Voices of New Suspects beyond the Tevere; Now the Hunt Is on for the Masterminds

By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
May 27, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vatileaks-vaticano-vatican-15425/

On the Popemobile a new policeman has replaced Gabriele

A lay functionary under scrutiny: he could be arrested

Interrogations of the lay officials of the Secretariat of State, a hunt for the possible mastermind behind the infiltrators, internal 'governance' in anguish. Scandals even graver than this (such as the Calvi case) occurred in the Wotyla papcy, but today the media coverage is multiplied. Vatican investigators seek evidence, proof, and possible "higher level" accomplices, in fact, Vatican public prosecutor Nicola Picardi's "initial investigation" has already been closed, and the phase of "formal investigation", conducted by Judge Piero Antonio Bonnet, has already begun.

Yesterday the Pope mentioned the Gospel: "the wind shakes the House of God, but it does not fall". No direct reference to the Vatileaks scandal, though the reference does mention clouds that are gathering of the skies of the present. The transition to the formal stage, said spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, has made it possible to officially release the name of the arrested individual; furthermore, it involves a real arrest to all effects, given that in the Vatican, the practice taking a suspect into "custody" does not exist. The investigation has been proceeding swiftly thanks to the fact that it's entirely within the Vatican's jurisdiction: Gabriele is a Vatican citizen, and lives next to the Gendarmerie, and it was in his home were the "confidential documents were discovered." Full-court investigations, which don't exclude "other acts"; for this reason, the length of the investigation could even lengthen. Again in the afternoon, Fr. Lombardi intervened to explain that "the judiciary has now charged Paolo Gabriele simply with the crime of aggravated theft: we are at a very early stage of criminal proceedings, therefore the high estimates regarding an eventual prison sentence printed by some newspapers have absolutely no justification". A clarification with respect to some reports, according to which Gabriele would have been charged with crimes such as a violation of the correspondence of a head of state, and thus an attack on state security, with a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

But these accusations have not been formalized by the state. After the search warrant that allowed them to find at the home of one of the people closest to Benedict XVI documents to which only a small group of employees could have access, the severity of the offense and the need to protect the Pope and the image of the Holy See are not hindering the use of any means of investigation, including cell phone records and bank records. There are hopes, moreover, to obtain further material for investigation from the persons being questioned.

For investigators, moreover, the chapter on possible motives is still open. The primary motive seems to be that of money, but many exclude it because the devout Gabriele "is not the type", some underline: "he would never pry", assure those who know him, "into the Pope's fax documents for money." "Ideological" reasons, then: for instance, observes one who hypothesizes this as the motive, the "Crow" named "Mary" in the book by Gianluigi Nuzzi is described as a Christian who loves the Church, and is disgusted by the feuds and wars of power. In this case, a faithful person could have naively fallen victim of their good intentions and the hypothesis of a "higher level" in the leaking of documents would be strengthened.

Regardless of possible levels, the investigators have not overlooked the possibility that there may be accomplices. An additional arrest in the next few hours is a possibility. "The work is only just beginning," they assure. "We live in a precarious situation, characterized by insecurity and the fragmentary nature of choices."There is a lack of valid points of references to look to as inspiration for one's life. "And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it was founded upon a rock," the Pope points out. Therefore, "it becomes increasingly important to build the edifice of life and the complex of social relations on the stable rock of the Word of God, guided by the Magisterium of the Church."