Berlusconi Exposes Insidious Cabal

Most Italians "want to be like me." Il Cavalieri

Berlusconi discusses state-church relations:

(ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - Relations between the Italian government and the Catholic Church are ''excellent,'' Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Monday, denying reports of tensions after a Church paper editor who criticised the premier quit alleging a smear campaign by a Berlusconi family daily.

The premier also repeated charges there was a defamatory campaign about his private and political life and claimed most Italians identified with him. Speaking on one of his three TV networks, Berlusconi described reported tensions with the Church over last week's resignation of Dino Boffo, editor of the Italian bishops daily Avvenire, as ''a lie''.

Berlusconi also denied that he had ever planned to see Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on the day Berlusconi family daily Il Giornale reported Boffo had paid a harassment fine to a woman with whose husband Boffo allegedly had a relationship.

''I never asked for meetings with Bertone,'' the premier said.

Berlusconi was due to attend a traditional Catholic forgiveness ceremony on August 28, the day Il Giornale broke its story on Boffo, accusing the Avvenire editor of double standards in criticising the premier's private life.

His attendance was cancelled hours after Il Giornale hit the press, with a Vatican announcement later confirmed by the premier's office.

Several sources said he would meet Bertone, the Holy See's highest official, after the ceremony in what some observers saw as a bid to calm Catholic worries over allegations on the premier's friendship with a teenage girl and an escort who claimed to have slept with him.

But Berlusconi stressed Monday that relations with the Church had ''always been excellent,'' ruling out the need to see Bertone, then or now.

These ties would be ''consolidated,'' he said, over the coming months with the government continuing to back pro-life moves like a restrictive living will currently going through parliament, sparked by the case of a young woman who was dubbed by some ''Italy's Terri Schiavo''.

Eluana Englaro's case split Italy for years until her death earlier this year, with some churchmen and Catholic politicians claiming she had been murdered.

Englaro, 38, died after 17 years in a permanent vegetative state since a 1992 car crash despite last-minute government efforts to save her with the new legislation.

Her feeding tube was removed according to what her father said were her wishes, a claim pro-life campaigners contested.

Berlusconi told the TV show Monday: ''The defence our government made of certain basic principles...which underpin Catholic doctrine, principles like the defence of human life and the defence of the family, demonstrate the excellence of the relations between the government and the Church''.

Leftwing critics have suggested the premier would step up his government's pursuit of a pro-life agenda to dampen Catholic concerns about his private life.

Critics have claimed the centre-right majority will also fight the recent approval of the so-called 'abortion pill'.

In mid-August Boffo, the Avvenire editor who resigned last week, accused the premier of an ''arrogant'' departure from ''a sober lifestyle''.

A weekend poll in Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera indicated the premier's popularity among practising Catholics had dropped only 5% from 55% to 50% since the case of aspiring showgirl Noemi Letizia, 18, erupted when the premier's wife Veronia Lario sued for divorce claiming Berlusconi ''frequented minors''.

Berlusconi on Monday said he had his own polls showing a 70% popularity rate for his government among all Italians, about 40% of whom, according to the Corriere poll, could be defined as practising Catholics.

Berlusconi critics claim many Italians are ill-informed about the allegations against the premier because of spotty TV coverage.

As well as controlling his three Mediaset commercial stations, the premier has influence over the three-channel RAI public TV corporation.

The premier claims never to have interfered with their working but two top journalists were blackballed a few years ago after criticism from the premier.

There has also been controversy after an anti-Berlusconi comedienne's show was pulled and, more recently, when both RAI and Mediaset declined to run trailers for a documentary, which premiered at Venice and opened at No.4 in the weekend box-office charts, accusing the premier of creating an alleged 'videocracy' in Italy.

Italian journalists are staging a demonstration in defence of press freedom on September 19 after Berlusconi sued two leftwing dailies, La Repubblica and l'Unita', which have led campaigns on the sex allegations and the premier's alleged promises, first cited by his wife and later attributed to Letizia, to help showgirls enter politics.

On Monday Berlusconi levelled a fresh broadside against the press, claiming there had been a ''ferocious campaign'' against him and alleging that ''90% of newspapers'' were controlled by Communists and progressive Catholics whose ''Poor Italy'', he repeated, claiming the press was trying to install ''a police state'' and that he had been forced to defend himself.

He described protests against his libel suits as ''a joke''.

''Most Italians would like to be like me and they support my behaviour,'' said the premier.

Observers have suggested many Italians identify with the 72-year-old premier's flamboyant lifestyle and his admission that he is ''no saint''.

The premier has admitted sleeping with escort Patrizia d'Addario but said he didn't know she was a prostitute.

On Monday, Berlusconi claimed most Italians weren't interested in his private life but in the performance of his government and his political integrity.

He repeated a longstanding claim that, as Italy's long-richest and now second-richest man, he was in no danger of falling victim to graft.

''(They know) Silvio Berlusconi doesn't steal,'' he said.

The premier, who has been accused of a conflict of interest and allegedly overseeing laws in favour of himself and his media empire, stressed that ''Italians know Silvio Berlusconi is not stealing and is not using his powers for his personal advantage,'' unlike ''almost all'' his predecessors, ''especially'' on the centre-left.

He also reiterated a charge that the left-wing opposition was allegedly in league with a politically motivated judiciary which has succeeded in bringing him to trial several times but never securing a definitive sentence.

The premier has been convicted in a handful of graft trials but has either been acquitted on appeal or seen charges dropped because of the statute of limitations on fraud, shortened by one of his governments.

A remaining trial has been suspended because of a new law shielding the state's four highest officials from persecution while in office.

The Constitutional Court is set to rule this autumn on the law, which critics claim breaks the constitution's provision for equality before the law.

On Monday's show, Berlusconi accused his opponents of seeking to set up ''a judicial and police state'' from which he said he was protecting his supporters.

The premier accused his rivals of waging a ''subversive campaign'' to bring him down, claimed he had been ''forced'' to issue libel suits to defend his reputation against newspaper reports on his private life.

''Italian aren't stupid, as the Left thinks, and they prefer my government,'' he said, citing in-house polls showing the government's approval rating ''sailing towards 70%''. Despite his influence over most of Italian TV, the premier noted that most Italian newspapers - ''90% in his view - were controlled by ''a Catholic and Catholic-Communist'' minority, terms conservatives sometimes use to describe the main opposition Democratic Party formed by former Communists and mostly liberal Catholics.

Rejecting notions that the alleged scandal had been poorly covered by Italian TV, Berlusconi said: ''I repeat with force, with this news set-up, poor old Italy''.

Update 1:

New bills will lead to an improvement of church-state relations in Italy.

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Viterbo Papal Trip-Videos

Vatican You Tube:

The Pope visited Viterbo's Palace of the Popes, where after 33 months of vacancy the Cardinals entered conclave to elect a successor to the See of Peter.

Read more about the election of Pope St. Linus here.

UPDATE 1: Pope's Homily

VITERBO, Italy, SEPT. 6, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's homily at a Mass he celebrated while on a pastoral visit to Viterbo.

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

The setting in which we celebrate the Holy Mass today is truly unusual and suggestive: we find ourselves in the valley in view of the ancient city gate of Viterbo called "FAUL;" the letters stand for Fanum, Arbanum, Vetulonia and Longula. On the one side there stands the imposing palace, at one time a residence of the Popes, which in the 13th century -- as your bishop observed -- saw five conclaves; we are surrounded by buildings and spaces, witnesses of many events of the past, and today the fabric of the life of your city and province.

In this context, which recalls centuries of civil and religious history, your whole diocesan community is gathered, at least in spirit, with the Successor of Peter to be confirmed by him in fidelity to Christ and his Gospel.

To all of you, dear Brothers and Sisters, I offer my grateful thoughts with affection for the warm welcome you reserved for me. First, I greet your pastor, Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli, whom I thank for the words of welcome. I greet the other bishops, especially those from Lazio with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, the dear diocesan priests, deacons, seminarians, religious, the young people and children, and I extend my remembrance to all the members of the diocese, whom, in the recent past, I saw gathered in Viterbo together with the Abbey of San Martino al Monte Cimino, and the dioceses of Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone and Tuscania. This new configuration is now artistically sculpted in the bronze doors of the cathedral that, as I began my visit in Piazza San Lorenzo, I was able to bless and admire.

With deference I turn to the civil and military authorities, to the representatives of parliament, the government, the region and province, and in a special way to the mayor, who acted as the bearer of the cordial sentiments of people of Viterbo. I thank the security forces and greet the numerous members of the military who are present in this city, along with those who are engaged in missions of peace in the world.

I greet and thank the volunteers and those who helped to make my visit possible. I reserve a very special greeting for the older people and those who live by themselves, the sick, those in prison and those who were not able to take part in this meeting of ours of prayer and friendship.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, every liturgical assembly is the space of the presence of God. Gathered together for the Holy Eucharist, the disciples of the Lord proclaim that he is risen, that he is alive and the giver of life, and they bear witness that his presence is grace, is a task, is joy.

Let us open our hearts to his word and welcome the gift of his presence! In the first reading the prophet Isaiah (35:4-7) encourages "those whose hearts are frightened" and announces this stupendous novelty, that experience confirms: when the Lord is present, the eyes of the blind are reopened, ears of the deaf hear, the lame "leap" like a stag. Everything is reborn and everything revives because wholesome waters spring up in the desert.

The "desert," in its symbolic language, can evoke the dramatic events, difficult situations and solitude that often mark life; the most profound desert is the human heart, when it loses the ability to hear, to speak, to communicate with God and with others. One then becomes blind because he is incapable of seeing reality; he closes his ears to not hear the cry of those who implore his help; his heart is hardened in indifference and egotism. But now -- the prophet announces -- all is destined to change; into the "arid land" of this closed heart a new divine blood will flow. And when the Lord comes, he will say to "the frightened of heart" of every age, "Courage, fear not!" (35:4).

The Gospel episode narrated by Mark in which Jesus heals a deaf mute in pagan territory (7:31-37) connects well here. First he encounters and cares for him with the language of deeds, more immediate than that of words; and then with an expression in Aramaic he says to him: "Ephphatha," that is, "Be open," giving that man hearing and speech. Full of wonder, the crowd exclaims: "He has done all things well!" (7:37).

We can see in this "sign" Jesus' ardent desire to conquer in man the solitude and incommunicability created by egotism, to give a face to a "new humanity," a humanity that listens and a humanity of the word, of dialogue, of communication, of communion with God.

A "good" humanity, as all of God's creation is good; a humanity without discrimination, without exclusions -- as the Apostle James admonishes in his Letter (2:1-5) -- so that the world truly be a "place of genuine brotherhood" ("Gaudium et Spes," 37) for all, in the opening of the common Father who created us and made us his sons and daughters.

Dear Church of Viterbo, may the Christ whom we see in the Gospel open the ears and loosen the tongue of a deaf mute person, reveal your heart and always give you the joy to listen to his Word, the courage to announce his Gospel, the ability to speak with God and thus to speak with your brothers and sisters, and finally, may he give you the courage of the discovery of his face and his beauty!

But, so that this might happen -- St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio recalls (I will be traveling to Bagnoregio this afternoon) -- the mind must "go beyond everything through contemplation and go beyond not only the world of the senses, but also beyond itself" ("Itinerarium mentis in Deum" VII,1). This is the itinerary of salvation, illumined by the light of the Word of God and nourished by the sacraments that are common to all Christians.

I would like to take up some spiritual and pastoral points about this road that you too, beloved Church of this land, are called to travel. Education in the faith -- as search, as Christian initiation, as life in Christ -- is a priority that is very close to the heart of your bishop. It is the "becoming Christian" that consists in that "learning Christ" that St. Paul expresses with the formula: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

The parishes, families and various groups are involved in this experience. Catechists and all educators are called to commit themselves; the schools are also called to make their contribution, from the primary schools to the University of Tuscia, which is growing in importance and prestige, and, in particular, the Catholic school, with the Istituto Filosofico-Teologico "San Pietro."

There are models that are always relevant, authentic pioneers in education in the faith from which to draw inspiration. I gladly mention, among others, St. Rosa Venerini (1656-1728) -- who I had the joy to canonize three years ago -- a true forerunner of girls' schools in Italy, during the Enlightenment; St. Lucia Filippini (1672-1732) who, with the help of Venerable Cardinal Marco Antonio Barbarigo (1640-1706), founded the worthy "Maestre Pie."

One could still happily draw from these spiritual sources to confront, with lucidity and coherence, the current inescapable and pressing "educational emergency," a great challenge for every Christian community and for society as a whole, which is precisely a process of "Ephphatha," of opening the ears, loosening the tongue and opening the eyes.

Along with education, the testimony of the faith. "Faith," St. Paul writes, "works through charity" (Galatians 5:6). The charitable work of the Church takes on a face in this perspective: her initiatives, her works are signs of faith in and love of God, who is Love -- as I amply noted in the encyclicals "Deus Caritas Est" and "Caritas in Veritate."

This is where voluntary service flourishes and must always increase, whether at the personal level or the organized level. In charity this voluntary service has its propulsive and educative organism. The young St. Rose (1233-1251), co-patroness of the diocese, whose feast is celebrated during this time, is a radiant example of faith and generosity toward the poor.

How can one not also recall that from her monastery St. Giacinta Marescotti (1585-1640) promoted Eucharistic adoration in the city and gave life to institutions and initiatives to benefit prisoners and the marginalized? Nor can we forget the Franciscan witness of the Capuchin St. Crispino (1668-1759), who continues to inspire worthy aid groups. It is significant that in this climate of evangelical fervor many houses of consecrated life were born, for both men and women, and in particular cloistered monasteries, which constitute a visible reminder of the primacy of God in our existence and show us that prayer is the first form of charity.

Emblematic in this regard is the example of the Trappist nun Blessed Gabriella Sagheddu (1914-1939): in the monastery of Vitorchiano, where she is entombed, spiritual ecumenism continues to be proposed, nourished by the incessant prayer, strongly solicited by the Second Vatican Council (cf. "Unitatis Redintegratio," no. 8). I would also like to mention another citizen of Viterbo, Blessed Domenico Bàrberi (1792-1849), the Passionist priest who, in 1845, welcomed John Henry Newman -- who later became a cardinal -- into the Catholic Church. Newman was a high profile intellectual and a man of luminous spirituality.

Finally I would like to touch on a third point, a pastoral one: attention to the signs of God. As Jesus did with the deaf mute person, God continues to reveal his plan to us through "events and words." Listening to his word and discerning his signs must be the work of every Christian community. The most immediate of God's signs is certainly care for one's neighbor, according to what Jesus said: "Everything that you did for these least of my brothers you did for me" (Matthew 25:40).

Furthermore, as the Second Vatican Council affirms: the Christian is called to "stand before the world as a witness to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a sign of the living God" ("Lumen Gentium," no. 38). The priest, whom Christ has chosen entirely for himself, must first of all be this. During this Year for Priests, pray with greater intensity for priests, for seminarians and for vocations, that they be faithful to this vocation of theirs! He must be the sign of the living God, as every consecrated person and all the baptized must likewise be.

Faithful laypeople, young people, families, do not be afraid to live and bear witness to the faith in the various spheres of society, in the multiple situations of human existence! Viterbo also has a prestigious figures in this respect. On this occasion it is a duty and a joy to remember the young Mario Fani of Viterbo, founder of the "Circolo Santa Rosa" ("Circle of St. Rose"), who then, along with Giovanni Acquaderni, of Bologna, started the Catholic Action movement in Italy.

The seasons succeed each other, social contexts change, but the vocation of Christians to live the Gospel in solidarity with the human family does not change or go out of fashion with the passing of time. This is social commitment, this is the service proper to political action, this is integral human development.

Dear brothers and sisters! When the heart is frightened in the desert of life, do not be afraid, give yourselves to Christ, the firstborn of the new humanity: a family of brothers built up in freedom and justice, in the truth and charity of the sons of God.

Saints who are dear to you are part of this family: Lorenzo, Valentino, Ilario, Rosa, Lucia, Bonaventure and many others. Our common Mother is Mary, whom you venerate with the title of Madonna della Quercia (Madonna of the Oak) as patroness of the whole diocese in its new configuration. May they guard you always in unity and nourish in each of you the desire to proclaim, with words and deeds, the presence and love of Christ!

Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Tu Vuo' Fa' L'Americano

Benedetto XVI Visits "City of Popes"

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of the mummified body of St. Rose inside the St. Rose shrine after celebrating a mass during his visit in Viterbo on September 6, 2009. (Daylife-Getty Images)

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in procession to the Faul valley to celebrate an ope-air mass during his visit at Viterbo, central Italy, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009. (Daylife-AP Photo)

All Photos Courtesy of Daylife-AP, Reuters, Getty Images

Holy Father in Viterbo, Italy:

(CNA).- At the conclusion of Sunday’s Papal Mass in Viterbo, Italy, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the theme chosen for his pastoral visit: “Confirm your brothers.” These are the words, he recalled, that Jesus said to St. Peter at the Last Supper, entrusting Peter and his successors with the task of being “Pastor of all his Church.”

Pope Benedict explained that throughout the ages, the Viterbo diocese has been a sign of affection and communion with the Successor of Peter. “I was able to take notice,” he shared, “while visiting the Palace of the Popes and especially, the hall of the ‘Conclave.’”

Benedict XVI added that the area was the birthplace of St. Leo the Great, “who rendered a great service to truth in charity, by way of an assiduous exercise of the word, as testified by St. Leo’s Sermons and by his Letters.”

Viterbo has a history of being the home of the Roman Pontiffs for the second half of the thirteenth century, as five popes were elected and four were buried in the city. In addition, 50 popes have visited there, most recently, the Servant of God John Paul II, 25 years ago.

Pope Benedict explained that he wants to stress the spiritual value of these numbers. “Viterbo,” he said, “is rightly called ‘City of Popes,’ and this constitutes for you, her residents, a reason to live and to testify to the Christian faith, the same faith for which the holy martyrs Valentine and Hilary, whose relics are contained in the cathedral and the first of a long line of saints, martyrs and blessed from your land.”

Returning to the theme of his visit, the Pope reflected on how the exhortation to confirm his brothers is an invitation of the Lord that is “today directed to me with particular intensity.”

“Pray, dear brothers and sisters, so that I might always complete with fidelity and love the mission of Pastor of all Christ’s sheep. For my part, I assure constant prayer for your diocese so that the diverse expressions, a symbolic representation of which I was able to admire on the new doors of the cathedral, tend to fuller unity and fraternal communion, indispensible conditions for offering the world an effective evangelical testimony.”

After the Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict XVI extended greetings to the participants of the International Congress “Man and Religions,” which is taking place in Krakow, Poland, with the theme, “Faiths and culture in dialogue.”

The Pontiff said: “Representatives of various religions, invited by the Archdiocese of Krakow and the St. Egidio Community, are gathered to reflect and pray in favor of peace, 50 years after the start of the Second World War.

"We cannot forget the dramatic facts which initiated one of the most terrible conflicts of history, causing millions of deaths and much suffering for the beloved Polish people, a conflict which witnessed the tragedy of the Holocaust and the extermination of other innocents. The memory of these events moves us to pray for the victims and for those who still bear wounds on the body and in their heart. May it serve as an example for all to not repeat such barbarity and to intensify efforts to construct in our time, still marked by conflict, a lasting peace, transmitting to new generations a culture and lifestyle of love, solidarity and respect for others.”

Pettitte Wins, NY Holds Off Toronto

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, right, tries to turn a double play after forcing the out of Toronto Blue Jays' Marco Scutaro during first inning baseball action in Toronto on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009. (Daylife-AP Photos)

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Memorial of St. Gregory the Great

Memorial of St. Gregory the Great:

St. Gregory, senator and prefect of Rome, then in succession monk, cardinal and pope, governed the Church from 590 to 604. England owes her conversion to him. At a period when the invasion of the barbarians created a new situation in Europe, he played a considerable part in the transitional stage, during which a great number of them were won for Christ. At the same time he watched over the holiness of the clergy and preserved ecclesiastical discipline, as well as attending to the temporal interests of his people of Rome and the spiritual interests of the whole of Christendom.

To him the liturgy owes several of its finest prayers, and the name "Gregorian chant" recalls this great Pope's work in the development of the Church's chant. His commentaries on Holy Scripture exercised a considerable influence on Christian thought, particularly in the Middle Ages. Together with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and St. Jerome, he is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is feast of St. Pius X; his feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is August 21. The feast of St. Gregory the Great in the Extraordinary Rite is March 12.

St. Gregory was born at Rome in 540. He was successively senator and prefect of Rome before the age of 30. After five years he resigned and became a monk, transforming his own house into a Benedictine monastery, and founding six others. At the age of 50 he was elected pope, serving from 590 to 604. In 14 years he accomplished much for the Mystical Body of Christ.

After seeing English children being sold as slaves in Rome, he sent 40 monks, including St. Augustine of Canterbury, from his own monastery to make "the Angles angels." England owes her conversion to him. At a period when the invasion of the barbarian Lombards created a new situation in Europe, he played a great part in winning them for Christ. When Rome itself was under attack, he personally went to interview the Lombard King.

At the same time he watched equally over the holiness of the clergy and the maintenance of Church discipline, the temporal interests of his people of Rome and the spiritual interests of all Christendom. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, and emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and victims of plague and famine. These deeds and others made him, in the words of an antiphon in his office, "the Father of the City, the joy of the World."

Gregory reformed the liturgy, and it still contains several of his most beautiful prayers. The name "Gregorian chant" recalls this great Pope's work in the development of the Church's music. His commentaries on Holy Scripture exercised a considerable influence on Christian thought in the Middle Ages. St. Gregory died on March 12, 604. His body lies at St. Peter's in Rome.



Video Hat Tip: A Catholic View

Read St. Gregory the Great quotes here.

KGB Vatican Infiltration

The Kremlin vs. the Cardinals:

It has been a tough year for former Soviet spies. The most recent volume by researchers Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes solved many of the remaining mysteries surrounding Soviet spy networks in early Cold War America, while an upcoming book on Soviet espionage by Cambridge historian Christopher Andrew promises to reveal "the identities of previously unknown enemies of the United Kingdom."

An indispensable addition to this long overdue hit parade is Spies in the Vatican, an intriguing account of the KGB's secret war against the Catholic Church. Author John Koehler is uniquely suited to tell the story having served as both a US intelligence officer and an AP journalist in Europe. Upon leaving the media, Koehler spent the better part of the last decade delving into volumes of dusty Cold War-era intelligence documents. His dedication is apparent: Spies tells a fascinating alternate history of the final two decades of the Cold War as written by tyranny's custodians.

Koehler abruptly begins the story in the Chekist dungeons of the early 1920s as a gleeful Chairman Lenin oversaw the mass murder of thousands of clerics. The decades of atrocities that followed drive home the central theme of Spies: beginning at its inception, the Soviet government was willing to use all available tools to counter religion's influence.

Overseeing this effort, Stalin's successors relied less on brute force and more on the panoply of covert tools wielded so ruthlessly by the KGB and its sister services in East Germany and Poland. Especially wary of the curia's influence in the Soviet sphere, Moscow's spymasters relentlessly pushed their field officers to target church institutions for subversion. As Koehler deftly recounts using actual Communist source reports, the result was startling: Soviet leaders enjoyed regular access to the inner deliberations of Vatican leaders for years, secured by the work of several spy networks.

Access to internal Vatican politics was only one of the benefits derived from infiltration. The Vatican's role as a forum for policy discussions granted Communist intelligence chiefs' victory after victory as American and European leaders bared sensitive diplomatic strategies before the Holy See.

When Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge visited Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Jean Villot in 1970 to discuss the President Nixon's intentions regarding Southeast Asia, Middle East tensions and SALT negotiations, the KGB was present. The word for word account of the meeting was soon placed on the desk of Leonid Brezhnev.

The book's simple title, however, somewhat belies the fact that although Communist intelligence services worked tirelessly to embed sources within the Vatican leadership in Rome, their greatest successes were enjoyed home. The KGB, the East German Stasi, the Polish SB and other Eastern Bloc services collaborated to infiltrate bishoprics and dioceses throughout Eastern Europe and ran hundreds of church--affiliated sources. The campaign escalated in 1978 with the elevation of the energetic Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyła. Already concerned over political tumult in Poland, Soviet leaders authorized the KGB to:

"Use all possibilities available to the Soviet Union to prevent the new course of policies initiated by the Polish pope; if necessary with additional measures beyond disinformation and discreditation."

Was this a tacit go-ahead for an assassination attempt? Koehler argues as much, although he admits the mystery of the failed 1981 assassination attempt will likely never be fully resolved. What is certain is that many of the Pope's movements and statements were subsequently betrayed by an army of informants.

The inspiring story of John Paul II's 1979 trip to a seething Warsaw takes on a more sinister air as Koehler weaves together the hundreds of informant reports that kept Soviet leaders informed of the Pope's every utterance.

Who were these informants? Koehler does not expend many words detailing their motivations, but we do learn they were a diverse lot including a Polish Bishop codenamed IGNACY, a German monsignor (PAUL), and a monk from Aachen (LICHTBLICK). Others included local priests and Catholic journalists.

Most of the former informants suffered little more than stunted careers following communism's collapse in return for their perfidy, generous fates for men who had sold their coreligionists to the wolves. Koehler personally confronts several of them; the aged traitors usually excuse their interactions with secret policemen as involuntary, although records of lavish lunches and generous cash allowances granted to such men by their handlers cast doubt on their alibis.

Despite the extent of their infiltration, Communist intelligence services were ill-equipped to interpret the data flow. Monumental errors, such as one Stasi report that credits "Zionists" with considerable influence over the Church in Poland testify to the level of Eastern Bloc misconceptions.

Koehler suspects a secret Vatican disinformation campaign threw off Moscow's analysts, but ideological rigidity and groupthink appear to be the more likely culprits. Indeed, the inability of Kremlin leaders to understand the incoming information bolsters a core theme of the book: regardless of how extensive Communist penetration was, the grey men in the Kremlin were powerless to respond in a coherent manner.

The book's faults -- lackadaisical editing and a proclivity to add superfluous quotes -- turn a captivating volume into a sometimes tepid read. Those willing to plough through the rough patches however will be rewarded with a vivid depiction of European Communism's death throes.

In the end, the Kremlin's spy networks only attuned it to the strength of the volcano of public resentment, but offered little guidance on how to suppress it. It is history worth remembering.

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