The documents of Pius XI should also shed light on Eugenio Pacelli, who would become Pope Pius XII.
His successor, Pope Pius XII, made the first papal television appearance in 1946.
She was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII in 1943 and then beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980.
Ion Pacepa, the former head of the Romanian KGB, that the allegations against Pius XII were the brainchild of the KGB.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Opportunity is knocking on Israel��s door
The museum includes controversial wording that reflects a long-running dispute over the role of Pope Pius XII during World War II.
For a secretary of state to ascend to the throne of St Peter is rare: the only example since 1667 was Pius XII, in 1939.
Jewish groups were angered in October 2008 when Pope Benedict spoke in favour of advancing the process to make the late Pope Pius XII a saint.
Yet many Jews believe that the Vatican has not gone far enough and are furious at Vatican efforts to make the war-time pope, Pius XII, a saint.
ECONOMIST: The pope reaches Israel in his tour of the Middle East
If the fact that Pius XII was a pope gave his sainthood cause some inherent advantages, in other ways it made perceptions of his holiness less immediate and less personal.
The Vatican insists that as Pius XII, Pacelli worked hard behind the scenes to help save Europe's Jews, but many scholars accuse him of not having done enough to prevent the Holocaust.
Wartime pope, Pius XII, has been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, although the Vatican has defended him, arguing that he worked behind the scenes to save Jews.
There is an entire cottage industry of books devoted to the seemingly endless arguments from one or the other side of the debate about whether Pius XII did enough to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Relations between Israel and the Vatican have become tense in recent months, after news leaked out that the Vatican was considering making the wartime Pope Pius XII a saint, reports the BBC's David Willey in Rome.
But the Vatican does not accept Pius XII was culpable of assenting to the Holocaust, and - even if it did - it would be impossible to cast blame on a pope whom the current pope has begun moves to beatify.
Among the handful of documents here from the period of World War II, a section of the archives still closed to scholars, is a 1942 letter from Jewish inmates of an Italian concentration camp, thanking Pope Pius XII for his support and gifts of clothing.
WSJ: Lux in Arcana | Capitoline Museum | The Papacy's Private Papers | By Francis X. Rocca
There has also been persistent speculation by historians that during World War II, Pope Pius XII drew up a document stating that if he were to be kidnapped by the Nazis he was to be considered to have resigned, and a successor should be chosen.
应用推荐