The Vatican’s secret archive and World War II, with David Kertzer

In conversation with Rachel Donadio

On March 2, after decades of controversy, the Vatican opened its “Secret Archive” of documents on the papacy of Pope Pius XII, which stretched from 1939 to 1958. One big question has dogged this pope: Why didn't he condemn the mass murder of Europe’s Jews during WWII?

David Kertzer, Professor of anthropology and Italian studies at Brown University and the Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Pope and Mussolini, has been investigating the Vatican’s inter-war and wartime history for decades. He was one of the first scholars allowed inside the archive in March. He'll tell us about Pius XII’s papacy, why some fervent devotees are promoting this pope for sainthood, and what he saw inside the secret files.

Rachel Donadio is a journalist and contributing writer at The Atlantic, and is based in Paris. She was previously Rome Bureau Chief for The New York Times, where she covered the papacy of Benedict XVI and the 2013 Conclave in which Pope Francis was elected.