Archives abroad: An exhibition from Vatican’s Secret Archives

The Vatican will unveil 100 documents from its Secret Archives, including unpublished papers from the World War II era, in an exhibition in Rome next year, it announced on Tuesday. The exhibition, to be held at the Capitoline Museums from February to September, marks the first time that the papers from the Pope’s private archives have been allowed to leave the Vatican.

The exhibition will feature precious documents, manuscripts and parchments dating from the 8th to the 20th century, including the letter to Pope Clement VII from members of the House of Lords in England asking for King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled, and the codex of the trial of Galileo Galilei in the 17th century.

In a rare move the Vatican will also display some documents from the papacy of Pope Pius XII. Some Jewish groups and historians have said Pius did not speak out enough against the Holocaust and have asked the Vatican to open its World War II-era archives to scholars.

The exhibition called “Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Revealed” will celebrate 400th anniversary of Secret Archives of Vatican.