East German agency spied on Cardinal Ratzinger

September 14, 2011

The Stasi, the notorious secret service of East Germany under Communist rule, compiled a dossier of “several hundred pages” on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The Stasi began taking an interest in the future Pontiff in 1974, when he visited East Germany as a priest and theology professor. The agency assigned a number of different spies to collect information for years, but apparently uncovered no information that was useful to the Communist government.

 

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Further information:

• Communists Spied on Pope Benedict (NewsMax)