VatiLeaks: Hearing on charges of aggravated theft of sensitive documents alleging corruption in Holy See and intrigue in Catholic Church starts tomorrow

Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler goes on trial tomorrow for leaking secret papers in the Vatican’s biggest court drama in decades, revealing intrigue at the heart of the Catholic Church.

Paolo Gabriele was one of the people closest to the 85-year-old Pope, serving him meals every day and accompanying him on extensive foreign travels before his shock arrest for passing confidential documents to a journalist.

The arrest in May rattled the close-knit community of the Vatican where Gabriele resided with his wife and three children – a world hidden behind the Vatican walls where the butler said he saw rampant “evil and corruption”.

The 46-year-old told investigators that he thought of himself as an “agent” of the Holy Spirit acting to help the Pope by revealing apparent fraud in the daily running of the Vatican and rows over prestigious nominations.

The leaks focused on the divisive figure of the Vatican’s Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and some Italian media reports said the documents could have been part of an attempt by some rival Italian cardinals to unseat him.

None of the reports of a wider conspiracy have been confirmed.

Gabriele has been accused of theft with aggravating circumstances because of the trust that his post carried. He faces up to six years in prison under a late 19th-century criminal code that is still in force in the Vatican.

When Vatican police raided Gabriele’s home in May, they discovered copies of some of the confidential documents as well as electronic copying equipment.

They also uncovered three gifts intended for the Pope: a cheque for €100,000, a gold nugget and a 16th-century edition of the Aeneid.

Gabriele said that the objects had been given to him for safekeeping.

If convicted and sentenced, Gabriele would have to be sent to an Italian jail as the Vatican has no prison of its own, but experts say it is far more likely that the married father of three would receive a pardon from the Pope.

Gabriele has written a personal letter to the Pope to ask forgiveness after Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the ageing Pontiff felt “hurt” by the leaks allegedly carried out by someone he “knew, loved and respected”.

The butler is being tried with Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer technician at the Vatican accused of aiding and abetting. But the investigation is ongoing and there are still many unknowns, including the possibility of whether there will be a second trial.

In his only interview, with the investigative journalist he is accused of leaking the documents to when his identity was still a mystery, Gabriele said there were “around 20 people across the Vatican” who were sympathetic.

Gabriele and Sciarpelletti are the only two defendants, and prosecutors said they were dropping far more serious charges of breaching state secrecy against Gabriele in order to speed up their investigation.

The Pope appointed a committee of cardinals to investigate and they have questioned dozens of people in the Vatican.

Eight media organisations will be allowed to attend the trial in the courtroom next to St Peter’s Basilica. Photographers andcameramen will not be allowed to document the proceedings.

The trial is the most high-profile to be held in the Vatican since the Holy See was established as a sovereign state by the Lateran Pacts of 1929. The last comparable trial could be the one of four Vatican telephone exchange employees in 1971 for stealing medals from the papal chambers.

When Mehmet Ali Agca shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981 he was tried in an Italian court, even though it happened on St Peter’s Square.

Vatican computer expert Claudio Sciarpelletti (right) is going on trial alongside Paolo Gabriele.

Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Paolo Gabriele (left) arriving with the Pontiff during a weekly general audience at St Peter’s Square in October 2006. Photo: AFP