Some Jewish groups and historians say Pius, who was pope from 1939-1958, stayed silent during the Holocaust and did not do enough to save lives.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, a great defender of Pius, accelerated the process to open the archives ahead of schedule so that researchers could have their say.
She was described as the"Little Jesus Flower" for her small acts of kindness and love, and Australian Catholics are lining-up to pay homage to the relics of France's Saint Therese of Lisieux. The documentation includes the archives from the Pius secretariat of state — the main organ of church governance, which includes the Vatican's foreign relations with other countries — as well as those of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or CDF, and the Vatican office responsible for mission territories.
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