Five months after his arrest on charges of stealing thousands of pages of secret correspondence and documents from Pope Benedict's private office in the Vatican, his former manservant Paolo Gabriele is about to learn his fate.

If found guilty - and he has already confessed to Vatican investigators - he faces a possible maximum four-year prison sentence, which he would serve in an Italian jail under a treaty signed with Italy during fascist times.

However, Vatican sources say there is a strong possibility that Pope Benedict will use his power to pardon Mr Gabriele in the near future, perhaps even before he begins to serve a sentence. Even if he is convicted by the Vatican City Court, he will not be sent to prison until an appeal takes place, which could take months.

Mr Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three who worked his way up in the Pope's domain from a cleaner's job to the post of butler, valet and sometimes - if we are to believe him - close confidant of the pontiff, spent nearly two months in a police cell and just over another two months under house arrest awaiting trial on charges of aggravated theft.

I know most religions has had troubled pasts but why are secret documents even kept they should be destroyed,after all the vatican can't be fully compared to other countries due to its religious stance..........its like those mad scientists we see in cartoons & comedies that creates a self-destruct button & still puts the sign 'do not turn'