Rome (CNN) Secret archives at the Vatican will be opened for the first time on Monday, giving scholars access to documents that may shed light on the controversial figure of Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of failing to help to save Jews during World War II.

Scholars and Jewish groups have been asking for decades that the archives, which contains millions of letters, cables and correspondence from Pius XII's 1939-1958 pontificate, be made available for study.

"We need to express our enormous gratitude and appreciation to Pope Francis for taking this step," said Menachem Rosensaft, associate executive vice president and general counsel of the World Jewish Congress.

The Vatican normally waits 70 years after the death of a pope before making his archives available for study.

Pope Francis has fast-tracked the opening of the Pius XII archives in order to help clear up the debate over the war-time pope, whose process for sainthood has been temporarily halted.

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