Vatican Butler To Stand Trial In Leak Case

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The Washington Post reports that a Vatican City judge has forced Pope Benedict XVI’s butler to stand trial for purportedly leaking documents from the pope’s apartment. The butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested in May and could face up to six years in prison if convicted. The indictment also cites Claudio Sciarpelletti, a 48-year-old lay employee and computer expert who allegedly aided Gabriele in obtaining the documents. 

The papers, which were first published in January, exposed both concerns about corruption as well as infighting among the Church’s highest ranks. The indictment claims Gabriele was motivated by a “desire to act on behalf of his personal ideal of justice,” with Gabriele claiming that, “seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the Church … I was sure that a shock, even a media one, would have been healthy to bring the Church back on the right track.”

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