Wartime editions of newspaper to go online

BY STAFF REPORTER
A US GROUP has received permission from the Vatican’s newspaper to publish online its archived editions from 1938 to 1945.
New York-based Pave the Way Foundation, whose mission is to identify and try to eliminate obstacles between religions, has been working to discover how Pope Pius XII helped Jews during the Second World War.
The foundation requested permission to place on its website the wartime L’Osservatore Romano editions, which have only been available previously in the newspaper’s archives in Rome. Elliot Hershberg, chairman of the foundation, said “this is a very big step in educating the legitimate historians worldwide”.
He said: “There have been many references that have been made about articles in L’Osservatore Romano over the years, both positive and negative, and now these can be verified online.” The editions will add some 24,000 pages to the extensive online library, which includes video interviews aimed at helping the public understand the actions of the Holy See during that period.
The foundation’s president, Gary Krupp, thanked Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, and Cardinal Raffaele Farina, prefect of the Vatican Library, for their “confidence and trust” in his work.