The Pope's butler has been
charged in connection with
the Vatican's inquiry into a
series of media leaks.
Vatican magistrates have
named 46-year-old Paolo
Gabriele as the suspect in
their investigation, saying he
illegally took confidential
documents.
A series of leaks, dubbed
Vatileaks, has revealed
alleged corruption,
mismanagement and internal
conflicts.
Last month, Pope Benedict
XVI set up a special
commission of cardinals to
find the source of the
confidential memos.
Mr Gabriele is the pope's
personal butler and assistant
and one of very few laymen
to have access to the Pope's
private apartments.
Documents found
He lives with his wife and
three children in an
apartment within the Vatican
walls, where Italian media
report that a stash of
confidential documents had
been discovered.
"I confirm that the person
detained on Wednesday for
illegal possession of private
documents is Mr Paolo
Gabriele, who remains in
detention," the spokesman
for the Holy See, Father
Federico Lombardi said,
according to Italy's state
broadcaster, Rai.
The Vatican's judge, Piero
Antonio Bonnet, has been
instructed to examine the
evidence of the case and to
decide whether there is
sufficient material to
proceed to trial.
Mr Gabriele has nominated
two lawyers capable of
representing him at a Vatican
tribunal, and has met with
them.
He would, the Vatican has
said, have "all the juridical
guarantees foreseen by the
criminal code of the State of
Vatican City".
As the Vatican has no jail, Mr
Gabriele is being held in one
of the three so-called "secure
rooms" in the offices of the
Vatican's tiny police force
inside the walled city-state,
Reuters reports.
If convicted, he could face a
sentence of up to 30 years for
illegal possession of
documents of a head of state,
probably to be served in an
Italian prison due to an
agreement between Italy and
the Vatican, Italian media
report.
The Vatileaks scandal has
filled Italian media -
dominating the columns of
Italian newspapers and
filling TV programmes and
magazines.
'Poison pen' memos
The detention comes during
one of the most tumultuous
weeks in recent history for
the Vatican.
Last week a book, entitled His
Holiness, was published by an
Italian journalist with
reproductions of confidential
letters and memos between
the pope and his personal
secretary.
The Vatican called the book
"criminal" and vowed to take
legal action against the
author, publisher, and
whoever leaked the
documents.
Last Thursday, the president
of the Vatican bank - Ettore
Gotti Tedeschi - was ousted by
the bank's board.
Sources close to the
investigation said he too had
been found to have leaked
documents, though the
official reason for his
departure was that he had
failed to do his job.
Mr Tedeschi himself said the
move had been a punishment
for his attempt to make the
bank more open.
The BBC's David Willey, in
Rome, says the leak of a
string of highly sensitive
internal documents from
inside the Vatican's
Secretariat of State,
including personal letters to
Pope Benedict XVI, has been
an evident embarrassment to
the Pope, prompting the rare
investigation.
The leaked documents include
a letter to Pope Benedict by
the Vatican's current
ambassador to Washington
alleging cronyism, nepotism
and corruption among the
administrators of Vatican
City.
Others concern "poison pen"
memos criticising Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, the pope's
number two, and the
reporting of suspicious
payments by the Vatican
Bank.
m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18219390?post_id=763419255_221563757961567#_=_

Confdential files about what, you may ask.
The answer is obviously the stench of corruption and paedophilia in the holy sea.

Shame shame shame.
Religion!! na wa o