Pope Leo XIV marks 100 years of Italy’s secret services with a firm call for ethical intelligence work that safeguards peace without trampling human rights.
Newsroom (12/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a rare direct address to members of Italy’s Security Intelligence System on the centenary of its founding, Pope Leo XIV insisted Friday that the pursuit of national security must remain inseparable from respect for human dignity and rigorous ethical standards.
Speaking in the Apostolic Palace to personnel from Italy’s coordinated intelligence apparatus – established in 1925 – the Pontiff acknowledged the dramatic evolution of tools and methods over the past century, while underscoring that moral responsibilities have grown in equal measure.
“Yours is the serious responsibility of constantly monitoring the dangers that may threaten the life of the Nation, in order above all to contribute to the protection of peace,” Pope Leo told the gathering. He praised the often-invisible work of anticipating crises before they erupt, yet warned that the very discretion required in intelligence activities can open the door to misuse and instrumentalization.
For this reason, he said, professional competence must always be accompanied by an unwavering ethical compass rooted first and foremost in “respect for the dignity of the human person.” Security operations, the Pope stressed, “must never lose sight of this foundational dimension and must never fail to respect the dignity and rights of each individual,” even when the common good appears urgently at stake.
Information-gathering, he noted, inevitably touches directly on individual rights – a reality that demands strict proportionality, clear legal frameworks, and constant oversight. He called explicitly for intelligence activities to be firmly regulated by law, subject to judicial scrutiny, and transparent in financial governance.
National security, Pope Leo insisted, can never justify the sacrifice of fundamental rights, including “private and family life, freedom of conscience and information, and the right to a fair trial.”
Turning to what he termed “the ethics of communication,” the Pontiff warned of new dangers in an age of massive data flows: misinformation, manipulation, blackmail, and the incitement of hatred. Confidential information, he said, must never be weaponized to intimidate, discredit, or silence public figures, journalists, civil society actors – or the Church itself.
In some countries, he observed, ecclesiastical institutions fall victim to intelligence operations pursued for “wrongful purposes” that oppress religious freedom.
The Pope closed with a tribute to intelligence personnel who lost their lives on delicate missions, sacrifices “not recorded in newspaper headlines” yet enduring in the peace they helped secure. He also expressed gratitude for the protection Italian services provide to the Holy See and Vatican City State.
Urging the assembled officers to exercise their vocation with balance and discernment, Pope Leo XIV left them with a clear directive: remain “firmly anchored to those legal and ethical principles that place the dignity of the human person above all else.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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