by Maureen Fiedler
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I was beginning to feel that the National Security Agency did not think the Vatican was important, worth listening to, or scouring for information. I wondered: How could they listen to Angela Merkel's cellphone but not Pope Francis' phone?
Whew! Now the Vatican can feel included. According to the Italian magazine Panorma, the NSA has indeed been listening in on phone conversations to and from cardinals who were living at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the residence where cardinals lived during the papal conclave and the pope's current home.
Apparently, they also listened in on Vatican office calls and those of Pope Francis himself. They were also very interested in the new president of the Vatican bank, Ernst von Freyberg.
When it comes to Pope Francis, maybe they were edified? Oh, OK, OK, I doubt that, too.
The article also cites WikiLeaks in suggesting that Francis was being watched as far back as 2005, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Interesting. The Vatican is dismissing all this, saying it is not concerned. But many others are concerned about these stories of massive surveillance just about everywhere. Time to put the brakes on an agency out of control.