I have a book around here somewhere which discusses that in point of fact...the KGB did actually have a unit which studied Catholic matters from a strategic and hostile espionage perspective. One should keep in mind that the Vatican (and the Catholic Church as a whole in Europe) was a key listening post in international espionage intrigues, that sources in the Vatican (including Pope Pius XII) had diplomatic links with intelligence agencies (British intelligence in particular), and that there were contacts pointing in many different directions. At that time British Intelligence was infiltrated by Soviet agents and sympthaizers. Um...ahem...if the Brits and the U.S. and the French were able to link with church sources for intelligence purposes so one might conclude could other global powers.
Catholicism through the 1950s was a major obstacle to Communist goals. Cardinal Mindszenty was targeted by Communist agencies. The church was attacked in Vietnam. Any power or organization willing to commit mass murder of priests and nuns would certainly have no qualms of employing other methods of warfare.
It's a fact that the Soviet intelligence agencies essentially took over offices of the Russian Orthodox Church to be manipulated for non-Christian purposes. Why stop there?
John Kerry is in fact a member of a couple of weird secret societies which could hardly be described as Christian. He styles himself in a bizarre way on religious matters which appear part of a social engineering strategy directed to manipulate Catholics in non-Catholic directions. Secret Societies harboring bizarre and grandiose anti-Catholic animosities and agendas exist. These are facts. While these may not explain all of the highly strange and bizarre problems afflicting the church today, it would be silly to overlook them.
The Soviet FBI mole (Hanssen) did infiltrate an Opus Dei chapter in the Washington, D.C. area. One would tend to doubt the KGB just settled with one. Connect the dots. There's a foul smell within the maze of modernism. It's coming from somewhere.
Watch the hand and finger signs carefully whenever someone begins sanctimoniously poo-pooing secret society conspiracies within the church. They're there. Keep a close watch on Kerry and all that happens around him.
I must admit that I was one of those, but I'm beginning to change my mind.
As for the Masons, I think that it is hard for Americans to conceive of small town Protestant bankers and businessmen (probably what we think of as the traditional Masonic base here) as being involved in a conspiracy against the Church, and I doubt that they were. However, American Masonry is very different from European Masonry, which has always been unabashedly anti-Catholic, considers itself an alternative religion, and throughout the 19th and early 20th century, did everything to advance the cause of left-wing movements.
I used to think European-style Masonry would be the Communist version of a church, somewhat the way Napoleon wanted to create a "church" with rituals for his secular state. Now I think that Islam is probably be the religion of choice for the left in this century. Of course, we also have to remember the heavy dose of Islamic symbolism adopted by various Masonic groups.
I was quite surprised when two months later she (Meisel) wrote a scathing review of "The Divinci Code",since the unseen hand that moves the conspiracy also moves the author of the book. Makes one wonder.
I little interesting fact that is somewhat on topic:Pope Pius XII did not make Montini a Cardinal. Speculation is that he knew he was dangerous and did not want him to be Pope. I heard that they picked an older man,John XXIII,to name Montini and hopefully die soon after which he did.