VATICAN CITY
Belfast Telegraph
Vatican police found thousands of documents hidden inside the home of the pope’s butler, including originals signed by the pontiff with indications they should be destroyed.
Officers gave evidence in the trial of Paolo Gabriele, the pope’s once-trusted butler who faces four years in prison if convicted of aggravated theft for stealing papal documents and leaking them to a journalist.
The final four witnesses were heard and closing arguments are set for Saturday, when a verdict by the three-judge Vatican panel is expected.
Inspector Silvano Carli said that of the hundreds of thousands of documents seized from Gabriele’s home, about 1,000 were of interest since they were original or photocopied Vatican documents.
Some documents came from the pope’s office, some carried the processing codes of the secretariat of state, others originated in various Vatican congregations “and some documents concerned the total privacy and private life of the Holy Father,” said police officer Stefano De Santis.
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