Vatileaks: Judges note “reprehensible” damage of Gabriele’s theft
October 24, 2012: On Tuesday, the Vatican Court published a lengthy document outlining
how it arrived at its October 6th verdict in the Vatileaks trial against former Papal
butler, Paolo Gabriele. The text, in Italian, confirms the sentence of 18 months prison
for Gabriele and payment of trial costs and notes the “reprehensible” damage that
his theft caused both the Holy Father and the Church. Gabriele is currently serving
his sentence under house arrest. It was also announced that the second act in investigations,
the trial against Carlo Sciarpeletti an IT expert at the Secretary of State for aiding
and abetting Gabriele, will open November 5th.
Briefing journalists Tuesday,
Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. noted that they focused
on the offence of stealing documents, and in particular the originals of documents,
and took no account of other objects such as a nugget of gold, a cheque in the Holy
Father's name and a sixteenth-century copy of "The Aeneid", because there were doubts
about the way in which the search during which they were found had been carried out,
and Gabriele's guilt was not proven.
Fr. Lombardi also explained that a psychiatric
examination had excluded the possibility that the accused might have had some mental
condition which had made him unaware of his responsibility for his actions. The Tribunal
had also, he said, been careful to define the juridical terms of the offence of theft;
i.e., the removal and appropriation of an object without the consent of its owner
with the intent of obtaining some benefit. Thus the offence involved was theft and
not embezzlement, although the sentence notes that the benefit Gabriele sought to
gain was not economic in nature, but intellectual and moral.
Another question
that arose was whether Gabriele had acted at the "suggestion" of a third party; a
term that had been interpreted to include complicity or influence. The accused himself
affirmed that the word did not mean collaboration with other people, but the influence
of the surrounding environment which had led him to the conviction that he was acting
for the good of the Holy Father and the Church.
The Holy See Press Office Director
noted that the aggravating circumstances lay in the fact that the theft had involved
abuse of trust and the publication of reserved documents, while the attenuating circumstances
were the absence of a criminal record and Gabriele's own moral conviction.
On
the subject of the punishment, Fr. Lombardi pointed out that the Tribunal had based
its sentence on the penalties established for such offences in the Criminal Code.
The promoter of justice had requested that Gabriele be given a lifetime ban on holding
public office but, as the final sentence was of eighteen months, the Penal Code contains
no provision for such a measure and the ban on public office was thus of limited duration.
Nonetheless, in view of the gravity of the offence, it had been decided not to suspend
the sentence conditionally.
Finally the director of the Holy See Press Office
announced that Paolo Gabriele currently remains under house arrest, because until
the publication of the full text of the sentence the promoter of justice before the
Tribunal of Vatican City State, Giovanni Giacobbe, was unable to file an appeal.
If
he did not now do so within the set deadline the sentence would be put into effect.
In this case the accused would have to serve his term in prison inside the Vatican,
because there was no relevant convention with the Italian State. The possibility remains,
however, that the Holy Father will pardon Gabriele although, since it would be a personal
decision, it is not clear if and when he will do so.