Spolupráce KGB a Ministerstva vnitra PLR na tzv. vatikánském směru v době pontifikátů Jana XXIII. a Pavla VI.
Cooperation between the KGB and the Interior Ministry of the PPR on so-called Vatican orientation during the papacies of John XXIII and Paul VI

Summary/Abstract: The study sets out to map the cooperation between Eastern Bloc intelligence services in the 1960s and 1970s on what was referred to as “Vatican orientation”, which Moscow considered a matter for Poland (and in part for Hungary). Therefore this “orientation” became the “specialisation” of the intelligence services of the countries in question within the framework of the communist intelligence community coordinated by the USSR. The paper reconstructs Moscow’s influence on the Polish intelligence service’s activities and “Vatican” position. The KGB’s perceptions of the Holy See and the Vatican’s Eastern policy are also explored, as is a joint operation conducted by both services aimed at infiltrating the Jesuit order. It concludes with the assertion that the Holy See’s “conciliatory” political line (the Vatican’s “ostpolitik”) was regarded by Moscow (with some justification) with suspicion, with the church and religion being perceived as a political threat to the communist system. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Soviets pushed for a deepening of cooperation and that the Poles were expected to elaborate a joint action plan against the Vatican and the Catholic Chruch. This issue became more urgent with the ascendancy of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II, to the Chair of St. Peter.

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