Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty
Subterfuge.
The Irish Minister to the Holy See had a beautiful 19-year-old daughter, who had of course known O’Flaherty forever. O’Flaherty arranged for her to have a standing invitation to tea at the German embassy. She would return from the tea parties and report to O’Flaherty all the small talk made by the German officials. O’Flaherty would pass this on to Derry, who had four secret radio operators in contact with British Intelligence. O’Flaherty’s association with Derry led to the priest being called in and severely dressed down by his superiors – not that it had much effect.Dabbling in intelligence may have caused O’Flaherty trouble otherwise, too. In 2000, documents surfaced showing that the Nazis had gotten information from inside the Vatican. O’Flaherty was named as the source of one report. Since the report was inaccurate – it warned that the Allies were planning to invade north of Rome, instead of to the south, as they actually did – it’s possible O’Flaherty was trying to mislead the Germans. The organization got involved with at least one double agent, so it’s also possible that O’Flaherty didn’t know what he was doing.
At any rate, it was obvious to everyone that espionage was not O’Flaherty’s forte. His friends sometimes despaired of how open and trusting he was. They were sure Kappler would use it to his advantage. And he tried.
Almost Betrayed.
Kappler managed to capture one of the Italian peasants who brought food and sometimes refugees into Rome. After torture and threats, the man agreed to approach O’Flaherty with a ‘message’ and lure him out of the Vatican into a trap. Just after morning Mass, a Gestapo staff car pulled up to the white line and waited as the unfortunate Italian entered St. Peter’s Square and headed toward the steps, where O’Flaherty was standing with John May. Three times, the peasant circled the Piazza, hesitating whenever he got near the priest. The Germans watched impatiently, O’Flaherty calmly, and May with increasing suspicion. Finally the man gave O’Flaherty an imploring look, and turned and ran down a side street deeper into the Vatican. O’Flaherty wanted to go right to him. May persuaded him to wait in his office until they were sure the man had had a change of heart. (He had, and of course O’Flaherty helped him get to safety.)