Intel gathering

ESPIONAGE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE PRESENT

“How many divisions does the pope have?” This was Stalin’s sarcastic response to Churchill’s request not to let internal developments in Poland upset relations with the pope. While Stalin’s dismissive statement suggested that the Catholic Church was an insignificant power in international affairs, he could not have been farther from the truth. The Holy See has played an important but understudied role in intelligence and diplomacy through its diplomatic service, which is one of the oldest in the world. The extensive presence of the Holy See’s diplomats combined with their neutrality provides them access to unique information in the far corners of the globe.

Formerly top-secret KGB (Soviet security service) documents declassified after the end of the Cold War reveal the Kremlin’s obsession with containing the papacy’s influence. The Soviet security services devoted substantial resources to penetrating and undermining the Catholic Church for the entirety of the Cold War. And as international threats have become more sophisticated, so too have the Vatican’s methods for protecting itself. Today, because the papacy maintains diplomatic relations with 183 countries, the Catholic Church is still an influential power in international affairs. While the papacy does not possess a formal intelligence service, it does field a diplomatic corps that provides valuable information to the diplomatic community in the far reaches of the globe, including war zones in the Middle East and Africa.