Former butler to Pope accused of leaking Vatican documents to stand trial

The Vatican has ordered Pope Benedict’s former butler to stand trial for leaking documents alleging corruption in the Holy See, revealing the involvement of a second employee and details of secret nocturnal meetings with a reporter.

A complex 35-page document on the scandal showed that butler Paolo Gabriele saw himself as an “infiltrator” of the Holy Spirit who wanted to clean up the Roman Catholic Church. Gabriele was arrested in May.

The indictment said computer expert Claudio Sciarpelletti would also stand trial on lesser charges of aiding and abetting a crime.

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Sciarpelletti, who worked in the Vatican’s most important office – the Secretariat of State – was a close friend of Gabriele, and investigators found a sealed envelope in his desk containing material published in a book based on the leaks.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi downplayed Sciarpelletti’s role, saying he had spent only one night in jail in May and had been suspended from his job but not fired. If convicted, he would get “a light sentence”, Fr Lombardi said.

He said the investigation was only partially closed and would continue for “other people who appear to be involved in these crimes”.

The long indictment offered clues to Gabriele’s motives and state of mind. He told investigators he had acted because he saw “evil and corruption everywhere in the Church” and wanted to help root it out “because the Pope was not sufficiently informed”.

In another section he was quoted as telling investigators that after he started copying documents and leaking them.

He is reported as saying: “I reached the point of no return and could not control myself any more”.

He continued: “I was always interested in intelligence and in a way I thought that in the Church this role belonged to the Holy Spirit, and in a certain sense I saw myself as its infiltrator.”

The butler told investigators he believed a shock “could be a healthy thing to bring the Church back on the right track”.

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Fr Lombardi said a trial would not be held before the end of September and that the Pope, as the sovereign head of the Vatican City, could intervene at any time to stop it or pardon Gabriele.

“It is up to the Pope to decide,” he said. “If the Pope wants to pardon Gabriele, he will probably do it after the trial.”

If found guilty, Gabriele, who worked in the Pope’s private apartments serving him meals, and helping him dress, could face up to six years in jail.

The indictment also alleges that Gabriele gave copies of documents to another person whom he considered his “spiritual father”, but the recipient says he destroyed the documentation.

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