VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times
A Vatican magistrate today ordered Pope Benedict’s former butler to stand trial on charges of aggravated theft for leaking documents alleging corruption in the Vatican.
In a 35-page document on the case that has rocked the Holy See since Paolo Gabriele was arrested last May, the Vatican also charged a computer expert who worked in the Vatican bureaucracy with involvement in the case, the first mention of a second man.
The layman, named as Claudio Sciarpelletti, was also ordered to stand trial, although on lesser charges of aiding and abetting a crime. …
According to the document, Mr Gabriele told investigators he had acted because he saw “evil and corruption everywhere in the church” and wanted to help root it out “because the pope was not sufficiently informed”.
In a section that referred to Mr Gabriele’s state of mind, he told investigators that after he had started copying documents and leaking them, “I reached the point of no return and could not control myself anymore”.
He continued: “I was sure that a shock, perhaps by using the media, could be a healthy thing to bring the church back on the right track”.
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