The Pope’s Butler Did It?

Seattle PI
May 26, 2012

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/05/25/the-popes-butler-did-it/

A butler in the Apostolic Palace of Pope Benedict XVI has been arrested by Vatican security on suspicion that he is the “Deep Throat” who leaked documents on the Vatican’s internal strife to Italian newspapers earlier this year.

The arrest came on the same day that Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, president of the Vatican Bank was forced out by its directors for “failure to fulfill various primary functions of his office.”

John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, summed up the situation by writing: “Perhaps, it would be more accurate, albeit a bit crude, to say all Hell is breaking loose in the Holy See.”

The New York Times termed the documents and letters — nicknamed “Vatileaks” — “perhaps the greatest breach in centuries in the wall of secrecy that surrounds the Vatican.”

The Catholic Church has been hit by turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic, with crossing “the Pond” sometimes used as a form of exile.

The leaked documents took the form of memos from Archbishop Carlo Maria Nigano, ex-deputy governor of the Vatican, to his superior Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The “Vatileaks” complained of intrigue, corruption and cronyism including favoritism toward certain Italian contractors. The result: Archbishop Nigano was relieved of his duties and sent across the Atlantic to become Apostolic Delegate to the United States.

In a letter directly to Benedict XVI, which was leaked, Archbishop Vigano said that his transfer would serve to perpetuate “corruption and abuse” in administration of the Vatican.

After assuming his new duties as Apostolic Nuncio, however, Vigano spoke of the “important, vast and delicate task” of representing the Vatican in America, and said he felt summoned to renew his “trust in the Lord, who asks me to set out again.”

(The reverse pattern was used nearly a decade ago when a priest sex abuse scandal shook the Archdiocese of Boston. Autocratic, powerful Cardinal Bernard Law, a favorite of Pope John Paul II, was moved off to a sinecure in Rome.)

The butler was identified in the Italian press as Paolo Gabriele, a layman who has long served in the Apostolic Palace. There were reports of documents found in his apartment.

Gabriele has been pictured riding in the “Popemobile,” holding an umbrella over Benedict XVI, and serving wine in the Papal court.

The “Vatileak” documents are central to a new book, “Your Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI” by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.