Scholars at a conference examining the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII presented a mixed bag on how the Vatican responded to the horrors of the Holocaust.

The era of divisive debate about Pope Pius XII has been left behind, and now Catholics and Jews, historians and theologians must take up serious and collaborative study, said the co-organizer of a major conference looking at the early results of new research into the wartime pontificate.

The latest book on Pope Pius XII, the first to include material from the complete archives up to 1958, repeats a lot of old news, but adds some interesting detail about the culture and politics of the papal court during the Second World War, according to a Canadian scholar who wrote a landmark biography of the wartime pope.

One document uncovered during one week of research isn’t enough to draw new or final conclusions about Pope Pius XIIöÏÓãÊÓƵapp guilt or innocence regarding the Holocaust, warns CanadaöÏÓãÊÓƵapp leading expert on the wartime pope.

OXFORD, England -- A top Polish historian has questioned claims by German researchers that newly opened Vatican archives contain information damning the role played by Pope Pius XII during World War II.

Historian Robert Ventresca is already planning visits to Rome sometime after March 2, 2020, where he will immerse himself in hundreds of thousands of letters, cables and speeches covering the papacy of Pius XII from 1939 to 1958.

WASHINGTON – Pope Pius XII's secret support for the attempted overthrow of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler is the subject of a recent book that draws on wartime documents and interviews with the American intelligence agent who wrote them.

JERUSALEM - New text in an exhibit at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial offers a less-critical assessment of the actions of Pope Pius XII in dealing with the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II.

While the new text still points to Pope Pius' prominent role in the church's negotiations with Nazi officials, it paints a more complex picture of the situation decades ago.

Still, the new text includes criticism of the Vatican for not opening its archives to allow historians to research the actions of the Holy See at the time, noting that until researchers have access to "all relevant" materials the topic will "remain open to further inquiry."