Vatican City - In a new Vatican exhibition, Pope Pius XII's more mundane belongings - his heavily-worn shoes and portable typewriter - have gone on show, along with World War II-era radio transcripts in which he purportedly denounced totalitarian rule, including Nazism.

"The purpose is to allow the general public to get to know the full life of Pope Eugenio Pacelli (Pius XII)," Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences President Walter Brandmueller, told reporters, Monday.

"In part it serves to counter some of the malign interpretations that try to cast a shadow on the figure of Pope Pacelli," he added.

Brandmueller was referring to criticism by some historians and Jewish groups that Pius failed to speak out against the Nazi massacre of the Jews, the Holocaust.

Photographs, items of clothing, gifts and documents on display at the exhibition venue - the Braccio Carlo Magno wing of St Peter's colonnade - chart Pius's life from his 
1876 birth in Rome to an aristocratic family.

It follows his years as a Vatican diplomat, including stints in Munich and Berlin as a Papal Nuncio, or ambassador. In one letter to his brother Francesco, the future pope recounts the 1919 occupation by Communist revolutionaries of the Nuncio offices in Munich.

"On that occasion Pius was threatened with a pistol pointed to his head," Pius biographer Andrea Tornielli said.

The violence and anti-clericalism that surrounded the establishment of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919, is said to have influenced Pius' strong anti-Communism - a feature of his papacy which lasted from 1939 to his 1958 death.

But the exhibition also touches on what the Roman Catholic Church and other supporters of Pius, say is his opposition to Nazism and his efforts to safeguard Jews.

These include documents highlighting the then Cardinal Pacelli's contribution as Vatican Secretary of State, to the "With burning Concern," the 1937 encyclical issued by his predecessor Pius XI in which totalitarianism and anti-Semitism are condemned.

Transcripts exhibited, include part of Pius XII's papal Christmas radio message of 1942. Current pontiff Benedict XVI, referred to it when he defended his predecessor's record in a October mass commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pius' death.

In that "emotional" broadcast, Pius according to Benedict, made explicit his concern for the mass deportation and murder of the Jews.

The exhibition does not contain Vatican archive material on Pius' war-time pontificate that historians say may help clear once and for all the lingering ambiguity on Pius'role.

Last week the Vatican said such records would only be made available at the earliest, by 2014.

The delay, which the Vatican says is necessary to ensure proper cataloging of the documents, is likely to see the controversy around Pius continue.

This includes a exhibit at Israel's state Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, in which Pius' photographs appears with a caption which implies he remained silent about the Nazi persecution of Jews.

One Vatican official suggested that unless it is removed Benedict is unlikely to visit the Jewish state.

Still, Pope Benedict appears to have put on hold attempts to make Pius a saint.

The German-born pontiff has taken time for "reflection" on whether to authorize Pius' beatification - an important step towards Roman Catholic sainthood - the Vatican said last month.

The exhibition: Pius XII the man and his pontificate 1876-1958 will be held in Rome until January 6, 2009. It will later move to Germany - Munich and Berlin - and then the United States. (dpa)