In an address to the members of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences (Italian-language website), Pope Francis emphasized that “adherence to firmly documented reality remains indispensable to the historian, without idealistic escapes into a supposedly consoling past.”

“Your Committee, formed at the behest of the Venerable Pius XII to be at the service of the Pope, the Holy See and the local Churches, is certainly bound to promote the study of history, which is indispensable to the laboratory of peace, as a way of dialogue and the search for practical and peaceful solutions to resolve disagreements, and to know people and societies more deeply,” Pope Francis added.