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

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

in the Secretariat of State of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

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. Ov ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Brini worked as the resident expert on the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

for the Secretariat of State. During the chaos that surrounded the Liberation of Rome 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 while spying for both

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

, turned the tables on his SS handler, Herbert Kappler, by stealing the top secret

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

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 (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 on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

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

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

(United Arab Republic). On 2 October 1965,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul 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 State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

named him Secretary (Assessore) of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. He retired upon the appointment of his successor, Myroslav Marusyn, 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'' 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