Claim · G-014
David Grusch: Claims that Pope Pius XII informed the United States through confidential channels of the existence of the craft recovered in Italy and that the Americans ended up taking possession of it in 1944-45.
David Grusch · Jun 7, 2023 · Interview with a French outlet (Le Parisien, according to Wikipedia) and interview with NewsNation with Ross Coulthart (June 2023) (Interview)
Hearsay Historical cases
Unverifiable
The Vatican element has no known documentary basis and the involvement of the “Five Eyes,” present in Wikipedia's summary, does not appear in a primary transcript.
- Against or denials
- Roberto Pinotti's account of the 1996 documents mentions neither the Vatican nor Pius XII and says the craft was taken to the United States after the U.S. 1st Armored Division captured the SIAI-Marchetti site at Vergiate in April 1945. According to Metabunk, the Vatican detail appears only in William Brophy Jr.'s letters to Flying Saucer Review dated after 2004; the Vatican source cited by NewsNation (2026) found no communications to a pope about the episode, without being able to rule them out entirely.
Sources
- Roberto Pinotti, “The UFO Files of Mussolini,” account of the documents received in 1996 (The Black Vault) (primary source, pro-disclosure)
- Newsweek, Grusch, the Vatican and the craft recovered in Italy (August 2, 2023) (press)
- NewsNation, no trace of the Magenta case in the Vatican archives according to a Vatican source (June 15, 2026) (press)
- Metabunk, “Claim: A UFO crashed in 1933 Italy”: analysis of the documents on the Magenta case (analysis, skeptical)
On this site
People 1
Claims 3
- David Grusch: Claims that the oldest case he was informed of is a craft recovered in Italy in 1933 by Mussolini's… Unverifiable
- David Grusch: Asked whether the Catholic Church and the Vatican know of the existence of non-human intelligences on the… Unverifiable
- David Grusch: Describes the Magenta craft as a lenticular disc whose rim allegedly broke off, leaving a bell or acorn shape. Unverifiable
Inconsistencies 1
Cases 1
- Magenta 1933: the alleged retrieval of a disc, known only from anonymous papers Disputed explanation
Where the claims come from 1
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