Pope's Former Butler Sentenced For Theft of Papal Letters

In the Vatican today, the trial of Pope Benedict XVI's former butler concluded with Paolo Gabriele being sentenced to 18 months in jail for stealing the Pope's private correspondence. Some of the letters were published in a best-selling book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi. According to the London Observer, the court ordered Gabriele to begin the sentence under house arrest, while a Vatican spokesman said that there was a chance that the Pope would pardon Gabriele.  Author and Vatican expert Marco Politi told The Observer:

The scandal has done enormous damage to the Vatican, shedding light on corruption, conflicts between Benedict's secretary of state and senior cardinals and clashes over the need for transparency at the Vatican bank.... The Vatican wanted to close this case rapidly, so the trial was political and the sentence was mild to put an end to the matter.

The prosecution stressed that there is not proof that Gabriele had accomplices, but some critics are skeptical. (See prior related posting.)