Report: NSA spied on pope
Francis, Benedict allegedly
targets of intercepts
Jerome R. Corsi
“Data-gate” is the name the Vatican has unofficially given to allegations
breaking in Rome that the NSA intercepted telephone conversations of Pope Benedict XVI and of Pope Francis when
he was still Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The weekly news Italian news
magazine Panorama disclosed the allegations are scheduled to be published as a
lead article Thursday.
The magazine reports suspicions
that among the Vatican telephone calls
intercepted by the NSA were conversations March 12 involving bishops and
cardinals participating in the papal conclave. The Catholic leaders were
staying at the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI, the hotel residence established
by the Vatican
for visiting clergy, where Bergoglio resided prior to being selected as pope.
The NSA issued a statement
insisting it “does not target the Vatican.”
“Assertions that NSA has targeted
the Vatican, published in Italy’s
Panorama magazine, are not true,” the agency said.
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fulfilled before our eyes? See the astounding movie “The Last Pope?”
The Panorama article reported
suspicion the NSA monitoring of Bergoglio may date back to 2005. The article
noted that U.S. State Department cables leaked by Wikileaks indicated Bergoglio
was first placed under U.S.
intelligence in 2005 when the U.S. Vatican Embassy reported to Washington that he was
considered one of 16 candidates to succeed Pope John Paul II.
The Panorama article alleges that
among the NSA intercepts were telephone conversations of Pope Benedict XVI in
the last few weeks of his papacy.
Panorama charged the NSA
intercepted the incoming and outgoing telephone calls of Pope Benedict XVI and
other Vatican officials concerning one of
Benedict’s last official acts, the selection of Ernst von Freyberg, a German
aristocrat and industrialist, to head the Vatican Bank, which was announced
Feb. 15.
Support a legal challenge to Barack Obama’s NSA spying programs.
Panorama reported the information
obtained by the NSA intercepts were divided into four categories: “information
intentions,” “threats to the financial system,” “foreign policy objectives” and
“human rights.”
The magazine also suggested the
NSA intercepted communications regarding the 2012 “Vatileaks” scandal involving
Paolo Gabriel, Pope Benedict’s butler, who was caught stealing related to
corruption within the Catholic Church.
Panorama charges the NSA spying
was conducted from the annex of the U.S. Embassy in Rome, in via Sallustiana 49, a facility that
supposedly houses a highly classified information collection service staffed by
a nucleus of technical experts from the NSA and the CIA.
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict
XVI is the pope emeritus for the Roman
Catholic Church.
Note: Francis E. George
is a cardinal for the Roman Catholic
Church, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory
Please note: This link for the
members of the Commercial Club of Chicago can no longer be found.
Robert S. Osborne
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and the EVP & general counsel for Booz Allen Hamilton.
Joan A. Dempsey
is the SVP for Booz Allen Hamilton,
and was the deputy director for the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Steve Isakowitz
was a senior consultant at Booz Allen
Hamilton, and a senior intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Edward Snowden was
an employee at Booz Allen Hamilton,
and leaked information about the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Philip
A. Odeen is a director at Booz Allen
Hamilton, and a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
Charles O.
Rossotti is a director at Booz Allen
Hamilton, and a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
R. James Woolsey
was a VP for Booz Allen Hamilton, and
is a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States
(think tank).
Dov
S. Zakheim was a VP for Booz Allen
Hamilton, and is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank).
John
A. Gordon is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and was the deputy director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
James R.
Schlesinger is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and was a director at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
George
J. Tenet was a director at the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
William H. Webster
was a director at the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
John J.
Studzinski is a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), a papal knighthood
knight, and a director at the Human
Rights Watch.
papal knighthood
knight is an honor conferred by pope from the Roman Catholic Church.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), and the Human Rights Watch.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and was a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch, and Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a managing
director at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Robert S. Osborne
is the EVP & general counsel for Booz
Allen Hamilton, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Francis E. George
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a cardinal for the Roman
Catholic Church.
Benedict
XVI is the pope emeritus for the Roman
Catholic Church.
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