The Keeper Of The Vatican’s Secrets Is Retiring. Here’s What He Wants You To Know
Prefect of the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Bishop Sergio Pagano speaks in his office at The Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, during an interview with The Associated Press. In a new book-length interview with Italian journalist Massimo Franco, “Secretum”, Pagano divulges some of the unknown or behind-the-scenes details of well-known sagas of the Holy See and its relations with the outside world over the past 12 centuries. From Napoleon’s sacking of the archive in 1810 to the Galileo affair and the peculiar conclave of 1922 that was financed almost entirely by donations from U.S. Catholics. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The longtime prefect of the Vatican Secret Archive is spilling the beans for the first time.
He is revealing some of the secrets he has uncovered in the 45 years he has worked in one of the world’s most important, and unusual, repositories of documents.
In a new book-length interview titled “Secretum” to be published Tuesday, Archbishop Sergio Pagano divulges some of the unknown, lesser-known and behind-the-scenes details of well-known sagas of the Holy See.
Pagano delves into everything from Napoleon’s seizure of the archive itself in 1810 to the peculiar conclave of 1922 that was financed entirely by donations from U.S. Catholics.
