Vatican court rejects some evidence in butler trial

(October 01, 2012) A Vatican tribunal on Saturday rejected some evidence gathered in the investigation of the Pope's former butler, who is accused of stealing the pope's papers and passing them off to a journalist in what has come to be known as ‘Vatileaks’. The court also decided during the first hearing of the case to separate the trial of the butler, Paolo Gabriele, and that of Claudio Sciarpelletti, a Vatican computer expert charged with helping Gabriele. The 46-year-old Gabriele faces up to four years in prison if he is convicted of aggravated theft. He has already confessed, saying he leaked the documents to shed light on what he called the `'evil and corruption'' in the church, and asked to be pardoned by the pope. At the end of Saturday’s hearing that lasted just under two and a half hours, Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre set the next hearing for Tuesday. Gabriele’s lawyer, Cristiana Arru, had asked the court to allow as evidence the results of an inquiry by a commission of three cardinals who questioned Vatican employees, including prelates, about the leaks of the documents to Italian media. But Dalla Torre said the commission answered only to the Pope and had "no relevance" to the Vatican City's penal code. Instead, trial evidence will be based solely on the results of the investigation by a Vatican prosecutor and Vatican police. The trial could be dealt with in as little as four sessions. Gabriele's arrest in May, after police found confidential documents in his apartment inside the Vatican, not only threw a spotlight on allegations of malpractice but also pointed to a power struggle at the highest levels of the Church.