VATICAN CITY, OCT 13, 1999 (VIS) - Given below is a note regarding the book "Hitler's Pope. The secret History of Pius XII," written by the journalist John Cornwell and recently published in Britain and the United States.
In a number of articles that appeared prior to the publication of the book, Cornwell affirms that his work represents the first honest and scholarly appraisal of Pius XII. Yet, it must be pointed out that the author has no academic qualifications whatsoever in either history, law or theology, and that this is one of the points on which renowned scholars base their criticism of the book.
In this sense, it is necessary to clarify and rectify some of Cornwell's claims regarding research he carried out in the Vatican Archives of the Secretariat of State.
Cornwell claims to be the first and only person to have had access to this archive. This claim is completely false. Furthermore, the author's research was limited to two series of documents: Bavaria (1918-1921) and Austria (Serbia, Belgrade 1913-1915). Neither the author of this work nor anyone else has had access to documents from 1922 or later, as these have not yet been opened to the public.
Moreover, Cornwell claims to have worked in the archive for "months on end." This is untrue as his authorization covered a period of about three weeks.
The British journalist also declared that the documents he discovered had been secret until he began his researches. In support of this claim he refers to a letter sent in 1919 by the then nuncio in Bavaria, Archbishop Pacelli, to the Secretariat of State. In fact, this letter was published in 1992, that is, seven years prior to the publication of Cornwell's book.
.../CLARIFICATION PIUS XII/CORNWELL VIS 991013 (290)
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