The 'Secret' Vatican Archives

In my efforts to explore the world of religion I decided to send my browser first to Rome and to the website of the Vatican. Imagine my delight when on the home page I discovered a link to the Vatican Secret Archives. Of course, I was immediately alerted to the fact that these archives probably aren't all that secret, given that I could read all about them by clicking on a link on the Vatican home page. This was obvious, but yet for a sliver of a moment I was genuinely disappointed to discover that this was not a misplaced link that would lead me on a Dan Browne-esque adventure of deception and treachery.

Then, I assumed that these archives may have been secret until very recently and that perhaps soon I would be wrapped up in a world of long-robed ghosts, medieval murders and all manner of usurping (a word that screams costume drama). Sadly (for someone who was hoping to gain entry to rarely seen files demonstrating the links between masonry and papal rule) it would appear that the word 'secret' is used in this case not to denote something hidden or known of only by a few individuals, but rather to mean private or close to a prince, in this case the Pope.

The words 'secretum' and 'secretus' were used to denote something private, confidential or personal. The Secret Archives are privately controlled by the Pope, but about 1500 scholars are given access to the archives, its reading rooms and computer labs, every year, according to the Vatican website.

I am sure that amongst the 85 linear kilometres of bookshelves that this immense collection of papal archives encompasses there are many 'secrets' of which I am unaware, but unless one is a scholar of catholic history, I presume that they would be difficult to locate. In an archive this size I would imagine that it is difficult to find anything, even if you do know what you are looking for and where to start looking for it.

The history of the collections the archives contain is interesting in itself. The archive contains documents that go back to the 10th century but the number of documents that were placed in the archive increased significantly from the 15th century onwards.

The collection was on the move for several centuries, finding its first home at Castel S. Angelo, then moving to three rooms next to the (equally enticingly named) Secret Library, then in 1810, by order of Naploean, the archives of the Holy See were taken to Paris. Just six years later the precious papers were on the road again and found their way back to Rome, but in 1870, any archives that were located outside the walls of the Vatican were confiscated and became part of the State Archives of Rome. Such swings and roundabouts!

I am sure that the constituent parts of the Archive are themselves fascinating to those in the know, but unless someone comes up with a very abridged version, or some wonderfully comic cliff notes I do not expect, in this lifetime, to ever attempt to study any part of them.

Don't get me wrong, history offers many a great yarn and I am a fan of everything from tales from renaissance Florence to reports of Soviet era skulduggery, however this blog is about finding meaning and I am amused that the history of the religion within which I was raised is housed in kilometre, after kilometre, after further kilometres of bookshelves - what eager bureaucrats our religious leaders have been! I might find amusement in reading the popular rendition of events that surrounded the great schism or the Council of Trent, but these are stories from history rather than food for the soul.

Perhaps today's blog, instead of inspiring any new faith has made clear another reason why I am suspicious of religions - there is just too much paperwork surrounding what, in my opinion should simply be said as: be nice to each other, respect life in whatever form it takes and try not to fuck up.