By Alys Cusack

Long the province of conspiracy theorists and bestselling novelists, the Vatican’s Secret Archives have been opened to selected journalists and members of the public.

Called Archivum Secretum Vaticanum in Latin, the Secret Archives hold all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See, as well as huge backlogs of church documents and holdings.

Technically, all that “Secret” means is that the library is the exclusive property of the Pope, instead of the Roman Curia. However, the Secret Archive is rumored to contain books on everything from witchcraft to ritual magic, the stolen libraries of the Templars and Cathars, and even secrets regarding the bloodline of Christ and other hidden sides of Church history. Some documents have even been released under public pressure, like the Third Secret of Fatima and documents relating to the Church’s complicity in the rise of Nazi Germany.

Yet a large motivator behind the Holy See opening the gates to closer scrutiny of the archives is to dispel conspiracy theories surrounding the archives, especially as a result of the public furor over Dan Brown’s bestsellers “The Da Vinci Code” and others. Housed behind St. Peter’s Basilica and heavily guarded, the Secret Library contains more than fifty-two miles of shelving.

Some documents do, however, remain completely under lock and key. Most of these relate to the day-to-day personal affairs of Church higher-ups – however, further documents relating to the Church’s involvement with the Nazis are also closely guarded.

It will be interesting to see what revelations, if any, come from public viewing of the archives. Much of the material that would have been considered controversial or heretical in the Middle Ages – for instance, information on rival Christian sects or the occult – is now available on practically every street corner (or, ahem, on daily blog feeds).

What do you think – what could be hiding in there?