Vatican Leaks: Pope Sees Scandal As a Test Not As a Tragedy, Says Fr. Lombardi

By Alessandro Speciale
Vatican Insider
May 29, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vatileaks-15513/


The director of the Vatican Press Office returns to the Vatileaks case. The Pope's butler is to be formally questioned by Vatican magistrates for the first time this coming weekend

We will have to wait until the end of the week or possibly even next week before Paolo Gabriele's promise to co-operate fully with Vatican magistrates investigating the Vatileaks case becomes a reality. The former papal butler's first formal questioning by the Promoter of Justice, Nicola Picardi, in the presence of lawyers and the investigating magistrate Piero Antonio Bonnet, is yet to take place.

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, had no significant updates to report on following the usual briefing with journalists on the investigation's developments. The Commission of Cardinals that was established by the Pope last March - the Jesuit explained – is continuing its work ahead of the "report" that will be presented to Benedict XVI. It will not, however, allow the fierce media interest shown in the case in recent days, to rush the investigation.

Meanwhile, Gabriele has his first "interview" with his lawyers, Carlo Fusco and Cristiana Arru. Lombardi described the discussion as "broad", "fruitful" and "very positive". The two lawyers stressed their intention to continue their indirect contact with the press, through the Vatican Press Office, "for the protection of professional secrecy."

Lombardi stated that "a number of people were heard" in the investigations being carried out by the Commission of Cardinals – composed of Cardinals Tomko, Herranz and De Giorgi. Others may be called forward for "hearings" rather than questioning. But the Vatican spokesman denied that five cardinals had been heard and said the news about cratefuls of confidential documents being found in Gabriele's home was false. According to the press, the documents were ready to be passed on to a large list of recipients, whose names were written on an envelope. If it is true that other individuals were stopped and questioned in recent days, Lombardi explained that "no other person was currently under arrest."

The Vatican spokesman recalled that the Commission of Cardinals "works in co-ordination with the magistrates and the Vatican Gendarmerie, but with a different mandate." Yesterday Lombardi reminded that the Commission "has a broader mandate: it also has the power to hold interrogations in the dicasteries, even if there are no concrete elements to justify legal measures being taken."

The Pope is treating these events as a "test", not as a "tragedy". Neither does he see it as bickering or clashes between clans, Fr. Lombardi pointed out. This is a "test" that "is having a direct impact on him," he added, and the Pope is particularly hurt by the fact the person involved is someone "who was close to him, someone he knew well, loved and respected."

Fr. Lombardi recalled that Paolo Gabriele was arrested for "aggravated theft" of confidential Vatican documents. The Pope's butler "was acting in such a way as not to arouse suspicion," but "the possession of documents and their consequent publication is an objective fact" that has raised "serious questions", causing great distress among people who "could never have imagined a situation like this."