I'm no thief, says Pope's butler

on 02/10/2012 14:28:02

The pope's butler has said he is innocent of stealing private correspondence but guilty of betraying the trust of the pontiff, whom he said he loved like a son would his father.

Paolo Gabriele entered the witness box in a Vatican courtroom to defend himself against a charge of aggravated theft.

Prosecutors say Gabriele stole papal letters and documents alleging power struggles and corruption and passed them off to a journalist in one of the most damaging scandals of the pope's reign.

In other evidence, the pope's private secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said that he began having suspicions about Gabriele after he realised three documents that appeared in the journalist's book could only have come from the office he shared with Gabriele.