Thursday, October 04, 2012

RELIGION - Vatican Soap Opera Update

"Witnesses Testify Against Pope's Butler Who Stole, Leaked Papal Documents" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 10/3/2012

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): The inner workings of the Vatican were in the spotlight today, as the pope's former butler took the stand in a trial focused on stolen church documents.

Jeffrey Brown reports.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): As Pope Benedict XVI arrived in St. Peter's Square for his weekly address, final witnesses testified in the trial of his former butler.

Members of the Holy See's police force told a Vatican court they found thousands of the pope's papers hidden in the apartment of Paolo Gabriele. On many of the documents, the pope had written in his native German "To be destroyed."

Gabriele worked for the Vatican for two decades and served as the pope's butler beginning in 2006. He's accused of stealing confidential papers and leaking them to Italian journalists, including Gianluigi Nuzzi, who published them in his book "His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI" in May.

Gabriele has confessed to taking the papers, saying he wanted to expose what he called evil and corruption in the church. Still, under Vatican law, the trial must proceed. A formal verdict is expected on Saturday.


"Vatican Tries to Distance Itself from Scandal, 'Sensitive' Leaked Documents" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 10/3/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Did the Pope's former butler act alone? And how has the Vatican reacted to the revelation that someone so close to the Pope stole documents? Jeffrey Brown talks to Reuters' Vatican reporter Naomi O'Leary about motivations and fallout surrounding the case.

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