Pope butler face trial in theft case

VATICAN CITY - Reuters

Pope’s butler Paolo Gabriele. AP photo

A Vatican magistrate yesterday ordered Pope Benedict’s former butler to stand trial on charges of aggravated theft for leaking documents that alleged corruption in the Vatican.

In a document on the case about Paolo Gabriele, who was arrested last May, the Vatican also charged a computer expert who worked in the Vatican bureaucracy with involvement in the case, named as Claudio Sciarpelletti. He was also ordered to stand trial.

 The Vatican said the trial would not be held before the end of September. If found guilty Gabriele, who worked in the pope’s private apartments serving him meals and helping him dress, could face six years in jail. According to the document, 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.”