Former valet of Benedict XVI sentenced to 1.5 years in prison

The judges took into consideration the absence of a criminal record, the quality of his service in the period preceding the acts for which he was charged, “the subjective, albeit erroneous, conviction expressed by the accused as the motive for his conduct”, but also his statement concerning his awareness of having betrayed the pope’s trust.  These attenuating circumstances have as their basis a law introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1969.  According to the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, when questioned that same day, October 6, by the international press, “the possibility of a pardon by the pope is very real and probable.”  However, for the moment, Paolo Gabriele remains under house arrest.

Confiding to the journalists his personal impressions, Fr. Lombardi said that he was pleased with the “complete independence” that the Vatican courts had enjoyed in relation to the other Vatican authorities, including the most powerful among them, the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.  The latter, the director of the Holy See’s Press Office asserted, showed “a very great respect” for the judges, who were subjected to “no pressure or influence”.

During the trial, it was learned in particular that the valet had in his possession more than a thousand documents.  The testimonies of Stefano de Santis, Silvano Carli, Luca Bassetti and Luca Cintia, four members of the Vatican police force, described in these terms some documents that were deemed “interesting”, either originals or copies, about the pope’s private life, the papal household and the Roman Curia.  According to the investigator Silvano Carli, some of them even bore the signature of Benedict XVI and others—a note in German “to be destroyed”.  As a whole, the material seized as evidence was a much larger number of documents, among which the confidential originals and photocopies had been hidden.  The witnesses therefore spoke about “tens of thousands” of documents accumulated in the apartment of Paolo Gabriele, especially in a large closet in his office, concerning the most diverse subjects, from Free-Masonry to esotericism, via connections between yoga and Christianity.

The men from the Vatican Police assured the court that they had carried off for examination 82 boxes of documents, some of which concerned their own police force.  “At the beginning, Paolo Gabriele started by gathering information about the Vatican Police,” a “well-informed source” explained to the press service I.Media.  The valet himself is said to have confided that the police force was taking on “too much importance”.

Furthermore Paolo Gabriele confirmed “in the most absolute manner” that he had had no accomplices.  He admitted that he had been influenced “by surrounding circumstances, particularly in a State where there were unsolved mysteries”.  He also admitted that he had had many contacts and had received confidences from Cardinals Angelo Comastri and Paolo Sardi, from the pope’s co-worker Ingrid Stampa, but also from Monsignor Francesco Cavina, who today is Bishop of Carpi (Italy).

When interrogated by the judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre, the valet denied moreover having received money in exchanged for the stolen documents, because that was the “essential condition” for his relationship with the person to whom he delivered the documents, the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.