Vatican official says Templars book nothing new

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- It was billed as the Vatican's effort to "come clean" and reveal secret documents about the mysterious Knights Templar, the medieval crusading order that has inspired ancient legends and modern novels.

But after seeing exaggerated press reports for two weeks, Bishop Sergio Pagano apparently had had enough.

"I've read in the papers that this is about discoveries. In no way can one talk about discoveries -- every one of these texts was already known," he said Oct. 25...

Many media reported that the elaborate collector's edition, titled "Processus Contra Templarios" ("The Trial Against the Templars"), would include a previously secret document called the Chinon parchment, supposedly discovered in 2001 after being misplaced in a Vatican archives drawer...

Bishop Pagano, however, said the Chinon document was not a recent discovery. It was "described perfectly" in a 1912 Vatican archives catalogue and was available to researchers -- but researchers didn't notice until 2001, he said.