Oh sure, they're gonna "open their files." Actually, it's simply a continuing coverup of Vatican complicity in the Holocaust, and a transparent propaganda move, to show historians "the great works of charity and assistance" undertaken by Pius XII for prisoners and other victims during World War II.

VATICAN CITY - Some 3.5 million files on World War II prisoners of war will be made public by the Vatican in January as part of a promised release of documents intended to counter criticism of the papacy during the Holocaust.

The files are believed to deal exclusively with the treatment of POWs during the conflict and not directly with issues surrounding the Holocaust.

Critics of Pope Pius XII, the wartime Pope, argue that he failed to raise his voice and use his position to head off the extermination of European Jews by the Nazis. Defenders insist he made every effort possible to help Jews and others.

Jewish groups and others have been seeking a complete opening of the Vatican archives.