Pope meets with Italian secret agents and urges them to be ethical

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV met Friday with members of Italy’s intelligence services and warned them not to use confidential information for blackmailing or other nefarious purposes.

Leo urged the 007s, as the Italian agents are popularly known, to do their work professionally and ethically, always respecting the human dignity of those caught up in their investigations.

The audience was unusual, believed to be a first between a pope and Italy’s intelligence services, which are celebrating their centennial this year. Italy’s secret agents work closely with Vatican law enforcement, particularly during this Holy Year when some 30 million pilgrims have flocked to Rome to visit the Vatican.

Leo thanked the agents for their work and acknowledged the difficulty and delicacy of their responsibilities. But he also reminded them of the limits of their authority and the need to keep a moral compass, warning them against falling to temptations.

He said they must remain “vigilant to ensure that confidential information is not used to intimidate, manipulate, blackmail, or discredit politicians, journalists, or other actors in civil society.”

He didn’t elaborate. But a year ago, the Vatican opened a criminal investigation into the alleged leak of information about its “trial of the century” probe into a London property investment. The leak emerged during a separate Italian investigation into the actions of an Italian financial police official who is accused of abusively accessing a national police database and providing information about politicians, businessmen and other figures, to journalists.

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Leo urged the intelligence agents to ensure that their actions were always “proportionate to the common good” and that the pursuit of national security always “guarantees people’s rights, their private and family life, freedom of conscience and information, and the right to a fair trial.”

Leo said the Catholic Church knows well how information in the wrong hands can be used against it.

He didn’t give specifics, but Catholic priests in Nicaragua, for example, have been jailed as part of the Ortega government’s crackdown on the Catholic Church. The government has accused the church of having aided in popular protests against his administration. Clergy and lay observers say the government is trying to quash the church because of its opposition to state violence.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.