VATICAN CITY
Gorey Guardian (Ireland)
Saturday October 06 2012
The pope’s butler has been convicted of stealing the pontiff’s private documents and leaking them to a journalist, and has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre read the verdict aloud, one hour after the three-judge panel began deliberating Paolo Gabriele’s fate. He said the sentence was reduced to 18 months from three years because of a series of mitigating circumstances, including that Gabriele had no previous record.
In his final appeal to the court, Gabriele insisted “I don’t feel like a thief” and said he leaked the pope’s private correspondence to a journalist out of a “visceral love” for the church and the pope.
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