Pope Butler's 'Helper' Claudio Sciarpelletti on Trial

BBC News
November 5, 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20200038

Claudio Sciarpelletti is accused of helping butler Paolo Gabriele (right) steal the papers

A computer technician has gone on trial in the Vatican City charged with aiding and abetting the Pope's former butler in stealing papal documents.

Claudio Sciarpelletti is accused of helping Paolo Gabriele leak the confidential documents while working in the Vatican's Secretariat of State.

Mr Sciarpelletti's lawyer argues that his client has no case to answer and the trial should be dropped.

Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence by the same court last month.

He admitted passing documents to a journalist, but said he did it out of love for the church and the Pope.

The former butler is serving his sentence in a special detention room inside the Vatican's police station, amid talk that he may be pardoned by Pope Benedict XVI.

Wider conspiracy?

Mr Sciarpelletti, 48, handled secret communications in Secretariat of State, the nerve centre of the Roman Catholic church, the BBC's David Willey reports from Rome.

Investigators say he helped Gabriele leak the confidential documents to the Italian media.

Mr Sciarpelletti was arrested briefly in May, but then released after the Vatican said he played only a "marginal" role in the scandal.

In Monday's opening session, his lawyer maintained that there had been no significant link between Mr Sciarpelletti and Gabriele and that the trial should be dropped.

However, the judge ruled that the trial must continue.

Interest in the case centres on who the witnesses called to give evidence may be, our correspondent says. A senior cleric and two top Vatican security officials are expected to be called.

It is thought the trial may shine a light on the extent to which other Vatican employees, including clerics, may have been involved.

Much of the stolen information ended up in a best-selling book by journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi about corruption, scandals and infighting at the Vatican.

Gabriele confessed to taking the papers, but said he believed the Pope was being manipulated, and that he hoped to reveal alleged corruption at the Vatican.

The Vatican authorities are limiting press access to Mr Sciarpelletti's trial and no TV cameras are to be allowed in court, our correspondent says.