Vatican Spies

Description

‘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 Benedict XVI and, today, Pope Francis.

Reviews

‘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.’ — The Sunday Times

‘Candid [and] wide-ranging… Vatican Spies is a tale of remarkable machinations – ones that apparently continue to the current reign of Pope Francis – and a story rich in betrayals, sacrifices, compromises, “damage control” dirty tricks and even murders.’ — The Independent, ‘December Books of the Month’

‘This book is well worth reading, and should be viewed as a jumping-off point into a murky universe which deserves greater attention.’ — New Directions

‘An impressive and rigorous narrative.’ — Le Figaro

‘This book finally reveals the secret service of the Vatican and uncovers some of its most relevant operations.’ — Le Point

‘Stalin famously asked how many divisions the Pope has. Maybe not divisions, but it does boast a vast and effective intelligence network. This magisterial account of the Vatican’s spying activities is unique in dealing with the last few decades, including the current Pope. A meticulous work, a book of revelations.’ — Bruno Maçães, author, foreign correspondent, The New Statesman

‘Vatican Spies surprised me. Little did I know about the clandestine war and Intelligence gathering waged by the Vatican, so well documented and colourfully described in Yvonnick Denoël’s book. The Vatican secret service is unquestionably one of the major espionage agencies, and Vatican Spies reads like an intriguing and very well sourced spy novel.’ — Mishka Ben-David, former Mossad operative and author of Duet in Beirut and Last Stop Algiers

‘God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are absent from this book. Denoel’s work is concerned with ambition, greed, extreme politics, murder, mafia, betrayal and the darker side of human nature. A fascinating history of the Vatican from fascism to the present day.’  — David Lane, author of Berlsuconi’s Shadow and Into the Heart of the Mafia, and former Italy business and finance correspondent, The Economist

‘An important, ground-breaking survey of the Catholic Church as an international intelligence-gathering network and an object of interest for national intelligence agencies. Highly readable and endlessly fascinating.’ — Philip Murphy, Director of History & Policy, Institute of Historical Research

Author(s)

Yvonnick Denoël is a French historian, publisher and intelligence specialist who has written on the CIA, Mossad, and espionage in the twentieth century. Vatican Spies has appeared in German and Italian translations.