cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/44788
Independent US journalist Ken Klippenstein says Washington stepped up intelligence activities against the Vatican following Trump’s spat with the Pope
The administration of US President Donald Trump has been “spying” on Pope Leo XIV as part of a years-long intelligence campaign by Washington against the Vatican, US investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein said in a report released on 24 April.
Klippenstein – an independent, Washington-based investigative journalist who formerly wrote for The Intercept – cited sources as saying that Trump’s recent comments on the new Pope were taken by the intelligence community as “a directive to prioritize spying on the Vatican.” Trump had said earlier this month that Pope Leo was “terrible on foreign policy” and “weak on crime.”
According to Klippenstein’s sources, Washington has “for years” been spying on the Vatican.
“The CIA has human spies working inside the Holy See bureaucracy. The NSA and CIA seek to intercept telecommunications, emails, and texts. The FBI investigates crimes committed against and by the Vatican. The State Department closely follows the ins and outs of Papal diplomacy and politics. All of these agencies liaise with the Vatican’s own foreign policy, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies,” the report stated.
Klippenstein pointed to a “longstanding – and quietly extensive – relationship between the US national security apparatus and the Vatican” involving diplomatic, law enforcement, and cybersecurity cooperation.
Much of it is “genuine” but also serves as a “convenient cover for collecting intelligence.”
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im sorry for this insulting remark but are you american by chance? cause only americans think 1884 is considered ancient history. even 1784 is too late for a feud with the pope it’s some 14th century and beyond shit.
To be fair to the user above, “rulers feuding with Popes” was absolutely a thing in the 19th century. The status of Rome during the unification of Italy was a huge issue so much so that the Italian state went to war against the Pope and conquered Rome. Prior, the French even intervened to restore Rome to the Papal States after a brief revolution where they tried to found a new “Roman Republic.” The so-called “Roman Question” on the status of the Pope and who ruled Rome wasn’t officially resolved until 1929.
IIRC when JFK ran for president it was publicly questioned if a Papist could be trusted to run the country without giving it away to the Holy See. Catholics were distrusted by protestants due to the Vatican being the Great Whore of Babylon, of course
she Garibaldi on my Mazzini until I Pacciardi