I hope that they didn’t tell President Obama about this one:
“The National Security Agency spied on the future Pope Francis before and during the Vatican conclave at which he was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI, it was claimed on Wednesday.
The American spy agency monitored telephone calls made to and from the residence in Rome where the then Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio stayed during the conclave, the secret election at which cardinals chose him as pontiff on March 13.
The claims were made by Panorama, an Italian weekly news magazine, which said that the NSA monitored the telephone calls of many bishops and cardinals at the Vatican in the lead-up to the conclave, which was held amid tight security in the Sistine Chapel.
The information gleaned was then reportedly divided into four categories — “leadership intentions”, “threats to financial system”, “foreign policy objectives” and “human rights”.
At that time, Benedict XVI was Pope, suggesting that the Vatican may also have been monitored during the last few weeks of his papacy.”
My guess is that the White House will distance President Obama from this.
It’s one thing to get the Germans or the Europeans angry. It’s quite another thing to spy on the Pope before he became Pope.
This is not going to go down well with Catholic nuns! Watch for the nuns to lineup outside the White House ready to slap President Obama’s hands.
Let me tell you something from personal experience. There is nothing more scary in the planet than an angry nun with a ruler!
P.S. By the way, I miss Alvarez-Guedes on days like this one! Can you imagine what he would say about the President of the US spying on a bishop waiting to become Pope?
