NSA Spies on Peter, Why Not Other Denominations?
On the anniversary of the reformation, we find out that the NSA has been spying on the pope during the conclave and perhaps before as well. Despite the fact that there are multitudinous religious organizations to spy on, it brings me great comfort that even the secular society recognizes the Catholic church and deems it "relevant" enough to spy on. The Vatican says it's not worried because it has its own high-tech cutting edge methods of encrypting sensitive data- Latin scribbled on paper!
Of course the NSA is denying these allegations, but this is from the same administration that said:
"You can keep your doctor."
Of course the NSA is denying these allegations, but this is from the same administration that said:
"You can keep your doctor."
posted by Russ Rentler, M.D. | 8:47 AM
3 Comments:
I think the "Why not other denominations?" is a very important question. No popular books have been written about the activities of Lutheran or Reformed churches in WWII. For the spying, one answer is that what other churches do is without political importance. That's why the pope recieves ambassadors and leaders of other churches don't. But I think one reason the Catholic Church gets inordinate attention is that the questioners know, in some unconscious way, that the Catholic Church is the one, true, Church established by Christ. If you've proved a Lutheran church behaved badly in WWII, nobody cares, because nobody really thinks what a Protestant church does is of real spiritual significance. If you had the secrets of a Presbyterian church, would anybody care? The Catholic Church gets a lot of homage from its enemies, and this is one way we can see it.
I've heard of Orthodox parishes as covers for espionage by the KGB in the United States, and I've heard of Catholic priests who were working for intelligence services as well.
If you happen to read The End and the Beginning, George Weigel's sequel to Witness to Hope and the completion of John Paul II's biography, Weigel had access to a number of the Polish secret police files concerning John Paul II before and after he became Pope. The account of the communist secret police campaign against Karol Wojtyla makes for some very interesting reading.
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