peter's square and basilica was
too much to risk
but still the pope could have publicly
condemned the actions of the nazis
privately asked hitler to spare the
people of rome or even made an order
himself for the jews held nearby to be
released
surely the leader of a religion
preaching tolerance forgiveness and
loving thy neighbor
would do everything in his power to
protect those in danger instead
he said and did nothing it's a moment in
history that has never been forgotten
and which continues to divide catholics
some condemn pope pius xii for his
actions or lack of actions
and see him as complicit in the
persecution that took place at the hands
of mussolini and hitler
by saying nothing he allowed many people
to die yet others believe he's innocent
carried out his duty effectively and
should be chosen for sainthood
how can we reconcile such contrasting
opinions well it comes down to the fact
that there
is no cold hard proof nobody really
knows what happened behind closed doors
all those years ago
sure we know that the pope chose not to
intervene or speak out against mussolini
or hitler publicly
when in retrospect he probably
definitely should have we could
say that he was scared of causing more
harm than good and
saw it as his duty to protect the sacred
history of vatican city but even once
the war had finished
he still didn't speak out against the
treatment of the jews he even went as
far as helping fascist war criminals to
escape the country
so the case that pope pius xii was
really a saint
is a tricky one to make but we still
don't know when it comes to the true
motives of the catholic church and the
extent to which the pope conspired with
mussolini and hitler
rather than simply tolerate them the
truth remains a mystery
does that mean there's no way we'll ever
find out of course not don't be silly
the information is there but guess where
it is locked and shut away in
infamous vatican secret archives now
known as the vatican apostolic archives
but you just said the archives have been
made public now i hear you protest
well it's not quite that simple remember
there are 50 miles of shelves down there
and who knows how many pages it's going
to take quite some time to go through
even for the most prepared and
knowledgeable scholars even though the
information has only just become
available to members of the riff raff
like you and i
select researchers have had access since
1881.
yeah that's right 1881 and we're still
trying to work out what happened during
world war
ii this is because access wasn't made
easy you can't just be any old history
student claiming they need information
for a thesis
about how the pope reacted to hitler
only the most serious of scholars are
granted access
even for those who were given permission
only three documents per day can be
requested
you can't just browse you need to know
what you want plus everything is written
in either
italian or latin not the most widely
spoken languages
we did manage to uncover some
information in this period though
one historian found that the pope and
mussolini made deals together to protect
the church
in exchange for the pope's silence
regarding anti-semitism
however the truth about the nazis
remains swept under the rug
so what's changed now access is now
available to anyone who wants it rather
than a select few
but there are still limits on how much
you can read each day
as well as considerable barriers if not
understanding the language the texts are
written in
or not knowing where on earth the
information you need actually is
there are many millions of texts all
categorized in a
confusing way there's no library
computer system telling you that
letters between the pope and mussolini
are stored in section b12
and that's assuming that the information
you want is actually in the vatican
archives in the first place anyway
some of the most important texts may be
stashed away in alternate archives
like the jesuit archives or the vicaria
archives
others seem to have mysteriously
disappeared never to see the light of
day
basically don't get your hopes up that a
tell-all documentary is going to be in
the making by next month
but the powers that be have already
turned defensive the italian press have
started to cover
more articles on the topic seemingly
rewriting history
these include claims that the pope was
so democratic that mussolini tried to
prevent him gaining power
or that the pope did in fact save roman
jews and stop hitler invading the
vatican
as you might expect the stories are
notably vague in their claims
you might think that it's all sounding a
bit fishy like something really big is
being covered up
surely the archives will reveal
something slightly juicier than the
pope's efforts to help
since when has any covered up
information about a government or
authority figure
ever been positive it doesn't exactly
help that the guy in charge of managing
the archives
is also acting somewhat sheepishly named
bishop sergio pagano
he's previously been reluctant to do a
big reveal of the documents as has the
pope
in the build-up to their release to the
public he's said he understands the
expectations of the documents from
certain groups are high
and that this is an important issue well
duh
for now we'll just have to wait and see
of course there's more to the secret
vatican
archives than just hitler mussolini and
pope pius xii
the history spans 12 centuries not just
a few decades
some speculate they may contain magical
texts i can hear you groaning
yes chances are this probably isn't real
but hear me anyway
the vatican secret archives are said to
hold a book called the grand grimoire
which contains instructions for
summoning satan you heard me
for summoning satan a grimoire is a book
used for all kinds of magic
including creating ambulance and
talismans casting spells
and summoning supernatural beings the
grand grimoire as you might expect is
believed to be the most powerful in
existence
as it contains information about making
a pact with the devil himself
going from ultimate evil to divine good
the archives may also contain
information about the most important
historical figure related to the
catholic church
jesus christ himself some believe the
archives could contain top secret
information about whether the master
miracle maker himself genuinely exists
and if he has descendants alive now
there was said to be correspondence
between saint paul and emperor nero on
this topic
even more scandalously there could even
be the truth that jesus doesn't actually
exist juicy if there is any proof that
jesus doesn't actually exist it's
unlikely it would be made available to
the public that easily but
you never know if this is all getting a
bit too crazy for you you definitely
won't be ready for this next one
the archives may contain information
about whether alien life forms exist
why would the catholic church know
anything about that you might be asking
yourself
well i'm not too sure either but
conspiracy theorists believe that the
catholics may be hiding information
about extraterrestrial skulls
or that the pope is currently in
communication with aliens well
that would certainly push any
communication with hitler to the
sidelines
another secret that the contents of the
archives could get to the bottom of
is the third secret of fatima you might
have heard the famous story
before which goes that three portuguese
children received visions
and prophecies from the virgin mary in
1917
and were each visited regularly over a
period of a few months
the children were told three secrets
which they were instructed to pass on to
the bishop
but one of the children hesitated to
tell the elusive third secret
believing god had told her not to she
instead sealed the secret away to be
opened in 1960
pope john paul ii released the secret to
the public back in 2000
but many don't believe it's the actual
or full secret
instead they suspect the secret could be
something as drastic
as the abandonment of the papacy or an
apocalypse
no discussion about conspiracy theories
would have been complete without a
mention of the illuminati
and sure enough many believe that the
illuminati have had an influence on the
archives
they may even control the archives
themselves therefore
there are sure to be some documents
inside verifying the role freemasons
have played in this ancient institution
if that wasn't strange enough some
believe the archives contain information
about a mysterious machine
called the chronovisor which lets users
view past and present events
kind of like a high-tech crystal ball
father pellegrino maria ernetti
supposedly built the machine to record
christ's crucifixion
however no details or evidence have ever
come out
funnily enough if you ask me that's a
little farfetched but there's no use in
keeping it real at this point
also horn the copenhagen museum of
erotica claims that the vatican has the
largest collection of erotica in the
world
which various other scholars have also
claimed there are also some documents
that you might have an easier time
believing are inside the archives
a letter sent by none other than
michelangelo to pope julius ii
documents to split territories between
spain and portugal
a petition sent from henry viii
requesting his annulment of marriage
from catherine of aragon in 1530
leading to the creation of the church of
england notes relating to the trial
against galileo in 1633
a papal bull to excommunicate martin
luther a letter from mary queen of scots
asking for help in stopping her
execution
and want to know the biggest secret of
all the archives are only known as being
secret because of a bad translation
although the archives are known as our
kivum secretum apostolicum
fatikanum the secretum part doesn't
actually mean secret it means
personal or private nonetheless they are
clearly quite secret
if they've been out of the public eye
for this long so it's
all just semantics to find out more
mysteries of the pope and the vatican
check out our videos about the most evil
pope in history or how much power the
vatican has