Credit: Diliff, Wikipédia
The American Pope Leo XIV seems determined to give the Vatican a new direction, in the light that comes from Jerusalem, reflecting the little-known agreements between the greatest Christian-based superpowers, and trusting the new world that was emerging for the current decade.
In terms of absolute millions of people, both the United States and Russia are great powers anchored by massive, historically Christian cultural bases. Both nations contain two of the largest Christian populations in the world, in addition to the vast number of Christian and Catholic-based nations that each of these nations directly influences.
The Vatican’s intelligence capabilities stem from its structural, global, and diplomatic framework. The Vatican does not officially possess a formal intelligence agency, yet it is widely regarded by global superpowers as having one of the most effective and well-informed human intelligence (HUMINT) networks in the world.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States, effectively the Vatican's foreign minister, arrived in Moscow on Monday, August 24, for a four-day diplomatic visit. Today, he held crucial face-to-face talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Likewise today, Tuesday, August 25th, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a visit to Moscow and spent five hours on the ground for meetings with Russian officials. Both Washington and Moscow have kept the exact nature of the meetings strictly confidential.
Direct spy-chief meetings function as vital safety valves. The willingness of both sides to sit down suggests a mutual desire to establish crisis-management protocols and prevent a direct military escalation between Russia and the US. To keep direct lines of communication serves to avoid miscalculation.
For different reasons, both superpowers are now inclined to use their nuclear arsenals to take down adversaries who are proving more difficult to fight than initially anticipated. The Americans could hypothetically target Tehran, just as the Russians could target European capitals.
On the other hand, following Moscow's recent release of former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, Ratcliffe used this window to try the release of other Americans still in custody, such as 74-year-old Stephen Hubbard. Russian authorities accused him of acting as a paid mercenary for Ukraine. Donald J. Trump wishes Hubbard would be released as soon as possible.
