The Italian prosecutors are investigating the eavesdropping of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, whose founder, Luca Casarini, was spying on by an unknown entity utilizing Paragon Solutions' surveillance strategy called Graphite. This strategy is compared to another strategy – Pegasus.
Luca Casarini, a well-known Italian activist whose organization participates in actions to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, was a peculiar guest of the Synod of Bishops, invited by Pope Francis. The organization's lawyers filed a motion at the prosecutor's office in Palermo, Sicily to launch an investigation to find who ordered the organization's founder to spy on him utilizing Graphite software.
Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the chaplain Mediterranean Saving Humans – priest Mattia Ferrari was being spy on. At the Italian tv station Nove, Father Ferrari reported that he had found out that his telephone was bugged. He explained that he did not know whether it was Paragon in his case, but it is said about the alleged Paragon case due to the fact that it all started with the case of Luka Casarini, attacked by Paragon's Graphite spy program.
Fr Ferrari began civilian proceedings to find which another persons could besides have been the mark of surveillance utilizing Graphite or a akin system. In fresh days, it was discovered that besides on his telephone on February 8, 2024 a message was received about an attack from spy software related to government entities that were not identified.
The Vatican spoke about the eavesdrop, which could besides indirectly contact Pope Francis. A writer for the Catholic Italian paper Avvenire Nello Scavo said that if Father Mattia was eavesdropped, Pope Francis was besides listened to, and so many times. He explained that in the case of specified software not only the conversation is overheard, but besides the image can be recorded, due to the fact that the camera turns on itself.
Pope Francis spoke to priest Ferrari many times. It cannot be excluded that the pope was besides indirectly overheard in this way. Nello Scavo emphasized that the spy Luca Casarini was active in the Vatican Synod, where he besides attended meetings behind closed doors. It is necessary, he added, to find who was behind these wiretaps and whether there is any legal explanation.
According to data published by Citizen Lab, the Graphite strategy was utilized to spy on people in at least 20 countries, including Italy, Spain and France. This strategy is capable of eavesdropping calls, recording the image and tracking the location of the target.
The eavesdropping scandal is simply a subject of discussion among experts and politicians who search answers to the question of who was behind these eavesdroppings and what were their objectives. The Italian government announced that it would analyse the substance and that it would cooperate with another countries to find who was liable for the scandal.
Pope Francis is aware that he was in contact with Father Ferrari and that he talked to him about migrants and helping them. It is not known whether the pope was besides eavesdropped, but Nello Scavo said it was possible if the Ferrari priest was eavesdropped.
The issue is simply a subject of discussion among experts and political scientists who are looking for answers to the question of who was behind these wiretaps and what their objectives were. The Italian government announced that it would analyse the substance and that it would cooperate with another countries to find who was liable for the scandal.
