Why the butler did it: "for the good of the Church"

The butler did it! Or so the Vatican alleges. Paolo Gabriele, a reserved family man and devout Roman Catholic, who worked in Pope Benedict XVI’s apartments in the Apostolic palace, serving the pontiff meals and helping him dress, was indicted on Monday, along with another employee.

The two are accused of pilfering documents from the Holy Father's private apartment, in an embarrassing scandal that has exposed at least a small part of the corruption and struggle for power at the highest levels of the Vatican. Devotees of Our Lady of Fatima have been saying for decades that this "rot at the top" of the Church is at the heart of the Third Secret of Fatima -- the Great Secret that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, told us was disclosed in full in 2000.

Sr Gabriele has been charged with grand theft. If convicted, he could be sentenced to six years in prison. During the investigation, the Vatican insisted that the butler acted alone. Many Vatican-watchers chose to take that story cum grano salis, as should be the case with every utterance from Father Lombardi and other Vatican spokesthingies.

And sure enough, Monday's indictment also orders the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert in the Secretariat of State, the department run by, errr, Cardinal Bertone. office charged with aiding and abetting the butler. If Sr Sciarpelletti did what he is charged with doing, one must ask, would he have done so on his own, or would someone -- someone higher up -- have put him up to it.

And what about the butler? During the investigation, Sr Gabriele admitted he had been meeting with a journalist for some time, slipping him sensitive papers, including letters to the Pope. Why would he do that? For money? Or for some other reason...

He told the inquiry he never received payment for the documents, but felt he was acting for the good of the Church and as an agent of the Holy Spirit. In his testimony, Sr Gabriele said, "I saw evil and corruption everywhere in the Church." He went on to say that he felt the Pope was not sufficiently informed of such matters, and "I was sure that a shock, perhaps by using the media, could be a healthy thing to bring the Church back on the right track."

But Sr Gabriele talked to others besides the journalist. He confided in a man he called his "Spiritual Father," referred to in the indictment only as "B" -- "B" as in "Bertone"? -- and gave him copies of the incriminating papers. But "B" told investigators he destroyed the documents. Sure. Wouldn't want those to fall into the wrong hands, like the hands of enemies of... hmm... whom?

Sr Gabriele was described by friends and acquaintances as a pious man and good father, a discreet man held in high esteem. Notwithstanding his prior good character, he was was held in a tiny "safe room" ["cell", surely! Ed.] in the Vatican police station for two months during the investigation. He was finally let out in July, but remains under house arrest in his Vatican apartment. There he will stay until the commencement of the trial. Unless, God forbid, some unfortunate accident should befall him. There are precedents...

For a longer and deeper analysis, read "The Pope's Butler on Trial. But the Investigation Is Proceeding 'In Various Directions'" by noted Vaticanista Sandro Magister. Sr Magister points out that one of the leaked documents bears the placet of none other than our old friend (but no friend of Our Lady of Fatima) Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone.