(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 16 - Pope Pius XII, the head of the Catholic Church during World War II, knew about the Holocaust, a researcher has said on the basis of a letter found in the Vatican Archives.
    Pius XII has come under fire from some historians for not speaking out about the Nazi death camps, while others have argued he secretly worked in silence to save the lives of many Jews.
    The letter, which has been published by daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, was written by a German Jesuit, Father Lothar Koenig, to Pius's secretary Robert Leiber.
    Dated December 14, 1942, it mentions the daily murder of thousands of people and refers to Dachau and Auschwitz.
    It was found by Giovanni Coco, an archivist for the Vatican's Apostolic Archives.
    "It's a unique case," Coco told Il Corriere della Sera.
    "It has enormous value". (ANSA).