Chapter 183: John XXIII
The rest of the money Serov is ready to be handed over to the students of the First General Bureau who are currently trying out the stock market, as a prefect to take care of these new spies, great things must start from the ordinary, and the towering trees also need to be carefully cultivated from an early age! Serov was not afraid of these people spending money, and was even ready to lose money inside. As long as such a group of people are cultivated and have enough knowledge of the Western stock market, sooner or later they will come in handy!
Sooner or later, the Breston Woods system will collapse, Serov must be ready for that day to come, it is a lot of money, and hundreds or hundreds of billions of money flows will be received into the KGB's account, what is this concept? It is enough for Serov to sell Algeria ten times, not to mention that to defeat the capitalists must learn their methods, and if you don't let you, you are burying your head in the backbone, and you are not the opponent of those vampires. Now the KGB trader is still in his infancy, and when he is conceived, he may be the most profitable force in the KGB, and the diamonds in South Africa, the oil in the Middle East, the rubber in Southeast Asia, and the drug lords in South America are not important, but the results are important.
On the day of the collapse of the Breston Woods system, the Americans will also find that their so-called allies are no more worry-free than those Eastern European countries of the Soviet Union, and compared to those allies of the Soviet Union, the so-called partners of the United States still have the ability to resist. The final attack kicked this hegemonic system.
"With such a huge flow of money in my hands, I am not tempted at all, this is so strange!" Serov felt that he was simply an idealist who had struggled all his life for ideas.
Lit the report of the 1st Directorate and threw it in the toilet, he had no desire to see the last few projects, and even gave his own tickets to others, of course, Soviet. Shopping on the street with a couple of women. It is even more possible to reconcile each other's feelings, "Director, the Cardinal of the Vatican has brought a personal letter from Pope John XXIII, and I hope you can come as a guest?" Lukani said as she came in with a letter.
"Guest?" Serov's heart moved, it seemed that the Vatican, although small, had some means, knowing that he was the vice chairman for the management of domestic religious affairs in the Soviet Union. Major General Kadpov, chairman of the Soviet Committee on Religious Affairs, was very well taken care of by Serov, and his views on religion were very much to his taste, if it were not for the fact that there were no vacancies in the General Directorate now, Serov would have liked to suggest to Sherepin that Major General Kadpov should be appointed director of the General Directorate, but he was also worried that others would not be as reassuring as Kadpov in dealing with religious issues, so he was very distressed......
So the question is, what did John XXIII do to him? You don't have the illusion that you can use yourself as a breakthrough, right? This illusion was very deadly, and when he thought of this, Serov had a wicked smile on his face, "Why don't you go?" The great Vatican Pope invited. There are not many people in the whole world who can have this kind of ease, by the way, how many divisions does the Pope have? ”
John XXIII has clearly put a lot of effort into relations between the United States and the Soviet Union compared to his hateful predecessors, and in the two years since he took office, he has vigorously promoted cardinals from other regions, including cardinals from South America, and even cardinals from blacks! From this point of view, John XXIII clearly went a little faster than the Americans.
The Vatican is not without a little military power, and at least one Swiss Guard, less than a hundred people, acts as guardians, these guards in plate armor. Follow the old rules! These people are worthy of respect, but they are not all the way to Serov! The so-called Swiss Guards. Now the KGB personnel in the city of Rome can settle them! As for the Vatican gendarmes to maintain law and order, they were even more out of his consideration.
If you don't get to the Vatican, you don't understand why this place is the place of sustenance for the soul of Christendom, but unfortunately Serov has lived in an atheist country for both his lives, and the historic churches here can only be used as a landscape in photographs, as for the strong faith and religious atmosphere. I didn't even get a chance to get a photo! Perhaps out of bad taste, Serov took Lukani, a Chechen, to the Vatican.
"Mr. Serov, the Pope is waiting for you in the church!" Soon after arriving at the Vatican with a special pass, a cardinal came to guide him. In fact, Serov doesn't need to be like this at all, the Vatican is small as long as it is a normal person will not get lost, the KGB agents stand on the tower with a telescope and can see the entire Vatican, but the cardinals are all down and dare not support that, in line with the mentality of respecting the old and loving the young, Serov did not refuse the kindness of the other party, and could only follow the old man step by step, until he reached St. Peter's Basilica, where John XXIII was waiting for him.
"Hello, Pope John XXIII, it's a pleasure to see!" Serov walked behind John XXIII and stopped, and said without humility or arrogance, "I wish you a long and healthy life!" In Serov's eyes, this is an old man who is almost eighty years old, and he only speaks this because of the age of the other party, not some worthless papal title.
Pope John XXIII was regarded as an excessive pope after he took office, because he was already very old, but since he took office, the achievements of just two years have changed this view, and the Vatican, which has encountered a crisis of faith, began to look for another way out, and Pope John XXIII does not regard himself as the ruler of the Vatican, and actively eases relations with people of other religions, and this meeting with Serov also has this meaning.
"I rarely see people in front of me in military uniforms, and General Serov has always been working in military uniforms?" Pope John XXIII turned around and looked at Serov and asked with a curious look.
Compared to his one-sided predecessor, Pope John XXIII clearly knew that he could not afford to fight the Soviet Union, which represented a socialist camp that had turned more and more people into atheists, and even Italy had a crisis of faith that was almost impossible before.
"It's my job, just as it's your job to be Pope, Pope John XXIII!" Serov smiled lightly, looked around blankly at the peaceful St. Peter's Basilica, and said leisurely, "Once upon a time, this was the center of the whole of Europe, but unlike Rome, when the Pope was the center of Europe, it was the darkest period in European history, the ancient civilization has been lost, and all kinds of taxes have indeed become a huge burden for the people of all countries......
"That's all in the past, General Serov seems to have some misunderstanding of our Vatican!" John XXIII sat on the bench and said in a very serious tone, "I have heard of the Soviet Union's Committee for Religious Affairs, and General Serov is the immediate superior of this body?" ”
"That's right, the chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee, Major General Kadpov, is my subordinate! And I am very satisfied with his work, which has allowed religion to be removed from the lives of the people! Serov laughed and said, "The minds of the people should be filled with science, culture and knowledge, and as for religion, I have always considered it dispensable since I was a child!" ”
"Is General Serov somewhat prejudiced against religion? Human beings need faith, and no matter how good the material is, it cannot solve the emptiness in the hearts of the people! John XXIII retorted unhurriedly.
"Our General Secretary Stalin, a graduate of the Georgian Theological Academy, which, under normal circumstances, should be a future Orthodox priest, what makes an Orthodox priest a complete atheist and turn to a hostile attitude towards any religion? Pope John XXIII, have you ever thought about this question! Isn't it a great irony of religion for a priest to become the most religiously averse and purge the entire Soviet land of the Upper Orthodox Church? Serov's voice was not loud, and it was not possible to argue with this faithful pope, but it was also impossible for the pope to argue with him, and the existence of God was not something for the two of them to decide!
"Perhaps Secretary Stalin encountered something in his youth that changed his views on religion, and the clergy in some places really cannot be said to have spread the gospel of God, I must admit it!" John XXIII shook his head slightly, if the Orthodox Church did something dirty to change Stalin's faith, this representative is too big, almost at the cost of the collapse of the Orthodox Church!
After a long silence, John XXIII spoke again, "If all you want is for the Orthodox Church to stop interfering in the lives of the people, in fact, the Soviet Union has already done it, why do you have to strictly restrict the development of religion in the entire Soviet Union?" Keeping some institutions is not a threat to you! ”
"This is because in many parts of our country, there is another religion! Pope John XXIII, I believe you will not forget the Crusades, how terrible would it be if two religions were hostile to each other and crushed into conflict? Serov retorted unhurriedly, "Not to mention two hostile religions, even if they are the same religion, what can they do?" Take Constantinople as an example, the first time Constantinople was conquered, but it had nothing to do with Ottoman Turkey, it was attacked by the crusaders of the Eastern Crusade, if it wasn't for the fall of Constantinople that hurt the vitality of the Roman Empire, many things would not have happened in the future! ”
John XXIII was silent, and the responsibility for the first fall of Constantinople was in any case on the side of the Catholics. (To be continued.) )