Trial Starts of Paulo Gabriele, Vatican's Former Butler

By Nick Squires
The Telegraph
September 29, 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9575940/Trial-of-Popes-butler-hears-of-massive-document-haul.html

Vatican gendarmes investigating the theft of compromising documents by the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, took away 82 boxes of material during searches of his apartment and other addresses, the first day of his trial heard on Saturday.

In one of the biggest scandals to shake the seven-year papacy of Benedict XVI, Mr Gabriele is accused of the "aggravated theft" of confidential papers, some taken from the desk of the Pope himself.

In an indication of the scale of the alleged thefts, the court heard that some 82 cases of documents were taken away during searches conducted at Mr Gabriele's grace-and-favour apartment and also at the Pope's summer residence, the Castel Gandolfo.

Mr Gabriele, wearing a light grey suit and looking pale but smiling often, did not speak at the first session. He did not enter a plea.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday, when he will be questioned. The trial heard that a total of 13 people had been listed to appear as witnesses, including the Pope's private secretary, Georg Ganswein, the deputy head of the Vatican's Swiss Guards, and the head of the Vatican Gendarmerie.

However, it was also revealed that the trial would not admit evidence from a special commission of cardinals that has been investigating the affair on behalf of the Pope himself. Their inquiries are thought to deal with some of the most sensitive matters raised by the case. Instead, the trial will be based only on an investigation by a Vatican prosecutor and Vatican police.

The trial is expected to be wrapped up in four further hearings in the coming week. Saturday's hearing was also told that Claudio Sciarpelletti, a Vatican computer technician who is accused of aiding and abetting the butler, will be tried separately. He faces up to a year in jail, while Mr Gabriele faces up to four years. If found guilty the men will serve their time in an Italian jail, as the Vatican does not have a prison of its own.

The documents, which were leaked to an Italian journalist and revealed in a book he published in May, revealed skulduggery and intrigue at the highest levels of the Catholic Church, including a smear campaign against a Catholic newspaper editor based on false allegations of a homosexual affair.

The trial may reveal the identities of other mystery figures in the scandal, who are referred to in a Vatican prosecutors' document only by letters, such as B, W, X and Y.

In a television interview earlier this year Mr Gabriele claimed that he had been helped "by around 20" other collaborators within the Holy See.

Mr Gabriele has told investigators that he stole and leaked the documents because he was appalled by the "evil and corruption" within the Vatican, which he described as "the kingdom of hypocrisy".

He said he was acting as an "agent" of the Holy Spirit to help the Pope put the Catholic Church "back on track".

The trial is being held in a wood-panelled court room in a palazzo behind St Peter's Basilica in a corner of the city state that is strictly off-limits to the millions of visitors who visit the Vatican every year.

Television cameras are banned and only 10 journalists are in attendance.

The Vatican has said the 85-year-old German Pope is deeply hurt by the betrayal of confidence by someone he "knew, loved and respected".

Mr Gabriele has confessed and has written a letter begging the Pope for forgiveness.

Many commentators have said they expect the Pope to pardon Mr Gabriele.

Vatican gendarmes arrested Mr Gabriele in May and raided his home behind the Vatican walls, finding copies of confidential documents and gifts intended for the Pope, including a gold nugget, a €100,000 cheque and a 16th century copy of the Aeneid.

The trial is the most high-profile in the Vatican since the city state was established as an independent sovereign nation – the world's smallest - by the Lateran Treaty in 1929.

One of the peculiarities of the case is that the Pope is at the same time the victim, the supreme judicial authority and the head of state – he has full judicial and legislative authority in the Vatican, which is essentially an absolute monarchy.

"This is an unprecedented, absolutely unique trial," Prof Carlo Cardia, a historian of the Catholic Church, told La Repubblica newspaper.

"A papal aide has never been accused of such serious things, at least not in the last few centuries." The only comparable case was in 1971, when four employees of the Vatican's telephone exchange were accused of stealing pontifical medals from the papal apartments.

The Vatican court normally deals with around 30 minor trials a year, the vast majority concerning petty crime such as bag-snatching and pick-pocketing among tourists in St Peter's Square.

The theft of the documents is the most serious crime to rattle the Holy See since 1998, when the commander of the Swiss Guards and his wife were shot dead.

But that never came to trial because the alleged murderer, a young Swiss Guard, shot himself dead within minutes of carrying out the double killing.

Prof Giovanni Giacobbe, a Vatican legal expert, said it was impossible to predict how long the trial might last. "In the past, some trials have concluded on the same day, while others have lasted two or three months.

"If he confesses and collaborates, the judges will take that into account in their sentence," he said.

Until his arrest in May this year, the butler was one of Benedict's most trusted aides, nicknamed "Paoletto" by those in the Pope's inner circle of retainers and private secretaries.

Many of the stolen papal documents appeared to undermine and discredit Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state and de facto prime minister.

He has accused the media of sensationalising the scandal and of "imitating Dan Brown" in seeing power struggles and high-level conspiracies where, he said, there were none.