The Secret Letters of Pope John Paul II was due to be aired on Monday on the BBC's Panorama programme.

Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a Polish-born American philosopher, worked on a translation of one of John Paul's books.

The project is said to have sparked a four-year personal correspondence and speculation that the two may have fallen in love.

But a Vatican official said it is known that John Paul was friendly with Tymieniecka and with another Polish woman, Wanda Poltawska, with whom he consulted.

A source described the documentary's content as being "more smoke than fire".

The BBC programme was not expected to allege that either woman had a physical relationship with John Paul II.

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The report was denied by the National Security Agency, which said: "The National Security Agency does not target the Vatican. Assertions that NSA has targeted the Vatican, published in Italy's Panorama magazine, are not true."

The allegations by Panorama follow a report on Cryptome, a website that gathers intelligence on surveillance and national security, which claimed the US intercepted 46 million telephone calls in Italy between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013.

"It is feared that the great American ear tapped prelates' conversations right up to the conclave," Panorama said.

The magazine said that intercepted calls from the Vatican were classified into four categories, including "leadership intentions, threats to financial systems, foreign policy objectives, and human rights".

Panorama also claimed that incoming and outgoing calls from the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lives, had been tapped.

It said that Wikileaks files revealed that Pope Francis was being watched by American spy agencies as far back as 2005 when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

The article said the National Security Agency may have monitored calls relating to the appointment of Ernst Von Freyburg as president of the Vatican Bank.

Responding to reporters' questions, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said: "My response regarding the article on Panorama on the alleged wiretapping is that we don't know anything about this matter and in any case, we have no worries about it."

Several European countries have expressed grave concerns after former NSA agent Edward Snowden revealed that US intelligence agencies had intercepted millions of phone calls, including those of several heads of state.

Sources:

Zenit

Religion News Service

The Telegraph

Image: Patheos