The Holy See has been long aware that it is spied on by various
external bodies. While the Security Operations Centre headed by the
Vatican Gendarmerie chief, Domenico Giani, tried to create an
impenetrable protective shield for the Conclave, preventing calls made
from the Vatican to all corners the world from being intercepted is a
much tougher task.
In the 70’s, the then Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Giovanni Benelli, had telephones checked and it emerged that a number of operations centres were preparing to record calls from the Holy See’s various offices.
The anti-spying precautions taken by a Tuscan prelate nicknames “His Efficiency” is the oldest case of Vatican attempts to prevent spying activities: “There are certain subjects you should only discuss in person.”
Tensions grew after John Paul II’s election when the Vatican was - rightly or wrongly – considered key in the fight against Eastern Communist regimes: Clerics close to the Pope who were acting as double agents infiltrated the Vatican and Czechoslovakian secret services managed to insert a bug into a statue of Mary in Secretary of State Cardinal Agostino Casaroli’s private study.
During the Papal Conclave last March, Domenico Giani instructed a group of technicians to clear all spaces and activate protective shields to prevent data and any comments from getting out. This system was set in place before the voting process began, so it was also up and running during the general congregations cardinals held before the Conclave.
The journalists who had to use the second newsroom prepared especially for the occasion, just a short distance from the Synod hall, know all about this: Wi-fi kept on being cut off at the start of every meeting and cell phone signals would die out of the blue.
The Vatican does not rely on specialist external companies; instead it has purchased cutting edge instruments and technologies of its own, some of which are made in Israel. The Holy See also has secure and encrypted telephone lines for internal communications.
But it is practically impossible for someone to be certain they are not being listened to when a telephone call is made from the Vatican’s internal platform to an external recipient. The Security Operations Centre’s main priority is protecting the Pope, who uses the telephone more than his predecessors. Since Francis chose St. Martha’s House is his home, clearing operations are carried out on a regular basis to ensure it stays bug-free.
The Vatican has a cipher office that deals with communications between the Secretary of State and the Apostolic Nuncios in various countries, as well as other bodies such as the Information Systems and Internet offices, which are always at work keeping hackers and spies at bay.
“Despite Anonymous’ attacks, our systems were not hacked,” Vatican sources say. Even after Wikileaks, there has been no sign of successful spying operations in recent times, the Vatican says.
But the latest revelations seem to indicate that Big Brother still has his eyes and ears on the Holy See.