Pope’s butler pleads innocent to theft charge

(Oct. 03, 2012) Members of the Vatican police force have said they found thousands of documents hidden inside the home of Pope Benedict XVI's former butler, who is standing trial for aggravated theft of confidential papal documents and leaking them to a journalist, in what has come to be known as “Vatileaks”. The police officers testified Wednesday in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the pope's once-trusted butler, who faces four years in prison if convicted. The final four witnesses were heard Wednesday in the Vatican and closing arguments are set for Saturday, when a verdict by the three-judge Vatican panel is expected. Inspector Silvano Carli said that of the hundreds of thousands of documents seized from Gabriele's home, about 1,000 were of interest since they in May after Vatican police found papal correspondence and other items in his Vatican apartment; many of the documents dealt with allegations of corruption, abuse of power and a lack of financial transparency at the Vatican.
Earlier on Tuesday, the second day of court hearing, Gabriele had declared he was innocent of charges of aggravated theft of the pope's private correspondence, but had acknowledged he photocopied the papers and said he feels guilty that he betrayed the trust of the pontiff he loves like a father. Prosecutors have said 46-year-old Gabriele has confessed to leaking copies of the documents because he wanted to expose the ``evil and corruption'' in the church.
The trial is being conducted according to the Vatican's criminal code, which is adapted from the 19th-century Italian code. As is the case in Italian trials, the court reporter doesn't take down verbatim quotes, but rather records reconstructed summaries dictated to her by the court president, Dalla Torre. The papal valet, who is 46 years old, married and has three children, faces up to four years of jail time, which he would serve in an Italian prison.