WHAT DO AN IRISH MONSIGNOR, the British ambassador’s valet, an eccentrically named Swiss count, a homosexual SS officer, Mussolini’s mistress, an extensive trove of sadomasochistic literature and the CIA’s James Jesus Angleton all have to do with each other? Espionage: Vatican style, apparently. Yvonnick Denoël’s book, originally published in French in 2021, claims to lift the lid on the Pope’s intelligence services — despite his admission that they don’t really exist. Even so, tales of spying and intrigue orbiting the Holy See are so numerous that an in-depth overview is past due.
Vatican Spies is, alas, as flawed as it is absorbing. Sometimes, Denoël simply gets his facts wrong, as when he asserts that the Order of St Sylvester is the oldest and most prestigious of the Vatican’s honours system. (In…
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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025