A new book reveals the Vatican's history of covert operations, including espionage, intelligence gathering, and its role in navigating international relations.
A no-holds-barred account of the Vatican ’s covert operations – from escape routes for Nazi war criminals to money laundering for the mafia operations used to control vast areas of Italy – the so-called “papal states”. But when the unification of Italy was finally completed after the capture of Rome in 1870, only about 120 acres of central Rome were left in papal possession.
Popes railed against the Italian state until the Lateran Pacts were signed with Benito Mussolini in 1929, when each side recognized the other and the theocratic Vatican City was created. With a population of 764, it’s the smallest sovereign state in the world. But its reach is global, guiding the lives of more than a billion Catholics. “The Vatican is one of a kind,” Yvonnick Denoël writes in this dense study, “because of its hybrid status: it is a micro-state and, at the same time, a worldwide spiritual authority.” Given its reputation for secrecy and subterfuge, it’s perhaps not surprising to discover that the Vatican has conducted widespread espionage and intelligence operations. Denoël traces its activities from the second world war to the present day, showing how the Vatican was not only spying but also, repeatedly, spied upon. In theory, any advancement of the Vatican’s reach should be a force for good because its neutrality is an obvious path to peace. During the cold war, the Vatican’s prowess at dialogue and rapprochement was daring. Infiltrating priests behind the iron curtain, the Vatican also defied the CIA to open channels to the top of the Kremlin. John XXIII told a US journalist: “I am not afraid to talk to anyone about peace on earth.” Alarmed, the CIA boss, John McCone, requested an audience with him, but was told bluntly that if the US continued diplomatic relations and trade with the Soviet Bloc, so the Vatican would continue its own trade: “the commerce of souls”. The church’s envoys frequently risked their own lives to smuggle papal messages to the faithfu
Vatican Espionage Intelligence Diplomacy Cold War
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