Despite the word “secret,” the Latin term secretum historically meant “private” rather than hidden or conspiratorial. The archive stores the official historical records of the papacy and the central administration of the Catholic Church.
What the Vatican Archives Are
The archive is a massive collection of historical documents produced by the papal administration over more than 1,200 years.
Estimated 85+ kilometers (about 53 miles) of shelving
Documents dating back to about the 8th century
Located inside Vatican City
It functions like a state archive for the papacy.
Who Can Access It
Access is restricted but not closed.
Researchers must:
Be qualified scholars
Apply with academic credentials
Specify which documents they want
Only a limited number of researchers (roughly 60–100 per day) are admitted.
Documents are also opened gradually by time period.
A major recent opening occurred in 2020 when the Vatican released records from the pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958).
Historians are studying these to better understand:
The Vatican’s actions during World War II
Its role during the Holocaust
This release included millions of pages of documents.
Famous Documents in the Archive
Some notable items include:
The 1312 parchment trial records of the Knights Templar
The letter from Mary, Queen of Scots asking Pope Sixtus V for help
Documents from the Roman Inquisition
The proceedings against Galileo Galilei
Persistent Myths
Because of the old name and the Vatican’s secrecy culture, the archives are often associated with conspiracy theories (hidden gospels, alien records, etc.). There is no credible evidence that such materials exist in the archive.
However, there are still many unexplored documents, simply because the archive is enormous and many records remain unstudied.