Vatican Apostolic Archive
State archive in Vatican CityWikipedia
42
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28
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13
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Search complete. 42 mentions across 28 episodes found for "Vatican Apostolic Archive".
Sep 25, 2026
speaker_4SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It was simply carried to Ethiopia.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It's in the Vatican Secret Archives.
speaker_2SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He hid it in anticipation of the Babylonian destruction.
John EarlHOST
Can a new search finally reveal its location?
17 MINS LATER
speaker_2SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
In 1745, the pope at the time, Benedict XIV, has three sacred objects moved from the Lateran Treasury.
speaker_2SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The Staff of Moses, there's Aaron's Rod- And lastly, there's the Ark of the Covenant.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, this is the last mention of the Ark in Rome, but some theorists believe that the Ark has remained in the possession of the popes ever since, and they think it's in the Vatican Secret Archives.
John EarlHOST
So that's theory number five.
Josh PeckSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
If they believe that Jesus Christ is gonna return as an alien, wouldn't they want to use this telescope to try to make contact with him first?
Eric MeyersNARRATOR
Securely housed deep inside the Vatican are the Vatican Apostolic Archive, known until recently as the Vatican Secret Archive, containing the Catholic Church's most important and potentially controversial documents, including the private papers of every pope stretching back a thousand years.
Lynn PicknettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The Vatican Secret Archives, or Archivum Secretum, actually genuinely only means private archives in Latin.
Lynn PicknettSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The word secret doesn't really come into it, but there's no doubt that an awful lot of what's in those vaults is most definitely secrets.
speaker_4SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It was simply carried to Ethiopia.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It's in the Vatican Secret Archives.
speaker_2SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He hid it in anticipation of the Babylonian destruction.
speaker_0HOST
Can a new search finally reveal its location?
15 MINS LATER
speaker_2SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
In 1745, the pope at the time, Benedict XIV, has three sacred objects moved from the Lateran Treasury, the Staff of Moses, there's Aaron's Rod, and lastly, there's the Ark of the Covenant.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Now, this is the last mention of the Ark in Rome.
speaker_3SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But some theorists believe that the Ark has remained in the possession of the popes ever since, and they think it's in the Vatican Secret Archives.
speaker_0HOST
So that's theory number five.
speaker_3HOST
And we all know that that's not going to happen.
speaker_3HOST
Often confused with the library that we just talked about, the Vatican Apostolic Archives is a separate entity and holds historical documents.
speaker_3HOST
Again, I've been waiting to release this for a reason, and I think that we all know why.
speaker_3HOST
So let's go deeper.
speaker_3HOST
The Vatican Secret Archives which has been renamed to the Vatican Apostolic Archives, are a highly secure and restricted collection of historical documents housed in the Vatican.
speaker_3HOST
All of this is on top of the necropolis that is also blocked off from all of us.
speaker_3HOST
So what is inside 53 miles of shelving? 53 miles of old world texts with so many records still undisclosed, where only approved scholars and researchers with specific projects are allowed entry.
7 MINS LATER
speaker_3HOST
The necropolis underneath this place, the library underground.
speaker_5HOST
And we all know that that's not going to happen.
speaker_5HOST
Often confused with the library that we just talked about, the Vatican Apostolic Archives is a separate entity and holds historical documents.
speaker_5HOST
again i've been waiting to release this for a reason and i think that we all know why so let's go deeper the vatican secret archives which has been renamed to the vatican apostolic archives are a highly secure and restricted collection of historical documents housed in the vatican all of this is on top of the necropolis that is also blocked off from all of us so what is inside 53 miles of shelving 53 miles of old world texts with so many records still undisclosed where only approved scholars and researchers with specific projects are allowed entry And even then, access is limited to certain materials.
speaker_5HOST
The public cannot view these archives, which fuels theories about potential hidden artifacts or relics.
speaker_5HOST
Are we right or are we right? 53 miles of old world items and texts, all contained within its underground vaults and rooms beneath the Vatican City.
6 MINS LATER
speaker_5HOST
It's so clearly obvious that there are clues, hidden keys, and connections that i believe has all been laid out for someone to find it and connect it all and then show it to the world there are so many sites in every continent that hold the same exact keys all of the old world sites are filtered through the same point in my opinion they are written by the same source and the source controls exactly what is allowed to be exposed we have exposed this The necropolis underneath this place, the library underground.
speaker_5HOST
These things are not the only things under the city.
speaker_5HOST
It is a massive network of underground tunnels, structures, and we all know this, especially when we are all told that the Vatican apostolic archives are believed to be connected underground with other parts of the Vatican City.
Bo BonnerHOST
But the, the Vatican, um, uh, library had a huge, uh, exhibit that he got to, to, um, open up, uh, yesterday, and you could tell that he was, uh, very happy about that.
Bo BonnerHOST
Uh, but it was like he was, uh, spreading the love that day because he said, uh, he ordered the expansion of the Vatic Aposto- uh, Vatican Apostolic Archive and Library, and, uh, talked about how libraries are not just places for books, but of relationships and exchange.
Bo BonnerHOST
He was talking about the silence that books generate and how wonderful it is.
Bo BonnerHOST
So, uh, I think he got to have the sort of birthday party that he always wanted.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
The Apostolic Library also lives through this relaxation.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
In the room dedicated to his predecessor, Pope Leo remembered the role of Pope Leo XIII in the time of the Industrial Revolution, which included opening the Vatican archives up to scholars around the world and giving wider access to the library.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
In this, Pope Leo highlighted the Apostolic Library bears witness to the church's ancient and ever new cultural openness.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
Inaugurating this current cycle of exhibitions is confirmation of this tradition.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
The Pope urged the staff of the Vatican Archives and Library to continue this and challenged them to be faithful to the past and to the future, to use the languages and means relevant to their work, and to find new ways to achieve reconciliation.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
Pope Leo concluded his speech highlighting a problem the Vatican Archives and Library is currently facing, the need for new space, and he announced that he has given instructions to help respond to this need.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
I'm Kelsey Gussie.
Devin WatkinsHOST
Meanwhile, Pope Leo today expanded the Vatican's archive and library, ordering the construction of a new building in the Vatican.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
Inaugurating this current cycle of exhibitions is confirmation of this tradition.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
The Pope urged the staff of the Vatican Archives and Library to continue this and challenged them to be faithful to the past and to the future, to use the languages and means relevant to their work, and to find new ways to achieve reconciliation.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
Pope Leo concluded his speech highlighting a problem the Vatican Archives and Library is currently facing: the need for new space, and he announced that he has given instructions to help respond to this need.
Kelsey GussieCORRESPONDENT
I'm Kelsey Gassy.
Festus TarawaliHOST
You are tuned to the Daily Africa Service of Vatican Radio.
Mark GagnonHOST
And in her 2019 book, American Cosmic, and in her 2023 follow-up, Encounters, she essentially puts this entire topic into a serious academic conversation.
Mark GagnonHOST
and now most importantly she's actually gained access to the vatican apostolic archive the archive was founded in 1612 and originally called the vatican secret archives but in 2019 the church officially renamed it to the apostolic archive because the word secret i mean really made everyone kind of assume the worst now get this it holds an estimated 53 miles of shelves We're not talking 53 shells, 53 miles filled with documents going back, I mean, thousands of years, most of which no outsider
Christos PapadopoulosHOST
has ever read.
Mark GagnonHOST
Now, Pasalka's core idea is pretty simple.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The door leads to the archive.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The Vatican Apostolic Archive.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Until 2019 it was known as the Vatican Secret Archives, a name that generated precisely the conspiratorial associations that the institution eventually decided it needed to dispel.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Pope Francis ordered the name changed, noting that the original Latin term, Archivum Secretum Vaticanum, used the word secretum not in the modern English sense of hidden or classified, but in the older Latin sense of private or personal.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Whether it has succeeded is debatable.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The reality is this.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The Vatican Apostolic Archive contains an estimated 85 linear kilometres of shelving.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Let that number settle for a moment.
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