When Donald Trump declared Pope Leo XIV "terrible for foreign policy," the US intelligence community took the president's remarks as a directive to prioritize spying on the Vatican. CIA already has sources inside the Vatican and the NSA routinely intercepts their communications; the USIC will now be increasing their collection efforts against the president's enemy, including monitoring mundane social media.
US Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch is a Member of Opus Dei
In December 2025, Pope Leo XIV met the leaders of Italy's secret services and warned that in "several countries" the Church faces interference from intelligence services acting with "nefarious purposes."
The Vatican itself has an excellent and experienced intelligence service which has historically been led by the Jesuits, traditional foes of the reactionary cult Opus Dei: The Entity
The FBI Epstein files suggest the notorious sex maniac and Mossad spy Jeffrey Epstein reportedly had a mole working inside the Vatican.
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