Apparently, not even the sophisticated U.S. intellegence services were able to penetrate the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Italian newspaper La Stampa said it obtained documents from the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act. According to the documents, Joseph Ratzinger's papal election came as a total surprise. ROME REPORTS erroneously attributed this information to Wikileaks.
Information published by a reputable Italian news organization said details about the Vatican had already been published on the Wikileaks website.
According to a 2005 document published by La Stampa, U.S. diplomats said they were expecting a candidate from a developing country to be elected instead.
A cache of confidential American cables over the past three years have been published on non-profit website Wikileaks. Documents regarding the Vatican are expected to be published on Wikileaks in the coming days.
Hotly-contested specifics of the Wikileaks dossier were released to top international news organizations.
Among many topics discussed, the newspapers said the Wikileaks documents showed Saudi Arabia pushed the United States to thwart a possible attack by Iran and that the U.S. believes North Korea provided Iran with nuclear missles that could be pointed at Western European capitals, like the Vatican's host city of Rome.
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[CORRECT: ROME REPORTS apologizes for its erroneous attribution. Documents citing the Vatican have not yet been published on the Wikileaks website.]