Opening of The Archives
Customarily, documents are made available to the public after a period of 75 years.
- 1817: Vatican Secret Archive brought back to the Vatican from France.
- 1883: Pope Leo XIII opened archives dated 1815 or earlier.
- 1924: Documents up to the end of the pontificate of Gregory XVI (June 1, 1846) were released.
- 1966: Documents from the pontificate of Pius IX (1846–78). (The opening of this material was originally planned during the pontificate of Pius XII.)
- 1978: Documents from the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903).
- 1985: Documents from the pontificates of Pius X (1903–14) and Benedict XV (1914–22).
- 2002 (effective from 2003): Documents from the historical archives of the Secretariat of State (Second Section) pertaining to the Holy See's relations with Germany during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922–39). The reason for this exceptional action was "to put an end to unjust and thoughtless speculation."
- 2006: All documents from the pontificate of Pope Pius XI.
Read more about this topic: Vatican Secret Archives
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