Vatican to open all archives from 1922 to 1939
By Rachel Sanderson
Reuters
Friday, June 30, 2006 ;

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has decided to open all Vatican archives from 1922 to 1939, giving new insight into what the Catholic Church knew and did as Europe saw the rise of Nazism in Germany and the Spanish Civil War.

The Vatican said on Friday it would open its central files, known as the Secret Archives, and files of its Secretariat of State for the pontificate of Pope Pius XI on September 18.

In a short announcement, it said the opening would "make available for historical research ... all documentary sources until February 1939 that are stored in different series of the Archives of the Holy See."

"The part of the archives likely to provide new insight is that regarding Spain," said a Vatican source who asked not to be named. The Church was linked to the Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the 1936-1939 civil war. the rest