‘Vatican Spies’: faith, secrecy and scandal 

Vatican Spies has no strong overarching themes beyond fear of, and reaction to, communism and money as the root of all evil.  Denoël justifiably points the finger at the Vatican’s management

of its bank, the IOR or Instituto per le Opere di Religione (the works of religion — for which, too often, read money-laundering).  Alongside good works, over the years the IOR has served

the Mafia, the sinister P2 Italian Masonic Lodge, and the CIA .  Chronic incompetence, naivete or illicit financial benefit?  All of the above. 

The key is the Vatican’s fear of, and enmity towards, Communism, a theological dimension of the Cold War. In Poland, from 1945-1953 some 2,200 priests were deported, imprisoned or executed.

(Over 1,800 had already died in Nazi concentration camps).  As the  Communist government established itself in China, out of the 3,000 priests in 1949 some 500 were expelled, 500 imprisoned

and 200 were executed. These experiences weighed heavily on successive Popes and directed ongoing diplomatic priorities.  

The Catholic Church is a global communications network.  Information flows through it to journalists, NGOs and Governments, sometimes for the common good.  So, in Denoël’s sense, many

Catholics are spies…. and a few are spies in the usual sense.  While working undercover for the Swedish Government against the apartheid regime in the 1980s, I had smuggled into South Africa

a debugging device for the non-violent political coalition, the United Democratic Front. It featured “agricultural equipment”.  Well, it equipped them to get rid of bugs.  

By proceeding, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and our Privacy Policy.

If an account exists for this email address, you will shortly receive an email from us. You will then need to:

Please note, this link will only be valid for 24 hours. If you do not receive our email, please check your Junk Mail folder and add [email protected] to your safe list.