NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- A panel of six historians, chosen to conduct a new study of the Vatican archives for the period during World War II, met for the first time in New York on December 6 and 7, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

    The committee, composed of three Jewish scholars and three Catholics, will study the 11-volume compilation of the Vatican archives from that period, which was compiled between 1965 and 1981 at the request of Pope Paul VI. One of the historians, Robert Wistrich of the University of Jerusalem, had said in October that it would be a "farce" if historians studied that 11-volume series, rather than the original archives. Nevertheless, just one month later, Wistrich accepted a place on the new committee.

    All records in the Vatican archives are traditionally kept sealed for several decades before being opened to scholars, as a routine measure to ensure confidentiality. Thus the archives for World War II-- and in fact for all of the years since 1922-- have not yet been made available to the public.

    However, the historians' panel will be able to appraise the 11-volume history-- which was compiled by a panel of Jesuit scholars who had access to the secret archives-- and make suggestions as to which areas require more clarification. They may then make requests to search the archives for answers to specific questions.

    Aharon Lopez, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, has said that the new study should be "useful" insofar as it could shed new light on Vatican policies during World War II. But Father Pierre Blet, the sole surviving member of the Jesuit team that compiled the 11-volume study, predicted that the new study would not produce any important results. "The historians are hoping to find some very interesting documents in the archives of the Holy See," he said; "but we have already looked through everything, and we found nothing."

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