The Vatican is to open up its archives relating to the papal state's relations with Nazi Germany. The decision follows a directive from Pope John Paul II.
The documentation relates specifically to the 17 years leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939, six years after fascist leader Adolf Hitler came to power.
They also include the office archives of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who served as the official representative for Pope Pius XI in Munich and Berlin in 1922-1929.
Cardinal Pacelli succeeded Pius XI as Pope Pius XII a decade later.
Some historians and Jewish groups have accused Pius XII of having turned a blind eye to the extermination of millions of Jews by Hitler's regime.
However much of the documentation released today has already been published according to the Vatican.
A Vatican official said more interesting material is due to be made available to historians in three years' time, including a batch of documents which include previously unpublished papal circulars that condemned the Nazi regime and its persecution of the Jews.
The official said that the slow progress in opening up the archives was due to a 'shortage of personnel and not a desire to hide anything'.
