Saying that the Church "is not afraid of history," Pope Francis has announced that the Vatican will open archival records on Pope Pius XII early. 

Pope Francis made the announcement yesterday in a speech to members of the Vatican's Secret Archives. The records will be opened to scholars for research on March 2, 2020.

Pope Pius XII was the head of the Catholic Church from 1939 until his death in 1958. He has often been called 'Hitler's Pope' by detractors who felt he did not speak out and denounce Hitler and the Nazi Party enough during WWII.

Catholic defenders meanwhile say that the Pope worked quietly to save Jewish people.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Pope Francis said on Monday that Pius XII lead the Catholic Church “in one of the saddest and darkest moments of the twentieth century,” and that he had sometimes been criticized in an “exaggerated” manner.

The pontiff said that the opening of the archives would allow “serious and objective historical research” to “evaluate, in the proper light and with appropriate criticism, the praiseworthy moments of the Pontiff and, without any doubt, also moments of serious difficulties, of tormented decisions,” which he may have seemed to some as “reticence” but were attempts to keep humanitarian initiatives alive.

Rabbi David Rosen, the International Director of Inter-religious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), said that he hoped the Vatican’s archival documents from the Holocaust era will provide a clearer picture of Pope Pius XII’s actions.