Statement

2019

Statement on the Holy See’s Decision to open the Pius XII Archives

IHRA Chairs, Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin and Ambassador Georges Santer welcome the Holy See’s decision to open the Pius XII Archives.

“As current and incoming Chairs of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, we warmly welcome the Holy See’s decision to open the Pius XII Archives. The IHRA has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Holy See and had the honour of holding a joint conference focusing on refugee policies from 1933 to the present day in February 2017. We very much appreciate the constructive talks we had in the past with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, and in October 2018 with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, and we are delighted to see such a fruitful outcome. We look forward to continuing to work with the Holy See on this important issue, which contributes directly to safeguarding the historical record of the Holocaust.”

Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin and Ambassador Georges Santer

The Holy See was represented at the International Stockholm Forum on the Holocaust in 2000.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance, and promote Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide and to uphold the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.