ROME
Gazzetta del Sud
Rome, February 13 – The disgraced ex-butler of Pope Benedict XVI said he was “surprised” but not “amazed” by the Pope’s decision to resign, sources say. Paolo Gabriele, convicted of leaking papal secrets, has told friends that the Pope’s decision to step down as of February 28 may have stunned the world, but was not so shocking to him, sources have told ANSA. Gabriele, who was pardoned by the Pope and is now working as a clerk at St Paul’s hospital in Rome, was not speaking to reporters this week beyond saying hello to watching cameras. But friends say that he was aware of renovations at the monastery Mater Ecclesiae, where the Pope will retire next month, but assumed they were for a senior cleric.
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