Vatileaks: Pope Benedict XVI’s butler ‘implicates two cardinals’ over Vatican leaks

Mr Gabriele, who is married with three children, was interrogated all day on
Tuesday by Vatican investigators, in the presence of his two lawyers.

His alleged role in the murky affair is also being probed by a
specially-appointed commission of cardinals, all of whom are in their
eighties.

The butler had a reputation for being sociable and “loquacious” and
had regular meetings with cardinals, monsignors and journalists, the Italian
press reported on Wednesday.

But no clear motive has emerged for why he would betray the trust of the Pope
and risk his job, his family home and his future as a member of the Pope’s
inner circle.

Mr Gabriele, who has been allowed to attend Mass in a Vatican chapel, will be
interrogated again by Vatican prosecutors, as they try to determine whether
there is enough evidence under the city state’s penal code to send him to
trial.

Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, has insisted that for the moment the
butler is the only person being investigated in the scandal, which has
provided a rare glimpse into high-level feuds and jockeying for power within
the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Rome.

The butler, whose job was to attend the Pope first thing in the morning and
last thing at night, and to accompany him in his white “Popemobile”,
risks six years in prison if he is found guilty of “aggravated theft”.

He is being held in one of four “secure rooms” inside the
headquarters of the Vatican Gendarmerie, the city state’s tiny police force.

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