Thursday, July 26, 2012

Vatican: Pope’s former butler released

Paolo Gabriele gets a provisional release after he was put in prison on charges of leaking confidential documents from the Apostolic Palace.

After being held in prison for almost 60 days on charges of illegal possession of confidential documents belonging to the Pope, Paolo Gabriele, Benedict XVI’s former butler has been released from his security cell in the Vatican Gendarmerie building, where he has been confined since 23 May 2012.

He will finally be able to re-embrace his wife and children and spend Sunday, his first day of freedom with them. Contextually, the conclusion of the preliminary investigation led by Prosecutor Piero Antonio Bonnet should have been decisive for Gabriele’s release. 

The examining magistrate will pronounce a sentence for the Pope’s 46 year old former butler who is accused of aggravated theft and is so far the only person being investigated for the Vatican document leak: he will either be committed for trial and his case opened for public debate or he will receive an acquittal.