ANYONE who had their appetite wetted for more Vatican intrigue after seeing the film Conclave will love Vatican Spies.
The book reveals much about how the Catholic Church developed its own intelligence network, often with the help of other agencies such as the CIA, French and Italian security services.
The interactions with the Mafia during the World War II period at the behest of America, and getting caught up with the Mob through various dodgy financial dealings, makes for a fascinating read.
The Catholic Church with its global reach to 1.2bn worldwide, connected by a network of parishes and dioceses, amounts to a spymasters’ dream.
On the face of it virtuous and God serving, below the surface its intelligence operations are as ruthless as any other.
Vatican Spies charts the development of the Church's intelligence capabilities through the popes from World War II up to the present day.
Pope Pius XII (1939 - 1958) really got things moving. Prior to the war the Church mobilised against the Soviet Bloc. Anti-communism was the watchword.
Vatican Spies by Yvonnick DenoëlThe Nazis, then, became the focus during the war, with Pius XII developing strong links with US President Franklin Roosevelt and the CIA.
The President used the Church to bring the Mafia in on the Allies’ side in Italy.
The Church seemed to have a mixed war.
Pius XII was sympathetic early on to those among the German military who wanted to overthrow Hitler.
The Vatican also sheltered Jews and ensured safe passage.
Irish priest Father Hugh O'Flaherty oversaw this work.
On the debit side was an odd relationship with the Ustasha Croats, who killed thousands. After the war, the Church helped a number of these Nazis find their way to sanctuary in Argentina.
Post war, the Vatican's intelligence focus swung back towards the anti-communist, anti-Soviet stance.
Pius XII joined in with the Americans to oppose the Communist Party coming to power in Italy.
The Church's financial institutions were a conduit for US sourced millions to be pumped into the Christian Democrats, so ensuring their electoral success. Catholics were told they must not support the Communists.
A panic about the Communists potentially coming to power in Italy during the late 1940s saw the Irish government consider the Pontiff taking refuge in Ireland.
Author Denoël examines the formation of the different Popes, among the Curia and operating as Secretaries of State in the Vatican before getting the big job.
After Pius XII came the more liberal John XXIII (1958 - 1963) and Paul VI (1963-1978).
The 33-day papacy of John Paul I in 1976 is dealt with in an even-handed way. Denoël does not buy into one popular view that he was murdered; it was more a case that he just wasn't cared for properly.
John Paul II (1976-2005) is the ultimate spymasters’ Pope, involved at every level in a crusade against the Eastern Block, most predominantly relating to his native Poland.
The author highlights the contradiction in John Paul II that saw him totally back the Solidarity trade union in Poland, whilst siding with the most brutal American backed dictators in Latin America, against the liberation theology of the people, embracing the church of the poor.
Denoël states that: "...for the Reagan administration, no battle was more important than that against the theology of liberation”.
Liberation theology reached a crescendo against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador.
The relationship between the Vatican and a US President was never closer than between John Paul II and Reagan.
The author, though, does dismiss the socialist inspired liberation theology movement far too easily.
An interesting section of the book looks at the strained relationship between the Vatican and Israel, compared to the warmth of relations with the Palestinians. It was not until 1993 that the Catholic Church recognised Israel.
The wind tended to go out of John Paul II's sails after the Eastern Bloc collapsed, with the various scandals, particularly around Vatican finances, deaths and paedophiles, embracing his papacy.
The present Pope Francis is seen as trying to modernise and clean up the Vatican His dislike of the Curia is well documented.
He is credited for bringing together US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro to improve relations between the two countries.
Yvonnick Denoël has produced a comprehensive, very detailed account of how the Vatican has operated since the 1930s.
It will amaze and appall readers at the same time.
What is clear is that the Catholic Church developed a capability to interfere in sovereign countries affairs at least as much as any of the Eastern or Western intelligence agencies, often involving one or the other and sometimes both of these. Certainly a good read.
Vatican Spies by Yvonnick Denoël, published by Hurst, is available now. Cost £25
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