Did the Vatican butler do it... alone?

John Freund, CM
August 13, 2012

(Romereports.com) The Vatican has officially indicted the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, with charges of aggravated theft over the Vatileaks case of stolen documents.

Vatican spokesperson, Federico Lombardi, also announced that a second Vatican employee would stand trial in the case. Claudio Sciarpelletti is a layman that works in the secretariat of state and is being charged with aiding and abetting in the theft. The charge based on an envelope Vatican police found on his desk that was from Gabriele.

His desk was originally searched on May 24th just hours after the arrest of Gabriele. Sciarpelletti was then also arrested but only spent one night in prison after it became clear he had not played a large role in the release of the documents.

They are both to stand trial before three Vatican judges that are all laymen. A date has still not been set for the trials, but the Vatican spokesperson did say it would not be until after September 20th when the court returns from recess. 


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