Spying After the Bible 2 - AD ~1800 to Present

Post-Biblical Church Spying History (2)

In 1861 the Vatican City refused to recognize Italian King’s reign over the city. This situation was resolved on 11 February 1929, when the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy was signed by Prime Minister and Head of Government Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III and by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri for Pope Pius XI. The treaty, which became effective on 7 June 1929, established the independent state of Vatican City and reaffirmed the special status of Roman Catholicism in Italy. In 1930, the “Holy Alliance” was renamed “The Entity” by Pope Pius XI. Took over counterintelligence jobs as well.

AD 1906 to AD 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a pastor – joined the Abwehr (German military intelligence organization) which was also the center of the anti-Hitler resistance.

C.S. Lewis was also in the spy business briefly as told here. Basically, he gave a propaganda talk to Iceland on “The Norse Spirit in English Literature.” He did this through the Joint Broadcasting Committee, which was the broadcasting branch of the Secret Intelligence Service, known popularly as MI6. This was to get the people of Iceland to side with England, while they invaded Iceland to get a strategic foothold in Denmark in WWII.

The British Mandate of Palestine began after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire.After a yearlong civil war in Mandate Palestine, the British left and on May 1948, the Jewish People’s Council established the nation-state of Israel, which roughly corresponds to the original land of Israel. The next year, the Mossad was formed. The Mossad is short for HaMossad leModi’in uleTafkidim Meyuhadim, which means, “Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations” in Hebrew. In 1952, a revolution took place in Egypt and a year later the Republic of Egypt was formed.

Many countries have state religions and religious constitutions, and some even have laws based on religion, but are not ruled by church officials and so the leaders are not ecclesiastical. However, all three of the large monotheistic religions do have states that are ecclesiocracies (states run by clergy). 

England is kind of an ecclesiocracy  in name since the Monarch is the governor of the church of England. However, it is also constitutional, with parliament having civil power, and bishops having more power in the church.

Iran is also a kind of ecclesiocracy, with their head of state, or supreme leader is the highest ranking political and religious authority, chosen by ruling clerics. Iran also has an elected president that has some political power as well as a ministry of Intelligence and National Security.

Holy See (Vatican City) also an ecclesiocracy. While Catholics claim the Pope in infallible, that claim only extends to his apostolic authority when he is teaching or preaching and does not extend to declarations or matters of state. Therefore, the Holy See is an ecclesiocracy and not a theocracy. The pope is really the bishop of Rome and is chosen from among the bishops. Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City.

In closing, I found it interesting to note the last article in the CIA CREDO:

"We get our inspiration and commitment to excellence from the inscription in our foyer: “And Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”