{"product_id":"vatican-spies","title":"Vatican Spies","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘Officially’ the Vatican has no espionage service; but does no one carry out intelligence operations on its behalf? During the Second World War and Cold War, Rome was teeming with spies. A band of undercover monsignors and priests hunted for Vatican ‘moles’, led clandestine diplomacy, investigated assassinations of priests and other scandals threatening the Church, and conducted high-risk missions behind the Iron Curtain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on freshly released archives of foreign services that worked with or against the Holy See, \u003ci\u003eVatican Spies\u003c\/i\u003e reveals eighty years of shadow wars and dirty tricks. These include infiltrating Russian-speaking priests into the Soviet Union; secret negotiations between John XXIII and Khrushchev; the future Paul VI’s close relationship with the CIA; the Vatican’s infiltration by Eastern Bloc intelligence; the battles between the Jesuits and Opus Dei; and the secret bank funds channelled first to fight communism in South America, then to support Solidarity in Poland.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis entertaining book journeys right to the present, uncovering startling machinations under Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507748970869,"sku":"9781805266914","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781805266914.jpg?v=1787042889","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/vatican-spies","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}