Nazi Germany considered the Catholic Church to be a serious threat to its domestic security and its international ambitions. In Germany, Hitler's agents recruited informants to provide intelligence on Church finances, and on the political views and activities of bishops, priests and lay Catholics. In Rome, however, German attempts to penetrate the Papacy were less successful, with the efforts of the local Gestapo office proving largely futile. For example, a plan to use a Roman seminary as a secret radio station and cover for German intelligence officers masquerading as seminarians had to be abandoned, in part because the first group of officers proved to be more interested in women that in the cloistered life.

Nazi Germany considered the Catholic Church to be a serious threat to its domestic security and its international ambitions. In Germany, Hitler's agents recruited informants to provide intelligence on Church finances, and on the political views and activities of bishops, priests and lay Catholics. In Rome, however, German attempts to penetrate the Papacy were less successful, with the efforts of the local Gestapo office proving largely futile. For example, a plan to use a Roman seminary as a secret radio station and cover for German intelligence officers masquerading as seminarians had to be abandoned, in part because the first group of officers proved to be more interested in women that in the cloistered life.