Vatican Archives Reveal More About Pontificate of Pope Pius XI

(19 September 2006 - RV) The Vatican has opened its archives to allow historians to access documents relating to the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. Pope from 1922 to 1939, Pius XI presided over the Church during the perod of history leading up to the Second World War, including the rise to power of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. Professor Alberto Melloni is a leading scholar and author of several books on the history of the Vatican. Susy Hodges asked him about the significance of these documents and whether they could shed new light on the pope's attitude towards Nazism and other totalitarianisms of the early 20th century.