Papal butler convicted for role in theft of papers
Paolo Gabriele, who has died aged 54, was the Vatican butler whose theft and leaking of private papers belonging to Pope Benedict XVI touched off what became known as the “Vatileaks” scandal, with stories of internal squabbles, turf wars and allegations of corruption.
In January 2012, an Italian television show hosted by Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast private letters to the pope from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. and former deputy governor of Vatican City, in which he demanded a cleanup in the church and complained of “corruption and mismanagement” in the Vatican’s financial affairs.
Nuzzi subsequently published His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, which included other documents, and sparked an investigation into leaks.
Nuzzi described how an unnamed whistleblower had given him a USB drive with the documents on it.
Gabriele was taken into custody after investigators found “tens of thousands” of documents in his Vatican apartment, including those published in Nuzzi’s book.
Gabriele admitted he had leaked the documents, but insisted he had acted “out of love for the church of Christ and of its leader on Earth,” whom he felt was being manipulated.
“Seeing evil and corruption everywhere in the church,” he said, “I was sure that a shock, even in the media, might bring the church back on the right track.”
He was found guilty in October 2012 and sentenced to 18 months in jail. In December, Pope Benedict granted him a pardon but banished him from the Vatican.
Paolo Gabriele was born in Rome on Aug. 16, 1966. He began work as a cleaner in the Vatican then as a member of the domestic staff of John Paul II before being promoted in 2006 to the post of Benedict XVI’S butler.
As well as serving his meals and helping him don his garments, he accompanied Benedict abroad.
In an interview with Nuzzi, he explained he had put aside documents after John Paul II’S death: “Initially I did it sporadically. When I saw that the truth coming out in the newspapers and official speeches did not match the truth in the documents. I put everything aside in a folder to try and investigate and understand.”
One of his colleagues described Gabriele as “very pious. He went to the mass celebrated by the Holy Father every day and prayed a lot.”
Gabriele was married and had three children.