ROME: Newly discovered correspondence suggests that Pope Pius 12th had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that thousands of Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland during World War 2, undercutting the Holy See's argument that it couldn't verify diplomatic reports of Nazi atrocities to denounce them.

The documentation from the Vatican archives, published this weekend in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, is likely to further fuel debate about Pius' legacy and his now-stalled beatification campaign.