VATILEAKS

Pope’s Butler to Stand Trial

For stealing documents from the Holy See.

Will Pope Benedict XVI stand up for his former butler? A Vatican judge has ordered a trial for Paolo Gabriele, the papal butler arrested in May and charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing documents from the Holy See’s private apartment. Gabriele, 45, is being tried for his role in the Vatileaks scandal—as the Italian press has dubbed it—in which an Italian journalist obtained letters from a former Vatican administrator and published them. Gabriele has also been accused of pilfering a check made out to Benedict for €100,000. Gabriele’s lawyer told the Associated Press that the check landed amongst a pile of his paperwork “by chance.” Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert who worked in the Vatican, will also stand trial for allegedly abetting Gabriele.