Vatican: Pope's Ex-Butler 'Asks for Bail' in Leaks Scandal

Adnkronos
June 11, 2012

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Religion/Vatican-Popes-ex-butler-asks-for-bail-in-leaks-scandal_313395103238.html


Vatican City, 11 June (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI's former butler, who was detained last month over the leaks of sensitive papal documents, has asked for bail, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Monday.

"Paolo Gabriele's application for bail has been presented by his lawyers and will be considered. For now, he is still detained," Lombardi told journalists.

He denied that Gabriele, who was arrested in late May after private papal docuements were found in his Vatican apartment, was a scapegoat.

"The idea that Paolo Gabriele is a scapegoat doesn't correspond to reality. On the contrary, the investigation that is being carried out aims to establish if one or more people are responsible," Lombardi stated.

Gabriele has promised to cooperate with investigators in the damaging 'Vatileaks' scandal - one of the gravest security breaches in recent Vatican history - and was on 5 June formally questioned for the first time by a Vatican judge.

He is currently accused of aggravated theft, and if convicted could face from one to six years in prison. He has been held in a four-by-four-metre secure room belonging to the Vatican gendarmerie (its tiny police force) since his arrest but has reportedly been allowed out to attend mass at a Vatican chapel.

Italian media have cited unnamed sources as saying Gabriele was just one of a network of moles allegedly orchestrated by one or more cardinal that leaked confidential Vatican documents laying bare corruption, intrigue and venomous power struggles in the Vatican.