VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
A source close to the butler “ He has either gone crazy or has been framed”
Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City
“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock”. Benedict XVI exhausted, grieved, but still smiling yesterday reminded believers of Rinnovamento dello Spirito (Renewal of the Spirit) of Jesus’ words. Even though the Vatican was founded on the rock, its foundations keep shaking after the unexpected turn of events with the arrest of Paolo Gabriele, the pope’s butler, on suspicion of leaking hundred of confidential documents which he would have taken from the pope’s private desk.
In the Sacred palaces, yesterday morning, there was a sense of annoyance for the articles spreading doubts over the accusations and describing the shock of many people in the Vatican at the possibility that someone like ‘little Paolo’ could be a mole. “ the documents that were found in his possession and which he should not have had are incontrovertible evidence of his guilt” said the Secretariat of State.
After the disbelief and shock, faced with the fact that the pope’s butler was illegally in possession of various documents, many in and outside the Vatican pondered about the butler’s motives and the people behind him.
An old priest with a long experience of vatican trials invited people to be cautious “ The arrest took place Wednesday evening, the butler’s home was searched in that occasion and the documents were found. But a serious enquiry, worthy of its name, before labelling him a ‘mole’ would have to find elements proving how those documents exchanged hands”. The cleric added “ we all feel embarassed and sad, Paolo’s family is crushed. Whoever pushed him to do such things is guiltier than him, because he used a naive person…”
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