THE LEAKS scandal sweeping the Vatican stepped up a gear today, as an Italian newspaper published documents showing that Pope Benedict’s butler was not the only person in possession of confidential correspondence indicating a church in disarray.
In its Sunday edition, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica printed documents it said it had received anonymously after the arrest of the Pope's butler on May 23.
A note sent to the newspaper said there were “hundreds more” such documents and that the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was just a scapegoat.
The furore over the leaked correspondence, which shows power-hungry cardinals and scheming within the walls of the city state, has gripped the Vatican just as it was recovering from a long-running scandal over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Ireland, America and other countries.
One letter, dated January 16, was sent by Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who heads a Vatican department, to the pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
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Burke complains that a decision regarding a liturgical matter was taken without consulting his office, which is responsible for such issues.
The person who sent Repubblica the documents also provided two letters signed by the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein. The newspaper said those letters had everything but the letterhead and the signature whited out.
The note’s sender claimed the contents had been redacted “so as not to offend the Holy Father,” but threatened to reveal the contents.
The Pope’s butler Gabriele is being held in a “safe room” in the Vatican's police station, and is expected to be questioned this week by a Vatican prosecutor who will decide if there are grounds for him to stand trial.
Gabriele, 45, is currently being held on charges of aggravated theft - but if he is charged with divulging state secrets he could receive a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
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The person who sent the documents to the paper said Bertone and Ganswein were “those really responsible for this scandal”.
Unsurprisingly the Pope made no reference to the affair during his visit to Milan this weekend.
Dubbed ‘Vatilieaks,’ the scandal began in January 2011 when an Italian television show first aired leaked documents alleging cronyism and corruption in the Vatican.
The 85-year-old pontiff ended his trip to Italy's industrial and financial capital Milan with a closing mass in which he praised traditional Catholic family values and re-stated his opposition to gay marriage.