Pope Benedict’s Butler Arrested
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L’Osservatore Romano Vatican Pool/Getty Images(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Benedict XVI’s butler was arrested on Saturday after being suspected of leaking hundreds of Vatican documents to the press earlier this year.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, Paolo Gabriele, has been under surveillance for several weeks. The Papal Spokesman, Frederico Lombardi, confirmed to the Italian media on Friday that a suspect was found “in illegal possession of confidential documents,” but at the time of the press conference, Gabriele’s name was not mentioned.
In January of this year, hundreds of documents were leaked to the Italian media. The incident has since been dubbed “Vatileaks.” These documents contained several letters to the Pope and other officials at the Vatican, and contained allegations of corruption in the management of Vatican City.
Gabriele, 40, is not a clergy member. He has worked for Pope Benedict since 2006, and is one of seven people who have access to the Pope’s private apartments where the documents were kept.
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