Pope's Former Butler Gets Mild Sentence. the Hunt for His Accomplices Continues

By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
October 6, 2012

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Paolo Gabriele, who stated: "I don't feel like a thief", has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. The Pope will pardon him but now investigations are aiming to reconstruct the poison pen letter writer's network of accomplices

The "poison pen letter writer" has been given a mild sentence – he will only serve a jail term of one year and six months and will be pardoned – but investigations into potential accomplices continue. So Vatileaks is not over today: there are too many grey areas in an affair that has exposed a deep governance crisis in a Curia weakened by conflicts between opposing parties who are fighting to for power. Influential figures in the Curia still oppose the Pope, who is trying to enforce a strict line of purification, to the detriment of a deeply ingrained conspiracy of silence among sections of the Church hierarchy who are mixed up in the Vatican's financial scandals.

Meanwhile, the former butler's confidants, Curia representatives such as papal vicar Angelo Comastri, are ending up in the Vatileaks meat grinder when they actually have nothing to do with the whole affair. "I was dragged into the affair big time, even though I had nothing to do it," Cardinal Comastri complained at the end of the Gendarmerie's celebrations for the feast day of St. Francis on Friday. During the celebrations, Salvatore DeGiorgi, one of the cardinals who prepared the report on the Vatican document leak for the Pope, expressed regret about the sensationalist climate surrounding the search for the truth.

Today, after the sentence against the former butler was pronounced, the Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi stated there is "a concrete and very real possibility" that Paolo Gabriele will receive a papal pardon. Meanwhile, the former butler has been sentenced to one year and six months in prison for the theft of confidential documents and is under home arrest again. "The Pope is considering a pardon - Fr. Lombardi confirmed -. Now that the acts of the concluded trial are available, the Pope has more material with which to make an informed decision. There is a very concrete and realistic possibility that Benedict XVI will grant him a pardon, although when and in what manner this will take place is not yet known." The Vatican spokesman also explained that "the Pope can grant a pardon on his own initiative, even if the defendant does not ask for it or it is not formally requested." The Pope's unfaithful butler was in actual fact sentenced to three years in prison.

The sentence was read out by the President of the Tribunal, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, at 12:20, after the judges spent just over two hours deliberating. Giuseppe Dalla Torre pronounced him guilty in accordance with articles 402, 403 number 1, 404 first comma number 1 of the penal code, for abusing the trust vested in him by stealing material that placed under his care or entrusted to him. Since Gabriele has no previous criminal record, given the nature of his service prior to the offence committed and in light of the declaration in which he acknowledges his betrayal of the Pope, the former butler's sentence was reduced to one year and six months in prison. He is also required to pay the court costs.

The Promoter of Justice (the Vatican prosecuting attorney), Nicola Picardi, ordered the butler's home arrest. Gabriele's defence has three days from today to decide whether to make a plea and possibly longer to present their reasons. Only after this will the Vatican judiciary be able to decide on the manner in which Paolo Gabriele will serve his term of imprisonment, whether in an Italian prison or whether it will be suspended as a result of the mitigating circumstances. During a briefing which took place after the sentence was read out, Fr. Lombardi stressed "the Vatican judiciary's complete and total independence from other Vatican City State authorities and the great respect shown by Secretariat of State leaders who did not in any way attempt to condition the trial process.

He added that the sentence can be considered "mild, a gesture of humanity and attention to the individual, applying Paul VI's law which provides for a penalty reduction." Paolo Gabriele remained impassive and expressionless as the sentence was read out. The only visible reaction was a slight batting of the eyelids when the president of the Vatican Tribunal pronounced the word "guilty". The reading of the sentence was broadcast live in Vatican Press Office.

"All I want to do is embrace my husband again." These were the few words pronounced by Manuela Citti, the butler's wife, just minutes before the sentence was read out. She did not deny the tension in the courtroom at that moment. The public prosecution had asked for Gabriele to be sentenced to three years in prison.