The Vatican Secret Archives have fuelled people's imagination for centuries. This is largely due to its incomparable long and interesting history. Today, the entire documentation kept in the Vatican Secret Archives occupies 85 kilometres of bookshelves and is constantly growing. It covers a continued chronological space of over 800 years. Moreover, its unique location, the majestic documentary treasures and the limited access contribute to this aura of mystery. The shroud of secrecy that has always surrounded this important cultural institution of the Holy See, due to the allusions to inaccessible secrets, as well as to the publicity it has always enjoyed in literature and in the media, makes this publication even more attractive. And now, for the first time, a publisher was allowed to walk around this wonderful location without any restrictions. The result is a magnificent book with impressive and atmospheric illustrations. Take an unforgettable walk past the most exceptional places and documents in these secret archives, including reading rooms that are only open to academia, as well as rooms that remain closed to the public, some of which are decorated with gorgeous 16th and 17th century frescos, while others accommodate several thousands of documents. You will be able to discover more than 100 of these documents in this book. Specialists of the Vatican Secret Archives have selected these documents and provided each one with a precise explanation. It is a careful selection of documents that show the richness of the Vatican Archives' contents. A highly appealing, unique and attractive book, for a large audience as well as for the academic!

"Investigative stories behind the most controversial events in the Church's history, for example: the Knights Templar trial, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Galileo Galilei trial, and Pius XII's attitude towards the Holocaust"--

Wolf presents astonishing findings from the recently opened Vatican archives--discoveries that clarify the relations between National Socialism and the Vatican. He vividly illuminates the inner workings of the Vatican.

Vatican Archives provides the first comprehensive guide to one of the richest archival sources for the history of the Western world. Organized into related agency groups, it includes approximately 500 entries that describe the purpose and workings of each administrative agency of the Vatican and the official records it produces-- the very records that now constitute the archives. Serving as a research tool that provides a systematic and previously unavailable overview of the archives, this book enhances and expediates access by scholars in a broad range of disciplines.

The “explosive” (The New York Times) bestseller that “redefined the history of the twentieth century” (The Washington Post ) This shocking book was the first account to tell the whole truth about Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II, and it remains the definitive account of that era. It sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Award-winning journalist John Cornwell has also included in this seminal work of history an introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII fatally weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler—and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.

The compelling story of Pope Pius XI's secret relations with Benito Mussolini. A ground-breaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives by US National Book Award-finalist David Kertzer, it will forever change our understanding of the Vatican's role in the rise of Fascism in Europe.

Filled with discoveries, this is the dramatic story of Pope Pius XII's struggle to response to the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Nazi domination of Europe.The Pope at War is the third in a trilogy of books about Pope Pius XII's response to the rise of Fascism and Nazism. It tells the dramatic story of Pope Pius XII's struggle to respond to the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the ongoing Nazi attempts to exterminate the Jews of Europe. It is the first book dealing with the war to make extensive use of the newly opened Vatican archives for the war years. It is based, as well, on thousands of documents from the Italian, German,French, British, and American archives. Among the many new discoveries brought to light is the discovery that within weeks of becoming pope in 1939, Pius XII entered into secret negotiations with Hitler through Hitler's emissary, a Nazi Prince who was married to the daughter of the King of Italy and who was veryclose to Hitler. The negotiations were kept so secret that not even the German ambassador to the Holy See was informed of them. The book also offers new insight into the thinking behind Pius XII's decision to maintain good relations with the German government during the war, including keeping the Germans happy while they occupied Rome in 1943-1944. And throughout, David I. Kertzer shows the active role of the Italian Church hierarchy in promoting the Axis war while the pope, who as bishop ofRome was responsible for the Italian hierarchy, offered his silent blessings and cast his public speeches in such a way that both sides could claim support for their cause.

‘This 5-star thriller is a non-stop action-packed adventure... Reads like the latest blockbuster film... I was left breathless, my heart pounding as I turned the last page’ NetGalley review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ You’ve cracked the Da Vinci code, now uncover the Vatican secret...

Absorbing and compelling reading from beginning to end, AA -1025 Memoirs of the Communist Infiltration Into the Church is a must read for every Catholic today and for all who would understand just what has happened to the Catholic Church since the 1960's. In the 1960's, a French nurse, Marie Carre, attended an auto-crash victim who was brought into her hospital in a city she purposely does not name. The man lingered there near death for a few hours and then died. He had no identification on him, but he had a briefcase in which there was a set of quasi-autobiographical notes. She kept these notes and read them, and because of their extraordinary content, decided to publish them. The result is this little book, AA-1025 Memoirs of the Communist Infiltration Into the Church, a strange and fascinating account of a Communist who purposely entered the Catholic priesthood along with many others, with the intent to subvert and destroy the Church from within. His strange yet fascinating and illuminating set of biographical notes, tells of his commission to enter the priesthood, his experiences in the seminary, and the means and methods he used and promoted to help effect from within the auto-dissolution of the Catholic Church. No one will read this book without a profound assent that something just like what is describer here must surely have happened on a wide scale in order to have disrupted the life of the Catholic Church so dramatically.