Vatican leaks scandal
Timing and content of disclosures
Since 2011, internal documents of the Vatican had come into the media again and again. In some documents, which should have disclosed to the media the papal chamberlain Paolo Gabriele, it was about allegations of corruption, mismanagement and nepotism in the Vatican. In addition, criticism of the leadership of the Vatican bank Istituto per le Opere di Religione ( IOR ) was practiced. Further evidence of the investigation report of a hidden homosexual lobby within the Curia. A villa outside of Rome, a sauna in the Roman suburb Quarto Miglio and a beauty salon in the historic center are named as places of homosexual encounters. Nor was it came in the area of the Vatican to intimate encounters between men of the church.
2011 and 2012 to Gabriele smuggled secret documents from the Vatican. In addition to four nuns and the two private secretaries George and Alfred Xuereb Gänswein he was one of the few confidants who had access to the private rooms of the Pope. Gabriele will also have made letters of the Pope to his secretary Georg Gänswein and documents the fall of 1983 Vatican citizen kidnapped Emanuela Orlandi public.
Furthermore, Gabriele is accused of the theft of valuables.
Publication
The disclosure of confidential information from the environment of the Pope employed the Holy See since the publication of the book Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi entitled Sua Santita ( His Holiness, 2012). In it he published according subtitles the secret letters from the desk of Pope Benedict XVI. , Including letters, faxes and call templates included. Among other things, an internal memorandum Vatican for a meeting of the Pope with the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was printed.
Investigation
In April 2012, continued the Pope to investigate the theft documents a commission of inquiry, consisting of the three Cardinals Julián Herranz Emeritus ( Director), Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi was. This was supported by the Vatican's Interior Minister Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu.
On 25 May 2012, the valet of the Pope, Paolo Gabriele, arrested. After his interrogations in the Vatican Gabriele was released July 21, 2012 from prison and placed under house arrest. Was announced that this would take place under Italian criminal law, which provides two appellate courts before trial.
Some observers expressed doubt that the valet Paolo Gabriele described rather than simple mind really stuck alone behind the affair, and saw in him rather a possible scapegoat.
Beginning in June 2012 announced the newspaper La Repubblica that they had more secret papers after Gabriele's arrest.
Reactions
Pope Benedict XVI. revealed according to data from its environment " saddened and shocked" by the revelations in the scandal surrounding the disclosure of confidential documents from the Vatican to the media. The arrest of his valet was a " painful " development, Italian media quote him, citing a confidant.
In June 2012, for the first time expressed a German Cardinal to the scandal. The Berlin Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki described it in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit as " more annoying " if " within the Church a bank bad acts or even pass money laundering and done financial irregularities. " Woelki also noted that the Church, however, so well as possible working on overcoming the shortcomings and called for " a process of self-purification ."
Processes and convictions
The trial of Gabriele began on 29 September 2012, and was under the direction of the presiding judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre. For complicity in the theft also Claudio Sciarpelletti had to defend. When the computer in the papal Secretariat of State, which is considered confidant of Gabriele, one of the stolen documents had been found. Eight selected by lottery journalists non- Vatican media were allowed to accompany the process. During the procedure, Gabriele admitted on 2 October 2012, to have passed confidential documents and acted without accomplices. Nevertheless, he declared himself not guilty of larceny, but only Benedict XVI. guilty about. It was also decided to initiate an investigation into his prison conditions.
The court found Gabriele on October 6, 2012 for grand larceny and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. According to Spokesman Lombardi further investigations were not excluded by the judgment. Gianluigi Nuzzi appealed according to the judgment of Benedict XVI. , To pardon Paolo Gabriele. On October 25, 2012 Gabriele joined the sentence in the Vatican along (and not as is generally expected in an Italian prison ). Benedict XVI. visited him on December 22, 2012 at the prison, forgave him and lifted them to serve their remaining sentence. Gabriele was released on the same day and returned to his family.
On November 5, 2012 began a Vatican court, the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti. On November 10, 2012, he was the aid to the theft of Vatican documents, committed by Paolo Gabriele, found guilty. Sciarpellettis sentence of two months imprisonment was suspended for five years on probation, as he had previously done no offense guilty and is cooperating with the investigation.