Ken Klippenstein writes on April 24 the truism that the U.S. has long maintained extensive intelligence and security monitoring of the Vatican. The used agencies are the CIA, NSA, FBI, and State Department.
- The CIA is represented in the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican and the Agency has been penetrating the Vatican government and diplomatic corps for years. It has human spies working inside the Holy See bureaucracy.
- The NSA intercepts Vatican communications, emails, and texts, working independently and through a joint NSA/CIA “Special Collection Service.”
- The FBI investigates crimes committed against and by the Vatican. It also regularly provides threat intelligence to the Pope during his travels. FBI documents show that the first Trump administration sought to beef up its coordination with Italian intelligence agencies and Vatican officials on things like cyber security, white collar crime, human trafficking, art theft and other issues.
- The State Department closely follows the ins and outs of Papal diplomacy and politics. It maintains a daily Vatican-centric news digest circulated to diplomats worldwide. The department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research has analysts dedicated to producing classified assessments on Vatican affairs.
All of these agencies liaise with the Vatican’s own foreign policy, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Klippenstein adds that tension between the Vatican and the White House is nothing new, but historically it has taken place through surrogates, policy statements, or pointed silence. President Trump’s recent public swipe against Leo XIV cast the Pope as a threat to U.S. interests what is an unprecedented label.
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