From the trial of Galileo Galilei to the documentation on the 'silence' of Pius XII, from Benedict
From the first TV that arrived in the Vatican, in 1949, to the goldfinches with which Pope Pacelli loved to surround himself;
from the letters of the greats of history, such as Giacomo Leopardi, who did not want to pay taxes, or Giuseppe Garibaldi, who offered "his arms", and therefore also his weapons, to Pope Mastai, to those of the poor people who asked for help from Pope to buy shoes for his children.
The Vatican Apostolic Archive, which was called 'Secret' and which changed its name in 2019 at the behest of Pope Francis, is a precious treasure chest that houses all the documents belonging to the Vatican.
Everything is contained in a warehouse, called a 'bunker', 86 linear kilometers long.
Folders upon folders containing published but also still secret stories.
The journalist Massimo Franco talks about some of them in the book-interview with the Prefect of the Archives, Monsignor Sergio Pagano: "Secretum", Solferino editions, in bookshops from tomorrow.
What emerges is a cross-section of the most difficult years of the pontificates that followed one another but also pictures of everyday life, contained, for example, in the letters sent to the Vatican asking for help of all kinds.
However, in the thousands of documents there is nothing on the case of Emanuela Orlandi.
“We don't have a line here.”
According to Mgr.
There may also be little Pagano in other Vatican 'safes'.
"What I learned a few years ago from the then archivist of the First Section of the Secretariat of State, Monsignor Assunto Scotti, a priest I highly esteemed - he revealed to the Corriere della Sera journalist -, is that in their Archive there was only, as practice, a folder with press reports on the case that named the Vatican".
In the immense wealth of documents kept in the Vatican Archives there is also a letter from Giacomo Leopardi from which a problem related to taxes can be deduced.
Leopardi wrote the letter on 14 September 1836 to Monsignor Ferretti, apostolic nuncio to His Sicilian Majesty: "I live, as Your Excellency knows, in Naples and by mistake they included me among the contributors to the costs of the civic guard of this capital. ..", the words written by the poet.
"Yes, he was a bit stingy", "he didn't want to pay taxes, Leopardi. Curious", comments Mgr. in the book.
They pay.
If the book touches on the most delicate themes of the pontificate of Pius XII, such as the letter from the Jesuit Lothar Konig, which made him aware of the existence of the concentration camps, stories also emerge that make you smile, such as the fact that the same Pacelli always ate lunch alone and released the goldfinches into the room for company.
There is also talk of the trial of Galileo, who was subsequently rehabilitated by the Church.
Monsignor Pagano also debunks many legends, such as the fact that nails from the Cross of Christ or skulls of Martians are kept in the Archive.
A newspaper wrote a few years ago that "the Martians really exist, that they had landed on earth with their spaceships in the not too distant past, and that the Vatican hides some skulls of the Gray Martians. Catastrophic nonsense", commented Mgr. in conclusion.
They pay.
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