Of course, with 50 miles of shelving and documents dating back to the eighth century, 100 items only scratches the surface.
Three years ago, however, the Vatican decided to the celebrate the Archive's 400th anniversary by making 100 items available for public viewing for the first time at the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Scholars can request up to three folders a day-which can end up being a bit of a gamble, because not everything is cataloged, and some catalogs are written in Italian or Latin. And even if you meet the requirements to view texts from the Archives, no browsing is allowed. Only carefully accredited scholars are allowed to enter-journalists, students, and amateur historians are barred. In recent years, the restrictions on researchers have been relaxed-slightly-but still remain pretty stringent. The archives, which were founded in 1612, were completely closed to the public until 1881, when Pope Leo XIII began allowing Catholic scholars to conduct studies amongst the stacks. That said, it’s not like just anyone can waltz in and take a peek around. The contents inside were never intended to be kept secret. Archivum Secretum looks like it would refer to a “secret” archive, but the translation is actually closer to “private archive,” and it serves as a place where the personal documents of all the popes are stored.
First, a caveat: Anyone with a strong grasp of Latin-or a distaste for Dan Brown novels-will warn others not to get too excited about the name of this papal library.