The Vatican Secret Archives (Latin: Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum; Italian: Archivio Apostolico Vaticano) is the central repository of historical records, state papers, correspondence, papal account books, and other documents accumulated by the Holy See over the course of many centuries. Located within Vatican City, the archive holds materials dating from the late 8th century to the present pontificate, with the bulk of holdings spanning the 12th through 20th centuries. The word “secret” in the original Latin title carried the sense of “private” or “personal” - referring to the Pope's private archive rather than a repository of concealed information - a distinction that has frequently been lost in popular usage. In 2019, Pope Francis officially renamed the collection the Vatican Apostolic Archive, though the older name remains widely used.

The archive is estimated to contain approximately 85 linear kilometers of shelving and over 35,000 volumes of catalogued indexes. Holdings include papal bulls, correspondence between the Holy See and heads of state, records of ecclesiastical councils, documents of the Roman Inquisition, diplomatic communications, and internal administrative records of the Catholic Church. The archive is distinct from the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), which holds manuscripts and printed books intended for scholarly use; the archive houses institutional records generated by or addressed to the papacy in its governmental capacity.

Access has historically been restricted to accredited scholars and is subject to a rolling closure policy by which the most recent approximately 75 years of documents remain sealed to outside researchers. As of 2025, documents through the pontificate of Pius XII (1939-1958) are generally available to qualified researchers following the opening of those materials in 2020. The archive does not grant public access, and researchers must apply through a formal credentialing process.

Popes maintained personal document collections from the early medieval period, though these holdings were frequently dispersed, lost, or destroyed through war, looting, and the movement of the papal court. A centralized archive was formally organized under Pope Paul V in 1612. Napoleon Bonaparte had significant portions of the archive transported to Paris between 1810 and 1814; many documents were returned after his defeat, but a substantial number were lost or destroyed in transit. A full treatment of the archive's formation and disruptions can be found on the Vatican Secret Archives - History page.

Among the most historically significant holdings are the records of the Roman Inquisition and its predecessor bodies, trial proceedings including those of Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno, the annulment proceedings of Henry VIII of England, correspondence related to the Council of Trent, and 20th-century diplomatic records bearing on the Holy See's conduct during World War II - particularly regarding Pope Pius XII's responses to the Holocaust. The latter have been a subject of ongoing historical and theological controversy.

The archive was opened to outside researchers for the first time in 1881 under Pope Leo XIII. Since then, access has been incrementally expanded, with periodic releases of materials from previously sealed pontificates. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines - history, theology, canon law, diplomacy, and art history among them - draw on the holdings for primary source research. The archive maintains a reference reading room and employs professional archivists; it does not digitize materials systematically, though selected high-interest documents have been made available in facsimile or digital form for specific exhibitions.

There is broad scholarly consensus that the archive constitutes one of the most significant repositories of Western institutional records in existence and that its holdings are indispensable to research in medieval and early modern European history, the history of the Catholic Church, and the history of diplomacy. Interpretive questions - particularly regarding the conduct of the Holy See during the 20th century - remain areas of active scholarly debate. See the Vatican Apostolic Archive Historical Scholarship Consensus page.

Transparency and concealment - Critics argue that the archive's access restrictions and selective release policies may serve institutional interests rather than scholarly integrity. Defenders contend that the closure policies are standard archival practice and that the Holy See has progressively expanded access in good faith. See Transparency Viewpoint.

Pius XII and the Holocaust - The release of Pius XII-era documents beginning in 2020 has fueled competing interpretations of the wartime papacy's response to Nazi persecution of Jews. Historians disagree substantially on what the documentary record shows. See Pius XII Viewpoint and Pius XII Debate-viewpoint.

Popular mythology - The archive has been the subject of considerable popular speculation concerning suppressed gospels, hidden theological documents, and institutional cover-ups. Mainstream historians and the Vatican both reject most such claims as unsupported by the documentary record; the topic is addressed separately at Popular Mythology Viewpoint.

• Vatican Secret Archives - History
• Roman Inquisition
• Vatican Secret Archives - Debate
• Viewpoint: Transparency and Access
• Viewpoint: Pius XII and the Holocaust
• Viewpoint: Popular Mythology
• Holy See Diplomacy
• Vatican Apostolic Library

1. Official Vatican description: Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/archivio-apost-vaticano. Accessed 2025.
2. Francis, Pope. Apostolic Letter Non ci vuole, 28 October 2019. Renaming the archive from “Secret” to “Apostolic.”
3. Blouin, Francis X., Jr., ed. Vatican Archives: An Inventory and Guide. New York: Bowker, 1998.
4. Boyle, Leonard E. “The Vatican Secret Archives.” The American Archivist 54, no. 1 (1991): 16-20.
5. Wolf, Hubert. Pope and Devil: The Vatican's Archives and the Third Reich. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010.
6. Marchione, Margherita. Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2002.
7. Phayer, Michael. Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008.