Report Details US Intelligence Cooperation with Vatican

US investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein released a report on Friday stating that the Trump administration engaged in intelligence monitoring of Pope Leo XIV as part of ongoing US-Vatican security engagements. Klippenstein, an independent, Washington-based investigative journalist who formerly wrote for The Intercept, cited sources saying Trump's recent comments on the new pope prompted increased focus on Vatican intelligence by US agencies, according to sources.

@zerohedge reported these details, drawing from Klippenstein's findings.

Trump had said earlier this month that Pope Leo was "terrible on foreign policy" and "weak on crime."

According to Klippenstein’s sources, the CIA has human spies working inside the Holy See bureaucracy. The NSA and CIA seek to intercept telecommunications, emails, and texts related to the Vatican. The FBI investigates crimes committed against and by the Vatican.

The State Department closely follows the ins and outs of Papal diplomacy and politics. US agencies including the CIA, NSA, FBI, and State Department liaise with the Vatican’s own foreign policy, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies. Klippenstein described a longstanding and quietly extensive relationship between the US national security apparatus and the Vatican involving diplomatic, law enforcement, and cybersecurity cooperation.

The first Trump administration sought to beef up its coordination with Italian intelligence agencies and Vatican officials on cybersecurity, white collar crime, human trafficking, art theft, and other issues. One particular project in the first Trump administration was to help the Vatican actively thwart cyber intrusions into its networks.

FBI documents cited by Klippenstein state that the FBI regularly provides threat intelligence to the Pope during his travels.

Documents obtained by Klippenstein show the State Department maintains a daily Vatican-centric news digest circulated to diplomats worldwide. The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research has analysts dedicated to producing classified assessments on Vatican affairs.

The US military has a Vatican-specific language code ‘QLE’ designating Ecclesiastical Latin as a distinct linguistic capability from classical Latin.

Pope Leo XIV condemned what he called the delusion of omnipotence, fueling the US-Israeli war against Iran. He said: 'Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!' Pope Leo XIV recently said that a handful of tyrants were ruling the world.

He later clarified that his comments about a handful of tyrants were not meant as a jab at Trump and were written before the US president criticized him. The papacy referred to Trump’s threat to wipe out the Iranian civilization as unacceptable. " Trump responds to Italian PM Meloni saying his words about Pope Leo XIV are "unacceptable": "It's her who is unacceptable...

The American Conservative posted a tweet on April 14, 2026, including Trump's responses to Pope Leo XIV and Italian PM Meloni. ” The US-Israeli conflict with Iran has resulted in over 2,000 deaths.

Only about one-third of the infrastructure destroyed in Iran’s capital during the US-Israeli war was military-linked, according to a Bloomberg analysis on 21 April.