After Luther published his 95 Theses, a work critical of the Catholic church, the Vatican gave him 60 days to recant his condemnation Luther publicly burned his copy of the warning and was subsequently kicked out of the church, sparking the Protestant Reformation. There is the original copy of the infamous Decet Romanum Pontificem, the document which excommunicated Martin Luther in 1521. The Inter Caetera, as it was titled, gave Spain control of everything 100 leagues away from the Azores and Cape Verde, and Portugal the rest, the reason why today Brazil speaks Portuguese, while the rest of South America speaks Spanish.
Historical Documents Kept in the Vatican Secret Archivesįor example, the archives hold the official copy of the Papal decree splitting the New World in 1493, after it was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus.
What this means is that within the Vatican Secret Archives are the original records of some of history’s foundational moments, in effect, not just the story of the church, but of humanity itself. This became officially known as the Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum – ‘ The Vatican Secret Archive‘ – and beneath Vatican City, it has laid ever since.įor many centuries, the machinations of the Catholic church have shaped the culture and politics of the world.
Finally, in 1612, Pope Paul V ordered that all church records be collected and stored in the safest place possible, directly under the Vatican. Recognizing that what was left was of paramount importance to the church, not to mention human history, the Vatican began to construct plans to keep all of their records in one secure central location. In 1404, the Vatican itself was sacked, and Pope Innocent VII was forced to flee the city, while official Vatican documents from more than 1000 years of history were thrown into the streets like trash. Of course, the Middle Ages were a time of constant conflict across Europe, and, on more than one occasion, the locations housing these Vatican records were sacked, resulting in the loss of large portions of the archives. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, as well as the Lateran and the Palatine Palace nearby in Rome. By the 11th century, archives were being kept in at least three different locations – St. As the religion and its influence spread, the growing size of the records made this untenable, and the church began to store them at the Pope’s official residence. These records were entrusted to the care and ownership of the earliest Popes, traveling with them wherever they went and being passed to their successors when they died. The Creation of the Vatican Secret ArchivesĪs early as the 1st century, the Catholic church was already preserving official records of its operations. Some believe that deep beneath the Vatican is a different kind of history, one of secret powers, apocalyptic prophecies, and perhaps even extraterrestrials. There are some, however, who say that this is not all that is hidden there.
This is the Vatican Secret Archive, and hidden within it are the original recordings of some of history’s most essential and well-known events. On these shelves sit 12 centuries’ worth of documents, and unmatched history not just of the Catholic church, but of the world as we know it. There, in a fortress-like bunker, closed to the public and protected by armed guards, lies an incredible 53 miles of shelving – more than 100 times the distance from one side of Vatican City to the other, dug deep into the earth. Peter’s Basilica, or the Apostolic Palace, the architectural majesty of one of humanity’s most historically significant cities.Īnd yet, what is most significant historically is perhaps not what stands on top of the earth, but what lies beneath it. Peter’s Square, gaze upon the Sistine Chapel, St. Vatican City is the smallest country on earth it covers less area than New York’s Central Park if you were to walk from one side to the other, barely half a mile, you might stroll beneath the mighty columns of the iconic St.