Each large state entity must have its own intelligence service to ensure its security. The Vatican, the spiritual capital of all Catholics in the world, is no exception. They say that in its archives one can find the answer to any riddle of the modern world, and the agents of the Holy See are actively influencing world politics.
Keys on the coat of arms
Several years ago, the author of this article inquired in a conversation with the famous writer and researcher of the secret societies of the world, Andrei Sinelnikov, whether the Vatican really has its own intelligence, because, according to official data, it ceased to exist after the end of World War II. In response, Andrei Zinovievich smiled and asked if, in my opinion, it was possible to manage the largest religious flock in the world and not have our own intelligence and counterintelligence service. Of course not! In addition, where there is at least one Catholic, the Vatican is invisibly present, willy-nilly becoming the keeper of most of the world's secrets. It is not for nothing that crossed keys are depicted on the coat of arms of the Vatican. It is believed that with one key the Catholic Church opens access to everything that interests her, and with the second it locks everything,which is contrary to the Catholic faith. At the same time, there should be a structure that would at least collect and systematize this information. Moreover, the Vatican does not need professional intelligence officers in the classical sense of the word. Any missionary, priest, cardinal or member of a monastic order is a priori a scout of the Holy See.
Initially, information from these informants flowed to the Congregation of the Sacred Chancellery, established in 1542 and which was the direct heir of the Great Roman Inquisition. Over time, in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the Vatican created the Bureau of Information. Moreover, it was headed by our former compatriot, bishop from tsarist Russia, Alexander Nikolaevich Evreinov, the son of a tsarist general. Under his leadership, the bureau established offices in Washington, Tokyo, Cairo and Bangkok. And also in all places on the planet where hostilities took place. What these people were doing is clear without additional explanation.
Information rules the world
At the same time, a logical question arises: with whom of the mighty of this world in the 20th century did the Vatican share the information it obtained? After all, officially the Holy See is outside politics. According to Andrey Sinelnikov, the Vatican's intelligence service generously shared the collected information with the countries participating in the Second World War. Moreover, in the interests of the Vatican, both opposing sides were generously supplied with operational information: the USA, Great Britain and … Hitler's Germany. The fact is that the Vatican was heavily indebted to the fascist regime in Italy. In 1929, Benito Mussolini by his decree transferred 44 hectares of land in Rome to the Holy See, thereby founding the Vatican city-state. It is not surprising that the Catholics helped the Italian dictator in whatever way they could.
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However, the Vatican never made a big secret of its intelligence activities. One of the Catholic hierarchs, Bishop James Ryan, in an article dated May 12, 1940, published in The New York Times, authoritatively argued the need for diplomatic relations between the United States and the Vatican, which, according to the bishop, is the most informed organization in the world. In this context, it is interesting to know how the Vatican treated the USSR in the middle of the 20th century. According to data published in the French post-war press, Sinelnikov said, in June 1948, Washington and the Vatican signed a secret agreement, according to which the United States pledged to finance the anti-communist activities of the Vatican.
Little of! After the war, Vatican intelligence was merged with the intelligence service of the Jesuit Order, and the newly created structure was subordinated to the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Montini. In particular, in 1947, the US allocated 500 thousand dollars for the Vatican's intelligence activities in Europe. The most detailed information about the secret activities of the Vatican's intelligence structures was described in the book "Secret documents of Vatican diplomacy" published in Italy in 1948. The book immediately became a bestseller. Pope Pius XII himself, as stated in the pages of the book, in 1948 demanded that all Catholic organizations in the world make the most of their capabilities in gathering intelligence information. At the same time, it is well known that any intelligence service in the world always has a legal "cover". For intelligence of the Holy See, her role, according to Andrei Sinelnikov,carried out by the Civil Committees created in 1948. In 1951, a special document was even published: "Organization and work plan of the local Civic Committee." The pages of the brochure described in sufficient detail what kind of information the organization was supposed to collect. The main interest was the activities of political parties, as well as public opinion on local and national issues. Thanks to this information, the Vatican intelligence was able, if necessary, to initiate social unrest or unrest in the country it wanted. The main interest was the activities of political parties, as well as public opinion on local and national issues. Thanks to this information, the Vatican intelligence was able, if necessary, to initiate social unrest or unrest in the country it wanted. The main interest was the activities of political parties, as well as public opinion on local and national issues. Thanks to this information, the Vatican intelligence was able, if necessary, to initiate social unrest or unrest in the country it wanted.
Agents in cassocks
In particular, in 1948 in Czechoslovakia, as reported in the "Secret documents of the Vatican diplomacy", a coup d'etat was being prepared with the support of the Vatican's agent network, and the Prague archbishop Joseph Beran promised the opposition the full support of the Pope. But even after the grandiose failure of the conspirators' plan, the Vatican did not stop its subversive activities. A papal envoy, known for his espionage and subversion work in Hungary, arrived in Prague. At his request, secret negotiations were held with the participation of all Catholic priests of Czechoslovakia with a request to continue their destructive work. But most of the clergy expressed a strong protest against such use of their spiritual dignity and abandoned such a thankless mission.
In 1950 and 1951, part of the cassock spy network was exposed. In the course of the process, in addition to espionage activities, completely unpleasant things were revealed - such as, for example, the cooperation of some Vatican agents with the Gestapo during the war. Basically, it was about caches in Catholic monasteries with weapons, gold, foreign currency and espionage. In particular, the abbot of the Premonstrant Monastery, Abbot Mahalka, hid weapons and ammunition in his monastery. In the furs of the organ, investigators found several hundred thousand Czechoslovak crowns, US dollars, Italian lira, as well as many gold and silver jewelry. There are many similar examples.
It turned out that since the beginning of the 1950s, a school was operating in Rome to prepare clergymen for espionage and Catholic reaction in countries building socialism. The teachers at this school included American intelligence officers. At the same time, intelligence activities were mainly directed against the USSR. The fact is that, according to the data collected by Andrei Sinelnikov, from the first days of the October Revolution, the Vatican took a sharply negative position towards our country. Its representatives actively interacted with the White Guard organizations. In 1918, Pope Benedict XV planned to send Bishop Achilles Ratti to Soviet Russia as an "apostolic visitor for Russian affairs." However, the papal envoy was prudently refused entry.
Later, at the height of the Cold War, Pope Pius XII tried to maximize the Vatican's espionage activities against the Warsaw Pact countries. As a result, by the 1980s, the Vatican had become a center for the coordination and conduct of secret operations against the USSR.
Today there is a lot of literature describing the participation of the Vatican in the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent dissolution of the Warsaw Bloc. At the same time, the modern Vatican completely denies having its own intelligence service today. When asked by the Institute for the Study of World History, the apostolic nunciature in Germany replied in 1993 that the Vatican had no intelligence services. In particular, military and economic information is not collected or analyzed by any Vatican department. At the same time, says Andrei Zinovievich, in the Western press in 1998 there was evidence that the Vatican is a client of the Swiss company "Crypto AG" - one of the world leaders in the production of cryptography tools. I wonder why the Vatican needs such equipment? No answer…
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №34. Author: Dmitry Sokolov