Vatican Secret Archives: Unknown Pages of Church History, by Grzegorz Górny and Janusz Rosikon. Ignatius Press, 2020. 370 pages. Hardcover, $34.95.
Information is an underrated resource, and any attempt to explore the truth of the past requires the preservation of historical documents. The Vatican houses one of the largest and oldest archives in the world. The Catholic Church has been saving written materials for two thousand years, though over the centuries the Vatican Archives have been sacked, with many of the contents being destroyed by military forces. Despite the gaps in the record, the Vatican Archives contain a priceless treasure trove of facts about the past.
For a long time, the contents of the archives have only been accessible by a handful of select researchers, but in recent decades increasing numbers of individuals have been allowed access. Grzegorz Górny and Janusz Rosikon have created a compelling and fascinating look into the Vatican Archives, profiling collections from several major events in Church history, focusing on cases that are both controversial and misunderstood.
The Crusades, Galileo, the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, the Knights Templar, the Church in the New World, and the French Revolution are among the subjects covered by the book. Each of these chapters takes a topic, provides an overview of the standard historical assessment of the era, profiles some of the most notable archival holdings on the subject, interviews some prominent scholars on the topic, and explains how the historical evidence challenges the prevalent historical narrative of the era.
The documents in the book tend to improve the Church’s image on many topics. The atrocities against the Church during the French Revolution are revealed, evidence exonerating Pius XII is produced, outright lies about the Inquisition are debunked, and many other documents are produced in order to clear the Church of common allegations of malfeasance, or at least to put certain decisions into historical context.
This book is not a blind defense of everything the Church has ever done. Mistakes such as the creation of the Index of Forbidden Books are criticized, though the reasons for their creation are explained. Often good intentions did not lead to positive results, some evildoers are identified, and Pope John Paul II’s interest in the Galileo case showed the pontiff’s desire to make amends, though the narrative of the case has been skewed and littered with false information over the years. In each chapter, there’s at least one interesting interview with a historian whose opinions on an historical event were given deeper nuance or in some cases were radically altered after delving into the Vatican Archives and studying the evidence held there.
Additionally, the book is just beautiful. It’s full of gorgeous photographs and replicas of rare documents, maps, and artifacts. It can serve as a coffee table book, though it’s worth more than It’s not just a dry scholarly study. It’s written in a readable and accessible manner, though at times it’s structured like a textbook, so readers will have to interrupt the general narrative in order to read in-depth profiles of specialized aspects of the topic.
Readers who already know a great deal about the eras studied will be familiar with much of the provided information, but the rare glimpse into the long-hidden primary sources makes Vatican Secret Archives required reading for anybody with an interest in Church history.
–Chris Chan
This review was first published in Gilbert! Magazine.
