New Documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII

In March 2020, Pope Francis opened millions of documents pertaining to the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). It will take decades of scrutiny and analysis to ascertain the full significance of these archives estimated to be at least 16 million pages, but some important discoveries have been made and must be shared to the wider public. These documents can be approached from the point of view of a variety of historical and theological questions.

New Documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their Meaning for Jewish-Christian Relations conference will focus on how these archives shed light on historical and theological controversies over Pope Pius XII and the Vatican during the Holocaust, and on Jewish-Christian relations at multiple levels – from ordinary people to authority figures in Jewish and Catholic milieus, institutions and power structures.

In 1965, the Catholic Church issued a renewed teaching, Nostra Aetate, that rejected antisemitism and presented the Jewish people as blessed by God. What can the new documents tell us about the encounters that led up to this watershed moment in Church teaching? This conference will bring together historians and theologians, Christians and Jews, studying together to further both historical knowledge and Jewish-Christian relations.

Introduction to the Conference - Videos from the Organizers

Fr. Etienne Vetö, ccn, Director, Auxiliary Bishop, Reims (France); formerly Professor, Faculty of Theology and Director, Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies, Pontifical Gregorian University