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Vatican Archives Secrets
Prefect of the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Bishop Sergio Pagano speaks in his office at The Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, during an interview with The Associated Press. In a new book-length interview with Italian journalist Massimo Franco, “Secretum”, Pagano divulges some of the unknown or behind-the-scenes details of well-known sagas of the Holy See and its relations with the outside world over the past 12 centuries. From Napoleon’s sacking of the archive in 1810 to the Galileo affair and the peculiar conclave of 1922 that was financed almost entirely by donations from U.S. Catholics. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

The keeper of the Vatican’s secrets is retiring. Here’s what he wants you to know

The longtime prefect of the Vatican Secret Archive is spilling the beans for the first time

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Published - Feb 19, 2024, 04:10 AM ET
Last Updated - Feb 19, 2024, 04:10 AM EST

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has been trying for years to debunk the idea that its vaunted secret archives are all that secret: It has opened up the files of controversial World War II-era Pope Pius XII to scholars and changed the official name to remove the word “Secret” from its title.

But a certain aura of myth and mystery has persisted — until now.

The longtime prefect of what is now named the Vatican Apostolic Archive, Archbishop Sergio Pagano, is spilling the beans for the first time, revealing some of the secrets he has uncovered in the 45 years he has worked in one of the world’s most important, and unusual, repositories of documents.

In a new book-length interview titled “Secretum” to be published Tuesday, Pagano divulges some of the unknown, lesser-known and behind-the-scenes details of well-known sagas of the Holy See and its relations with the outside world over the past 12 centuries.

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