Pope to Allow Access to Some Nazi-Era Papers

Pope Benedict XVI has decided to open Vatican archives from 1922 to 1939, possibly giving new insight into what the Catholic Church knew and did during the rise of Nazism in Germany and the Spanish Civil War.

The Vatican said it would open its central files and files of its Secretariat of State for the pontificate of Pius XI on Sept. 18.

Under pressure to address criticism from historians and Jewish groups, the Vatican in 2003 published selected files concerning its prewar relations with Germany.