Obama’s National Security Agency spied on Pope Benedict’s and Cardinal Bergoglio’s phone calls
Ed Snowden, the former CIA and NSA operative, has released information that President Obama’s National Security Agency spied on Pope Benedict XVI’s and Cardinal Bergoglio’s phone calls up to the consistory that elected Pope Francis. The Voice of Russia reports:
‘According to the report, Benedict XVI’s calls may have been among those traced by NSA. Benedict XVI served as Pope from 2005 to 2013.
Monitoring may have continued up to the conclave that elected Pope Francis, said the newspaper.
Head of the Supervising Council over the Vatican Bank “The Institute for the Works of Religion” and acting Director General of this institution Ernst von Freyberg is named another “object” of the surveillance. Vatican hasn’t commented on the Panorama’s report yet.
International Business Times:
US secret services allegedly monitored the phone calls of Pope Benedict XVI, as well as those of his successor.
Italian magazine Panorama claims that among the 46 million phone calls intercepted by theNSA in December 2012 and January 2013 were communications to and from the Vatican. The NSA allegedly eavesdropped on cardinals before the conclave in March 2013 to elect the new Pope, including calls between them and Cardinal Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis, succeeding Benedict.
Protect the Pope comment: The Holy See will have to revert to communicating through hand delivered letters personally sealed with the ring of the Holy Father! And the question has to be asked, was the secrecy of the Conclave preserved?
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_30/Nothing-is-sacred-to-US-NSA-snoops-on-Pope-7540/
http://www.ibtimes.com/nsa-allegedly-spied-vatican-including-pope-benedict-xvi-cardinal-jorge-mario-bergoglio-1447634