Vatican secretary of state says Pope Benedict XVI victim of ‘ferocious’ attacks

Many Vatican analysts believe the leaking of the papers is a deliberate
attempt to topple Cardinal Bertone, against a background of jockeying for
power in anticipation of the Pope’s death and the election of a new pope.

So far only one person has been arrested in connection with the scandal –
Paolo Gabriele, Benedict’s butler, who has been held for nearly two weeks in
a “secure room” in the headquarters of the Vatican Gendarmerie,
the Holy See’s 130-strong police force.

Accused of “aggravated theft”, he is due to be formally questioned
by Vatican investigators on Tuesday.

At least five other people are suspected of being part of the plot and of
having held secret meetings with the butler, according to the Italian press.

Vatican gendarmes who found a pile of stolen documents when they searched the
butler’s apartment also discovered the names of Italian journalists to whom
he was passing the papers, La Stampa reported on Tuesday.

A large tranche of leaked documents form the basis of a book recently
published by an Italian investigative journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi.

The most recent – including two signed by the Pope’s private secretary,
Monsignor Georg Ganswein – were sent to La Repubblica on Sunday.

They were accompanied by a covering letter which claimed that the butler was
simply a pawn in the whole affair and that Cardinal Bertone and Monsignor
Ganswein were the real powers behind the whispering campaign.

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