Vatican court expected to deliver butler verdict

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Vatican court trying Pope Benedict's former butler on charges of stealing confidential papers is expected to deliver its verdict Saturday, Oct 6, according to BBC News.

Paolo Gabriele is accused of stealing and copying the Pope's documents and leaking them to an Italian journalist. He has denied the charge of aggravated theft, but admits photocopying documents and "betraying the trust of the Holy Father".

If found guilty, Gabriele faces four years in an Italian prison.

The verdict will bring to an end a week-long trial that has revealed an embarrassing breach of security at the highest levels of the Vatican.

During testimony, the three judges presiding over the court heard how Gabriele used the photocopier in his shared office next to the Pope's library to copy thousands of documents, taking advantage of his unrivalled access to the pontiff.

He would later pass some of them on to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

In 2010 Nuzzi released a best-selling book, entitled His Holiness, largely based on the confidential papers and detailing corruption, scandals and infighting. Its publication sparked the hunt for the source of the leaks inside the Vatican, leading to Gabriele's arrest in May.

Police also told the court how they found thousands of documents at Gabriele's home, including some original papers bearing the Pope's handwriting. Some had the instruction "destroy" written by the Pope in German on them.

Although Gabriele has entered a not guilty plea, prosecutors say he confessed to taking documents during an interrogation in June, a confession he later stood by in court.

He told prosecutors he hoped to reveal alleged corruption at the Vatican, and believed that the Pope was being manipulated.

If found guilty, Gabriele is widely expected to be pardoned by Pope Benedict, his boss of seven years. "I feel guilty of having betrayed the trust of the Holy Father, whom I love as a son would," he told the court earlier this week.