- The Vatican Apostolic Archives is one of the most notable archives in the world, with over 12 centuries (from the 8th to the 20th century) of historical records of the Church and world culture. It is noteworthy not just for its rich holdings of ecclesiastical and global history, but also of Western civilisation or as Wilhelm von Leibniz would write in 1702, that it could be considered the central archive of Europe. The archive holds several special documents, including papal documents, decrees of emperors and kings, diplomatic correspondence, and other notable documents from around the world, such as the excommunication bull of Martin Luther, the trial records of Galileo Galilei, and details of the Roman Inquisition. The Vatican Apostolic Archives are the central archive of the Catholic Church, and it is the property of the Pope, who controls them until his death or retirement. Until October 28, 2019, when Pope Francis, with an Apostolic Letter in the form of motu proprio titled “Historical Experience”, changed the name, the Vatican Apostolic Archives was known as the Vatican Secret Archives. Apart from its rich cultural treasure, the Vatican Apostolic Archive is subject to a mythologised culture and has been influenced by misgivings from pop culture, fictional literature, media stereotypes, online misinformation and disinformation, historical controversies, pseudohistories, and a general misunderstanding of the term “secret” by which the archives were known.
- Some of the mythologies (the term mythology, here, is used to refer to untrue claims) about the Apostolic Archives include that only the Pope and a few Cardinals can enter the Apostolic Archives. Another is that the archives conceal the true gospels or contain information that is capable of distorting Christian history. Another is that the Church is hiding damaging historical evidences especially sensitive periods in history like the Templar Treasure, Nazi deals, World War II, etc. The fact that the archives are being well-protected has been misconstrued to mean being offered a guarded fortress and mysterious protection because it holds some forbidden or hidden knowledge. Two of Dan Brown’s books, Angels and Demons (2000) and The Da Vinci Code (2003), portray the Vatican Apostolic Archives as a repository of concealed documents, and that the Church has kept some of its records hidden from the world. In Angels & Demons, the Vatican Archives were portrayed as a repository where Galileo’s long-lost diary is stored, which the Church has utilised to suppress potentiallydangerous truths. In the latter, The Da Vinci Code, it presented the Vatican Archives as a place where the documents proving Jesus’s marriage to Mary Magdalene might be hidden. These ideas, alongside some unfounded conspiracy theories presented in documentaries, have perpetuated the misinformation that the Vatican Apostolic Archives hold hidden and secret knowledge. Dan Brown himself notes that what he writes is a “faction” (a mixture of fact and fiction), but he never specifies where his facts end and where his fiction begins, and this has continued to threaten the sanctity of truth or veracity of his stories. These myths are not only untrue but also unfounded and a reflection of the ignorance surrounding the history of the Vatican Apostolic Archives.
- One of the reasons some of these myths have grown is due to the use of the term “secret”, which the archives have kept in a long while on his official title. The term “secret,” as used in the context of the archive, does not denote the modern meaning of hidden or forbidden. The original Latin name for the archive is “Archivum Secretum Vaticanum. The Latin adjective secretum (from secernere, meaning to separate, to distinguish, or to reserve) was used with the archive when it was founded by Pope Paul V in the mid-17th century (1612) to distinguish it from the Vatican Library then known as Bibliotheca secreta del Romano Pontefice, which held both books and archival material in the same place. This new archive was first called Archivum novum (New Archive), then Archivum Apostolicum (Apostolic Archive), then, in 1646, it was called Archivum Secretum (Secret Archives). The justification of this name, as Pope Francis would explain in his Apostolic Letter issued motu proprio, notes that the name was justified as they were created as the Pope’s private, separate, reserved archive. This understanding of secret archives was also the way kings and princes defined their private archives. It had nothing to do with anything forbidden or proscribed. (Cf. Pope Francis, Apostolic letter issued Motu Proprio, For the Change of the Name of the Vatican Secret Archive to the Vatican Apostolic Archive). The archives of the Vatican were considered private for a long time because they were initially intended for governance purposes and were never open to the public. It was not until 1881 that Pope Leo XIII opened the Vatican archives to scholars. Since then, it has remained one of the most renowned historical research centres in the world (Cf. Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, https://www.archivioapostolicovaticano.va). With progressive semantic changes on the word “secretum”, and to eliminate any prejudicial meaning of secret and granted that the Vatican Apostolic Archives is opened to scholars, Pope Francis decided to change the name from the Vatican Secret Archives to the Vatican Apostolic Archives.
- The Vatican Apostolic Archives maintains an internal policy or archival embargo, which includes a 75-year access rule, prohibiting access to documentary sources that are less than 75 years old. This practice aligns with the norms of state and church archives worldwide. Additionally, this will enable the protection of sensitive diplomatic and personal information, ensuring confidentiality regarding living individuals and recent ecclesiastical decisions. There have been a few exceptions to this rule. The first is Pope Paul VI, who opened the conciliar archives of Vatican II for research and scholarly use, which include preparatory documents (schemata), speeches (relationes), drafts, voting records, and the final conciliar text. A more notable exception is that made by Pope Francis on March 4, 2019, when he announced that the archives of Pope Pius XII’s pontificate (1938-1958) would be opened on March 2, 2020, to facilitate investigation. Pope Francis notes: “I take this decision having heard the opinions of my closest Advisors, with a calm and trusting spirit, certain that serious and objective historical research will succeed in evaluating in its proper light, with appropriate criticism, the praiseworthy moments of that Pontiff and, no doubt also the moments of grave difficulty, of anguished decisions, of human and Christian prudence, which to some may appear reticent, and which were instead human and hard-fought attempts to keep alive, in periods of intense darkness and cruelty, the flame of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy, of hope in the possible favourable opening of hearts. The Church is not afraid of history, but, rather, she loves it, and would like to live it more and better, as God loves it” (Pope Francis, Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis to Officials of the Vatican Secret Archives). This shows that the Pope has a prerogative to open the Apostolic Archives earlier than that. In the next edition, I shall be discussing the development and history of the Vatican Apostolic Archives and what we can learn from its organisation.
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