Vatican Paper's World War II Editions Put Online

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Vatican Paper's World War II Editions Put Online
Pave the Way Foundation Grows Web Library

NEW YORK, MAY 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Pave the Way Foundation has received permission from the Vatican's semi-official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, to publish online its archived editions from 1938 to 1945.


The New York-based foundation, a non-sectarian organization whose mission is to identify and try to eliminate obstacles between religions and to initiate positive gestures in order to improve interreligious relations, has been working to discover the facts regarding Pope Pius XII and his efforts to help Jews during World War II.

As part of this effort, it has been working to retrieve and publicize as many documents as possible to expose the truth of the secret and public action of the Holy See during World War II.

The foundation requested permission to place on its Web site the wartime L'Osservatore Romano editions, which have only been available previously in the newspaper's archives in Rome.

Elliot Hershberg, chairman of Pave the Way Foundation, affirmed that "this is a very big step in educating the legitimate historians worldwide."

He explained, "There have been many references that have been made about articles in L'Osservatore Romano over the years, both positive and negative, and now these can be verified online."

The L'Osservatore Romano editions will add some 24,000 pages to the extensive online library, which includes video interviews aimed at helping the public understand the actions of the Holy See during that time period.

The foundation's president and founder, Gary Krupp, expressed appreciation to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict XVI's secretary of state, and Cardinal Raffaele Farina, prefect of the Vatican Library, for their "confidence and trust in the work of Pave the Way Foundation and for their insight and willingness to do whatever is necessary to bring the truth of this terrible period in history public."