The National Security Agency, responsible for US electronic eavesdropping, said on Wednesday that it does not target the Vatican and called an Italian media report that it had done so “not true.”
Panorama magazine said on Wednesday that the NSA had eavesdropped on Vatican phone calls, possibly including when former Pope Benedict’s successor was under discussion.
“The National Security Agency does not target the Vatican. Assertions that NSA has targeted the Vatican, published in Italy’s Panorama magazine, are not true,” NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said in a statement.
According to Panorama, which did not cite a source for its information, the NSA had monitored 46 million phone calls in Italy from December 10, last year, to January 8, this year, including conversations in and out of the Vatican.
In a press release before full publication on Thursday, Panorama said, “NSA had tapped the Pope.”
The Holy See said it had no knowledge of any such activity. Asked to comment on the report, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said: “We are not aware of anything on this issue and in any case we have no concerns about it.”