The ongoing Wikileaks “Cablegate” project could result in the release
of more than 800 U.S. diplomatic cables involving the Vatican.
According to an exclusive analysis of preliminary data conducted by
Catholic News Agency, many of the cables, which span a nine-year period
from 2001-2010, concern human rights and religious freedom issues.
However, more than 50 of the cables reputedly originating from the
U.S. Embassy to the Holy See concern intelligence issues, and another
five involve national security issues.
Other cables deal with the Vatican’s internal government and its relations with other states.
CNA contacted the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican Dec. 2 but calls had not been returned before publication time.
The Vatican has not yet officially reacted to the leaks, but its
daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano stressed that the release of the
cables does nothing to change diplomatic relations between the U.S. and
the Holy See.
U.S. Army intelligence specialist Bradley Manning, among others, is suspected of leaking the State Department cables.
However, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski
has voiced concern that amid the gossip about world leaders, some of the
leaks appear to serve particular interests.
“It’s rather a question of whether Wikileaks are being manipulated by
interested parties that want to either complicate our relationship with
other governments or want to undermine some governments. Because some
of these items that are being emphasized are very pointed,” he told PBS
News Hour on Nov. 29.
Without doubting that many of the cables came from “relatively
unimportant sources,” he wondered whether intelligence services are also
feeding information to Wikileaks to exploit a “unique opportunity” to
achieve “very specific objectives.”
While the Wikileaks website has published only several hundred
cables, the London-based newspaper The Guardian has released the place
of origin, date, time, and subject tags of all of the leaked cables,
which total over 250,000.
Of the more than 800 Vatican-related cables, tagged “VT,” 715 apparently originated at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.
CNA’s study of the cable data found that among the cables from the
U.S. Embassy to the Vatican more than 400 concern human rights and 245
involve religious freedom issues. These cables are respectively tagged
as “PHUM” and “KIRF.”
More than 20 cables involve refugee issues and 16 are tagged “human
trafficking.” Several dozen cables involve biotechnology and dozens
others appear to be related to terrorism.
About 62 entries bear the “IZ” tag, signifying Iraq. Several of these
cables were sent in the months before and after the U.S. invasion of
the country in 2003.
A March 20, 2001 cable from the Vatican Embassy includes the subject
tag “PROP.” According to a glossary provided by The Guardian, this
abbreviation means “Propaganda and Psychological Operations.”
U.S. State Department cables from other countries are also tagged as
Vatican-related. These cables are from embassies and consulates in
countries including China, Israel, Iraq, Venezuela and Vietnam. They are
frequently tagged as involving religious freedom and human rights
topics.
Two such cables from the U.S. Consulate at Ho Chi Minh City were sent
on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2008. This was a time of major conflict between
Catholics and Vietnam’s communist government over confiscated church
lands. Another cable came from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi in early
October, 2007.
Other State Department cables involving the Vatican originated at the
U.S. consulate in Hong Kong and the U.S. embassies to Germany, France,
Italy, the Philippines, Lebanon and Colombia.
James Ball, a journalist working with the Wikileaks project, on Nov.
29 told the British newspaper The Telegraph that some of the
Vatican-related cables would be released “in the next few weeks.”
SIC: CNA/INT'L
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