Vatican Leaks "Accomplice" Trial Wraps up

AFP
November 10, 2012

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Pope Benedict XVI's former butler Paolo Gabriele (right) was sentenced to 18 months in jail for leaking secret memos (AFP/File, Vincenzo Pinto)

A verdict was expected Saturday in the trial of a Vatican computer technician accused of helping Pope Benedict XVI's butler leak confidential papers.

Claudio Sciarpelletti's trial comes just weeks after the disgraced former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for engineering the leak of secret papal documents.

Sciarpelletti, 48, has worked for the past 20 years in the Vatican's Secretariat of State -- effectively the government of the Roman Catholic Church -- and was responsible for maintenance on all the computers of Vatican employees.

The leaks, which were published in a book by an Italian journalist, revealed infighting in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church and allegations of fraud in the running of the Vatican, the world's smallest state.

Investigators said they found a mysterious envelope bearing the official stamp of the Holy See in a drawer in Sciarpelletti's desk. It contained copies of some of the confidential documents which later appeared in the book.

Sciarpelletti said he never opened the envelope but was unclear on who exactly had given it to him. He risks up to six months in prison.

At the trial Saturday the head of the Vatican's police, Domenico Giani, is set to testify as well as Carlo Maria Polvani, a senior prelate at the Secretariat of State.

Gabriele, who said he leaked the documents in order to fight "evil and corruption" in the Vatican, is also expected to take the stand.