Butler’s trial makes church history
VATICAN CITY
THE Pope’s former butler faces four years in prison on charges of theft when his trial begins in the Vatican tomorrow.
Experts say the case is without precedent in the modern history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Paolo Gabriele is accused of the ‘‘aggravated theft’’ of papal documents, some allegedly from the desk of 85-year-old Benedict XVI, which shed light on Machiavellian infighting and jealous intrigue in the highest echelons of the church.
He is also accused of stealing gifts intended for the Pope, including a gold nugget, a 16th-century copy of the Aeneid and a cheque made out to Benedict for 100,000.
The trial will be the most important in the Vatican since the city state was established as the world’s smallest sovereign nation in 1929.
One peculiarity of the case is that the Pope is at the same time the victim, the supreme judicial authority and the head of state. He has full judicial and legislative authority in the Vatican, which is essentially an absolute monarchy.
The 46-year-old valet will be tried in the Vatican tribunal, a Renaissance palazzo with shuttered windows and an ornate stone doorway in Piazza San Marta, in the heart of the city state.
The hearing will take place in a wood-panelled courtroom which fea- tures a ceiling embossed with a papal coat of arms, leatherupholstered chairs for three lay judges, and a crucifix on the wall. A metal detector at the entrance is one of the few concessions to modernity.
The judges, wearing black robes with golden braiding, will open the trial ‘‘in the name of His Holiness, Benedict XVI’’. There will be no jury.
‘‘This is an unprecedented, absolutely unique trial,’’ Professor Carlo Cardia, a historian of the Catholic Church, said.
The only comparable case was in 1971, when four employees were accused of stealing medals.
The Vatican court normally deals with about 30 minor trials a year, the majority for petty crime.
The theft of the documents is the most serious crime to affect the Holy See since 1998, when the commander of the Swiss Guards and his wife were shot dead.
That never came to trial because the alleged murderer, a young Swiss Guard, shot himself dead.