Alleged Soviet disinformation campaign against the Vatican
Seat 12, also known as Operation Seat 12, was a left wing disinformation campaign conducted by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to discredit the moral authority of the Vatican because of its outspoken anticommunism.[1][2][3] Claims of the operations existence were first made in 2007 by Ion Mihai Pacepa, a general who headed the Romanian secret service before defecting to the West in 1978.