2. God's Secrets

Available for over a year

Tiffany Jenkins travels to Rome to The Vatican's Secret Archive to discover how open they are at allowing access to a vast historical archive connected to the Catholic Church. She also explores the importance of secrecy in creating a space and a connection to the divine. Does accepting secrecy and mystery lead to wisdom? - as knowing what you don't know is wisdom itself. Tiffany Jenkins series exploring the idea of secret knowledge. Secrets have never been more suspect. Post Snowden, post Savile, institutions which keep secrets are automatically seen as having something to hide, and openness and transparency are seen as the new imperatives. Any deviation from the new orthodoxy of honesty is punished - by exposure. But the story of secrecy is not as black and white as our contemporary prejudices would have it. For centuries secrecy has been seen to serve a useful purpose. It has protected citizens from the prying eyes of governments, it has protected the feelings of individuals and kept couples together. It has safeguarded professional integrity, and protected the vulnerable from abuse. Have we lost more than we have gained by abandoning our respect for the power and sanctity of secrecy? Producer: Kate Bissell First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016.