The Vatican's major fraud and extortion trial reopens on Friday after exposing some inappropriate facts about how the Holy See operates, with a new spy story in the spotlight that's more suited to a 007 thriller.

According to an affidavit, one of Pope Francis' top advisers brought in members of the Italian secret service to audit his office for wiretapping and ordered intelligence reports from them, completely bypassing the Vatican's own police force.

Reports on the activities of Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, number 2 at the Vatican Secretariat of State, raise some fundamental questions about the security and sovereignty of the Vatican City State, as he invited foreign intelligence officials to the inner sanctuary of the Holy See, and then handed over to them the internal espionage work of the Vatican police on outsourcing.

Peña Parra is not accused of any crime, unlike his subordinates. They are among 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal, who are being tried by the Vatican's criminal tribunal in connection with the Vatican's failed investment of 350 million euros in real estate in London.

In a lawsuit that resumes on Friday, prosecutors have accused the longtime steward of the Holy See, Italian brokers and lawyers of swindling the pope out of tens of millions and then extorting 15 million euros from the Vatican to finally get full ownership of the property.

Parra's role in the scandal has always been anomalous, as he authorized his subordinates to negotiate the final contracts in the deal and then triggered a suspicious transaction report when he requested a €150 million loan from the Vatican Bank to pay off a mortgage on a property. But prosecutors, at least for now, have spared him the charge.

The new testimony, published by Italy's adnkronos news agency and Domani daily, reveals yet another twist in the case and highlights the level of Hollywood intrigue that besets the Vatican and rarely comes to light.

One of Peña Parra's former deputies, Vincenzo Mauriello, told prosecutors that in May or June 2019, after the London deal was completed, Peña Parra told him he wanted to have his office searched because he believed his private conversations became known outside.

Peña Parra asked if Mauriello knew anyone outside the Vatican's security apparatus who could do the job, and Mauriello suggested a friend who worked for the Italian foreign intelligence service, AISI. According to Mauriello, after a preliminary meeting, spy Andrea Tineri carried out a search when there were few people in the palazzo. Nothing was found. But then Peña Parra asked Tineri to provide some intelligence dossiers on key figures. According to him, Tineri and his boss at AISI presented the results of Peña Parra by handing over a white envelope during one of their many meetings on the grounds of the Vatican.

It is not unusual for the Vatican and Italy to cooperate on security matters: Italian police patrol St. Peter's Square, and there is official cooperation between the Vatican's gendarmes and Italian law enforcement. But Tineri's spy work for Peña Parra has definitely gone beyond official channels, and on purpose. Mauriello recalled that once he even had to escort Tineri past the Vatican security booth because the gendarmes asked too many questions.

Peña Parra, who remains in his day job as Vatican interior minister, declined to comment, citing an ongoing lawsuit.