Vatican reveals new leaks trial, report on butler’s sentencing

In the latest chapter of the “Vatileaks” saga, officials announced today that the Vatican computer technician accused of helping steal confidential papal documents will go on trial in two weeks.

Giuseppe Dalla Torre, head of the Vatican Tribunal, announced Oct. 23 that the first hearing for Claudio Sciarpelletti will take place Nov. 5. Sciarpelletti is accused of aiding and abetting the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, in stealing confidential Vatican papers which were later leaked to the Italian press.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi offered another development in the Vatileaks case at an Oct. 23 press conference, where he announced the publication of the 15-page Vatican Tribunal document that explains how the three-judge panel arrived at Gabriele’s Oct. 6 guilty verdict.

When police officers searched Gabriele’s apartment May 23, following the publication of several confidential letters in Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi’s book “Your Holiness,” they discovered approximately 1,000 incriminating documents and 82 boxes of evidence.

Although a nugget of gold, a check in the Pope’s name and a 16th-century copy of “The Aeneid” were found in Gabriele’s possession, the former butler’s sentence focused solely on his theft of confidential papal documents.

The judges did not consider the other items found in Gabriele’s possession because they had doubts about the way the search was conducted that uncovered them, Fr. Lombardi explained.

The report also showed that a psychiatric examination revealed no mental condition compromising Gabriele’s responsibility for the theft.

The tribunal made the distinction that Gabriele’s actions constituted theft and not embezzlement, since his actions showed no intention to obtain economic benefit. [More]

SOURCE

CNA/EWTN News