Pope's ex-butler gets 18 months in prison for leaking confidential papers

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Rome (CNN) -- The pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted Saturday of aggravated theft for leaking confidential papal documents and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He was also ordered to pay the costs of the trial at the Vatican City courthouse.
The case is the biggest to go before the Vatican court in decades. It has been the subject of intense interest because a book based on the leaked papers revealed claims of corruption within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.
Presiding judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre said he was reducing the three-year term requested by the prosecution to 18 months because of mitigating circumstances.

What?!
Pope's ex-butler had trove of documents 'of interest,' court hears

Wow. The guy who tried to expose the corruption goes to jail? And the pope is "furious"?

Hmmm.

Among them were original papers signed by Pope Benedict XVI, some of them stamped with an order for destruction, according to the journalists allowed to attend the trial.
Also found in his possession were a gold nugget belonging to the pope, a signed check made out to Pope Benedict XVI for 100,000 euros and an original version of Virgil's Aeneid from 1581.
In his testimony Tuesday, the former butler declared himself not guilty of a charge of aggravated theft in connection with the leaked documents -- but said he had abused the pope's trust.
He told how he had photocopied many confidential papal papers, saying he did so because he wanted to expose wrongdoing and corruption.

Another Bradley Manning, I guess.
Sheesh, this world, as it becomes more transparent, is increasingly riddled with pestilence and evil, like termites in a house.

(CNN) -- The Vatican expressed rare public anger Wednesday in blasting the leaking of private papers from the pope's apartment, a scandal that observers say lifts the lid on a secret power struggle going on behind the closed doors of the Catholic Church.

A top Roman Catholic Church official called the theft of the documents "an immoral act of unprecedented gravity" and "despicable abuse of the relationship of trust that exists between Benedict XVI and those who turn to him."
Archbishop Angelo Becciu made the remarks to the Vatican's official newspaper six days after the pope's butler was arrested for leaking the papers.
Paolo Gabriele, 46, was arrested Wednesday on accusations of illegal possession of confidential documents, the Vatican said in a statement issued three days after the arrest.
With the leaks, the pope's very ministry "has come under attack," Becciu said.

The pope himself referred briefly to the scandal at the end of his regular Wednesday audience, his first public remarks on the matter.

He criticized reports about the affair as "entirely gratuitous" and presenting "a completely unrealistic image of the Holy See."

But experts say that exactly the opposite may be the truth, and that the arrest, alongside the firing of the head of the Vatican Bank a day later, may reveal the battle going on behind the scenes at the Vatican.

The two events are bad PR for the top hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, but they may be more than that, experts say. They could affect who becomes the next pope.

The effect of each one is the same: to weaken the authority of Pope Benedict XVI's second in command.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, is involved in a power struggle with his predecessor, experts say.

That was back in May, here: Vatican shows rare public anger over leak

The truth will out.
Especially when there are brave men and women who see to it.
Kudos to the butler, from me.

Repeat

The case is the biggest to go before the Vatican court in decades

Not all the child abuse, no no....those are small potatoes in comparison!! (Evidently). Really?


sigh

This just in:

Love your signature.
How is it that an exposer of evil is now a criminal?

reply to post by Gridrebel


Erm, I guess because the secret-keepers are pissed?

It just astounds me how little we knew before the internet; how easy it must have been for TPTB to keep things hush-hush. I love that now we are privy to what is really going on, and I praise the exposers.....

What really bugs me is how much "support" TPTB receive from others; including judges.

It did say that the judge reduced the 3-year sentence to only 18 months.

I hope this keeps up.........the RCC needs to be brought low, along with Wall Street corruption and the military/industrial machine. It's horrible. It was one thing to keep us all in the dark and still doing okay.......but, now, we're NOT OKAY, and the more exposure of WHY NOT, the better.

IMO.
Thanks for responding.

reply to post by wildtimes


It is a sorry state of affairs when an act of revealing the truth & corruption is punished, yet no action whatsoever is taken against the exposed corrupt ones.

How is such a blatant injustice allowed?

reply to post by doobydoll

How is such a blatant injustice allowed?

How, indeed? I don't know, except that before, the whistle-blowers got concrete shoes and a nice midnight swim. Now, not so much.

It's rampant, and it's horrible. How long do the (few, if any) scrupulous people in high places support their corrupt cohorts?
I don't know. But, it will be good poetic justice, if it ever happens, in this life or the next.

reply to post by wildtimes


Yes, the internet is changing our reality, very quickly. We now have news at the touch of a button. MSM is weakening and the pepole are growing stronger. I love it!

His book is a must read then! And I hope its smuggled out and translated. The only criminals are the ones keeping the secrets, they are dripping with the blood of innocents.

This is the last pope

The next dude will be an administrator

Most popes are murdered by subordinates who feel left out

The church was created to imprison your mind, the earth would still be flat if left to them

reply to post by ArMaP


It is, but what the Pope was doing is also a crime. As well as all the crimes the Vatican covers up. When is enough, enough? The butler did not deny he took the docs. His motives, as stated, were honorable.....
you'd prefer that the Pope's secrets be protected at the expense of others? If so, why?

Transparency should be offered by all authority institutions; especially when matters of faith and morality are what they peddle. But, if you disagree, that's your right!

I think it's all right to expose criminals, even if it's technically a crime to take their evidence without permission.
The butler did what he felt was right. If he has to be in jail for a few months, I expect he is willing to do so. Or he would not have written the book. Perhaps he is more concerned for his soul than his physical incarceration for colluding to cover up misdeeds by the Pope.

Originally posted by ArMaP

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

Originally posted by wildtimes
Wow. The guy who tried to expose the corruption goes to jail?

Stealing is a crime, and he didn't steal the documents in self defence.

Well, that hunk of gold nugget that they found in a shoe box in his apartment didn't help the "theft" charge. I don't know what the legalities of copying papers are, (not stealing) or what kind of confidentiality contract he may have signed. It may have had a criminal prosecution clause, for spilling the holy beans, seeing that the Vatican is a sovereign country in it's own right.

I hope that we are able to see these documents some day, that they haven't been completely seized, estoppled or destroyed altogether. At any rate, after his 18 months, this guy will be considered a saint on talk show circuits! extra DIV