VATILEAKS

Pope’s Butler: I’m Innocent

Of charges that he stole private letters.

Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict’s former personal butler, insisted on Tuesday that he is innocent of the accusations that he stole and leaked private correspondence from the church in the case that is being known as “Vatileaks.” According to prosecutors, Gabriele had confessed to leaking the documents to an Italian journalist in order to expose “the evil and corruption” and attempt to “bring the church back on the right track,” but denies stealing them. But Gabriele insists he is innocent of the charges, and also testified that his eyesight was damaged from being kept in an isolation cell with the lights on for 24 hours a day for two weeks after his arrest.