Mario Brini (11 May 1908 – 9 December 1995) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

in the Secretariat of State of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

and in the Roman Curia.

Biography

Mario Brini was born in

Piombino Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma. Ove ...

, Italy, on 11 May 1908. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1938. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Brini worked as the resident expert on the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

for the Secretariat of State. During the chaos that surrounded the

Liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

in 1944, Alexander Kurtna, an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

national who worked from 1940-1944 as a translator at the

Congregation for the Eastern Churches The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called Dicastery for the Oriental Churches), previously named Congregation for the Oriental Churches or Congregation for the Eastern Churches ( la, Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus), is a dicaste ...

while spying for both

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

, turned the tables on his SS handler,

Herbert Kappler Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 – 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He served as head of German police and security services (''Sicherheitspolizei'' and SD) in Rome during the Second W ...

, by stealing the top secret

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

codebooks from Kappler's office. Kurtna then passed the codebooks to Monsignor Mario Brini, who delivered them at Kurtna's instructions to the Soviet Government. On 12 September 1959,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

named him Apostolic Delegate to Indochina. He was named a titular archbishop on 14 October 1961 and received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal

Amleto Cicognani Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (24 February 1883 – 17 December 1973) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vatican Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969, and Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1972 until his death. C ...

on 28 January 1962. On 13 June 1962, Pope John appointed him Apostolic Internuncio to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

(United Arab Republic). On 2 October 1965,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

named him Secretary (Assessore) of the

Congregation for the Oriental Churches The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called Dicastery for the Oriental Churches), previously named Congregation for the Oriental Churches or Congregation for the Eastern Churches ( la, Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus), is a dicaste ...

. He retired upon the appointment of his successor,

Myroslav Marusyn Miroslav Stefan Marusyn (26 June 1924 in Kniaze – 21 September 2009) was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic archbishop who served as the Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called Dicas ...

, on 14 September 1982. Mario Brini died on 9 December 1995. Brini played a major role in the 1999 exposé of scandalous behavior by Vatican officials, ''

Gone with the Wind in the Vatican ''Gone with the Wind in the Vatican'' ( it, Via col Vento in Vaticano) is a book that was published in 1999, about nepotism, homosexual scandals, corruption, " clientism" and even Satanism within Vatican City, written under the pseudonym ''I Mill ...

'' by Monsignor Luigi Marinelli. His family sued the publisher to have all copies of the book destroyed, prompting further publicity for the book's claims.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Mario Brini
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brini, Mario 1908 births 1995 deaths Apostolic Nuncios to Egypt Italian spies for the Soviet Union Officials of the Roman Curia People from Piombino Soviet spies against Western Europe World War II spies for the Soviet Union