Vatican to release pre-war archives

The Vatican has set February 15 as the release date for archives documenting its relations with Germany leading up to the Second World War – part of its promised release intended to counter criticism of the papacy during the Holocaust.

But in a statement today, the Vatican noted that a chunk of the archive dating from 1931-1934 was “nearly completely destroyed or dispersed” during the wartime bombing of Berlin in 1945 and a fire at the apostolic nuncio’s palace.