VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Today was the third hearing of the Paolo Gabriele case. During today’s testimonies, descriptions were given of the seized letters and books which the Pope’s former butler had kept in paper and digital format
Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City
The poison pen letter writer’s strange 007-style archive. Letters from politicians, correspondence between cardinals and the Pope and documents on freemasonry and secret services. When Paolo Gabriele’s house was searched on 23 May, for the leaked Vatican documents, the hunt extended to the children’s rooms as well. As the search dragged on and Gabriele had decided not to send his family away, the commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie, Domenico Giani, issued an order for the search in the children’s rooms to be speeded up so as to protect them as afar as possible and allow them to sleep.
On the third day of the butler’s trial, the four Vatican policemen who were heard in court, provided information on the scene where they discovered the poison pen letter writer’s dossier. Two of the m in particular – Silvano Carli and Luca Bassetti – arrived on the scene when the house search was already underway, especially to look through the children’s rooms. The policemen said that Gabriele offered them coffee during the search and then said to them: “It’s a pity you’ll be finish here late tonight, as you can see I like reading and writing.”
Eighty two crates of seized material were taken from the former butler’s house, plus two leather briefcases and two yellow folders full of letters. “Paolo Gabriele thanked us again and again for the humane attitude shown throughout the investigation.”
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