Vatican Spies (from The Second World War To Pope Leo Xiv)

A Foreign Affairs ''Book of the Year'' and an Independent ''Book of the Month''

An astonishing history of the priests and missionaries whose ‘special ops’ serve the Holy See and 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide.

A Foreign Affairs ''Book of the Year'' and an Independent ''Book of the Month''

An astonishing history of the priests and missionaries whose ‘special ops’ serve the Holy See and 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide.

Updated paperback edition includes new material on the papacy of Pope Leo XIV.

‘Officially’ the Vatican has no espionage service; but does no one carry out intelligence operations on its behalf? During the Second World War and Cold War, Rome was teeming with spies. A band of undercover monsignors and priests hunted for Vatican ‘moles’, led clandestine diplomacy, investigated assassinations of priests and other scandals threatening the Church, and conducted high-risk missions behind the Iron Curtain.

Drawing on freshly released archives of foreign services that worked with or against the Holy See, Vatican Spies reveals eighty years of shadow wars and dirty tricks. These include infiltrating Russian-speaking priests into the Soviet Union; secret negotiations between John XXIII and Khrushchev; the future Paul VI’s close relationship with the CIA; the Vatican’s infiltration by Eastern Bloc intelligence; the battles between the Jesuits and Opus Dei; and the secret bank funds channelled first to fight communism in South America, then to support Solidarity in Poland.

This entertaining book journeys right to the present, uncovering startling machinations under Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.

Introduction: The spies who didn’t exist I: PACELLI 1. A crisis pope 2. Facing the Nazis: Double play and false pretences, 1940–1943 3. Under German occupation, 1943–1944 4. Rome: Open city, 1944–1947 5. No holds barred, 1949–1958 II: RONCALLI 6. Détente III: MONTINI 7. Paul VI’s torments 8. The Vatican moles 9. Octopus Dei 10. The monsignor’s explosives 11. Setting the cat among the pigeons 12. The puppet master 13. The IOR changes horses 14. Paul VI’s last sorrow IV: WOJTYŁA 15. The Pope who shouldn’t have died 16. Wojtyła, the special operations pope 17. The theology of the gun 18. A trip to Poland 19. Three shots in Saint Peter’s Square 20. Death of a banker 21. Polish crusade 22. New challenges 23. Marcinkus goes … the corruption stays 24. Murders in the Vatican 25. Twilight wanderings V: RATZINGER AND BERGOGLIO 26. The impossible inheritance 27. The infernal machine 28. Barack and Francis 29. China: The other Church of silence 30. A story without end Conclusion Afterword: Pope Leo XIV Acknowledgements Notes Index

''An intriguing book... an informative resource on the modern papacy. It will certainly satisfy all those who, after watching Conclave, want to learn more about intrigue in the Holy See.''

''A no-holds-barred account of the Vatican’s covert operations … is revelatory … The Vatican is so secretive that the book becomes a modern history of the Holy See. There is much blood on the carpet.''

''Utterly absorbing.''

''Vatican Spies has it all; murder, blackmail, betrayal, deceit, treachery, with even priests inside the Vatican acting as double agents – through blackmail because of some sexual misdemeanour or personal greed. There is so much noir here it would have provided John le Carré with rich material