Why wouldn’t they?
I just wonder what useful information the Vatican could have. Their geopolitical influence will be next to none…
The Catholic Church is the richest religious organization and the second largest religious sect population after Sunni Islam. Their geopolitical influence is significant. The Pope meets often with heads of state and religious and business leaders. They have churches, schools, hospitals and more around the globe.
Which is exactly why everyone watches them pretty closely.
Yes, they do.
The reason for this is that the Catholic church is one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) religious movement on Earth.
Its interests may conflict with many countries interests (USA, Russia, China, Israel, etc) and its influence can be enormous in the countries where it is present. Think about the Church position on Gaza or Ukraine, for instance.
Many intelligence services therefore spy on the Vatican. The NSA, for instance, is on the record as saying they never cracked its codes (which is a debate for some other day), it was mentioned in the Puzzle Palace if I remember correctly.
