DHAKA: An Italian magazine said Thursday that a United States spy agency had eavesdropped on Vatican phone calls, possibly including when former Pope Benedict’s successor was under discussion, but the Holy See said it had no knowledge of any such activity.

‘Panorama’ magazine said that among 46 million phone calls followed by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in Italy from December 10, 2012, to January 8, 2013, were conversations in and out of the Vatican.

In a press release before full publication on Thursday, Panorama said the ‘NSA had tapped the pope’. It cited no source for its information.

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’, reports Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Media reports based on revelations from Edward Snowden, the fugitive former US intelligence operative granted asylum in Russia, have said the NSA had spied on French citizens over the same period in December in January.

Last week, the German government appeared to confirm that chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone had also been monitored by American spies.

The issue has also caused Washington problems with Brazil and China.

BDST: 1917 HRS, OCT 31, 2013
RoR/RIS