Vatican confirms pope's butler arrested in scandal

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican confirmed Saturday that the pope's butler had been arrested in its embarrassing leaks scandal, adding a Hollywood twist to an already remarkable tale of power struggles, intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance.

Paolo Gabriele, a layman who lives inside Vatican City, was arrested Wednesday with secret documents in his possession and was being held Saturday, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

Gabriele is often seen by the pope's side in public, riding in the front seat of the pontiff's open-air jeep during the pope's general audiences. Lombardi said Gabriele had two lawyers representing him as the Vatican judicial system takes its investigative course.

The "Vatileaks" scandal has seriously embarrassed the Vatican, at a time in which it is trying to show the world financial community that it has turned a page and shed its reputation as a scandal plagued tax haven.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VATICAN_SCANDAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-26-08-21-38

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VATICAN_SCANDAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-26-08-21-38

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Vatican leak inquiry: Pope's butler named as suspect.

The Pope's butler has been formally named as a suspect in the Vatican's inquiry into a series of media leaks from the Catholic Church's top levels.

Vatican magistrates accused Paolo Gabriele, 46, of illegal possession of confidential documents.

A series of leaks, dubbed Vatileaks, has revealed alleged corruption, mismanagement and internal conflicts.

Last month, Pope Benedict XVI set up a special commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18219390


The butler, in the library , using the candle stick.

[maddezmom]

1. Paolo Gabriele charged with illegal possession of documents after whistleblowing book alleges corrup

¬snip¬

Further revelations were published this week in a book by a journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi, who described how an unnamed whistleblower sent emissaries to sound him out before they held secret meetings in an unfurnished rented flat near the Vatican. "I wore a USB round my neck for six months with the leaked documents on it," Nuzzi said. "It was like something out of a film."

In the book, the source says he was coming clean because "hypocrisy within the Vatican goes unchallenged and scandals multiply".

The book, which was described as criminal by the Vatican, alleged that the editor of the Vatican's newspaper started a gay smear campaign against a rival editor, with the help of a newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family.

Letters depict collusion between the Berlusconi government and the Vatican over how to avoid EU pressure to make the Catholic church pay tax on its properties.

Huge cash donations to the pope from banks and a TV presenter are described, as well as a €100,000 (£80,000) truffle sent by a businessman which was donated to the poor.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/26/popes-butler-charged-leaked-letters?newsfeed=true

wonder how much more there is coming out?

hopefully, he copied a bunch of stuff to be opened in case of his arrest or death...just like in the movies.

[freshwest]

2. I"ve read some really strange things over the years about the Vatican and money. Here's a wiki piece

Vatican Bank

The Vatican Bank is a common name given to the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) or Institute for Religious Works, the central bank for the Roman Catholic Church located in Vatican City.

The head of the Vatican Bank from 1971 to 1989, Paul Casimir Marcinkus lives in retirement in Sun City, Arizona. Marcinkus was indicted in Italy in 1982 as an accessory in the $3.5 billion collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, an Italian financial institution with close ties to the Vatican Bank, but never came to trial in Italy, where courts ruled that as a Vatican employee he was immune from prosecution. The Vatican Bank refused to admit legal responsibility for the Ambrosiano's downfall but did acknowledge "moral involvement", and paid $241m (£169m) to creditors.


http://libertyparkusafd.org/lp/Hancock/International%20%20Banks%5CVatican%20Bank%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia.htm

I don't know how reliable that article is. It appears a lot of pages have been scrubbed from Wiki, and a longer piece about the Vatican Bank and its relationship to Goldman Sachs and other big players is gone. A completely different world.

[stubtoe]

3. Scrubbing Wiki further implies corruption, imo.

Seems all of Italy is abuzz with this scandal - could this potentially be the start of the collapse of the Vatican?

[freshwest]

4. The article I saw that's been scrubbed indicated they had ties with all the financial meltdowns.

If appeared to be an official page, with the coats of arms of the Vatican and many details. It was not inflammatory, it was quite open about the connections and now it's gone. Or the search results have changed. I agree, there is a lot of corruption in the scrubbing and now in the search results I find a lot of pages have been edited to paint historical figures as supporting the GOP talking points. Really egregrious changes, just wiping out that there were ever any progressive or liberal writings by the Founders, politicians, etc. I know because I was taught the other ones in school and then referred to them online. Now they are gone and rather sloppy replacements have been made. How 1984 of them...

[southernyankeebelle]

8. They need to come clean. If people would stop sending money in the collection box that would

be the end of the pope. Contribute just to your local parrish if you must. I stopped give to the church or any church because of their involvment of politics.

[freshwest]

13. I'm not sure if the money in the collection plate is a factor. Over the centuries the Vatican has

Accumulated great wealth. Believers enforced their rights to not be taxed, surrender rights or property to governments, and still do today. I guess we'd call sovereign wealth, although I know the meaning of that term doesn't fit what I'm saying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_wealth_fund

Maybe that's a bad example, but in a way they don't care about public opinion, etc. They've held onto so much over the years, that they have more power than government. They have outlasted most nations if not all, and are using their financial power to shove our secular government principles aside to discriminate against non-believers in health care and other issues. They have bonded with the born-again Protestants and will likely bond with Mormons, maybe even Moonies. In the end it's not about theology, it's about power. Perhaps this is the beginning of the one world religion the Bible speaks of in the End Times.

They've pretty much won the war over not paying taxes on property or income, not following the IRS rules on mixing politics with religion. They are enjoying the approval of judges, legislators and governors to continue their position. Because people have been brought up in the Church, been married in it and it's simply part of their family life and prosperity, too.

While not supporting secular government they have taken the money of non-believers to continue their attacks on public education. Future generations are more likely to follow their edicts whether they believe in them or not, those parameters are being built into the textbooks. Their members support these things, even if not consciously, or it wouldn't be happening. The First Amendment as it is now interpreted allows churches to do anything they please with no sanctions or costs of doing so.

Emboldened by their influence among high placed politicians, despite some parishes going broke, they are comfortable doing these things. I have no solution to their actions and they accept nothing less than total surrender of the commons and the people to their dogma. And just to make myself clear, it's not just the Catholics, I'm not singling them out as most of them that I know are liberal but not all of them.

All these religious groups are doing the same thing. When I visit some areas, they have become bigger than government in the lives of many people and with the laws getting enacted they are becoming more powerful and our nation less free.

[southernyankeebelle]

16. Well they usually have a yearly contribution for the pope travels. We all can stop that by not

putting in. You be surprised by the number of churches around the world. That could put a little dent in it. Plus they collect for this or that. No more.

[Diclotican]

12. stubtoe

stubtoe

This, and other scandals will hurt The Vatican - but I doubt a scandal, even a hatefully like this will make the Vatican fall from Grace.. After all, they have survived wars and floods the large dark ages of the 380-800s.. Even the prosecution under the roman emperors have the Church and the then Pope system survived - and won...

But yes it will hurt how people think about the Catholic Church for a long time....

But then - all form of scandals will hurt any church in the world.. And what we know about scandals in the Catholic Church's, is maybe just the infamous "tip of the iceberg" so to say..

Diclotican

[Javaman]

5. Huh, so the butler did do it.

[Gore1FL]

6. you beat by 1 minute! n/t

[Joe Bacon]

11. Hmm what was on the list?

Payoffs to settle molestation cases?

Hmmmmm

[Thor_MN]

7. Does the pope's butler take a leak in the Vatican?

[onethatcares]

9. Jesus wept

along with Peter,Paul and Mary.

What would Jesus' butler do?

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. wait - this has been done already - Seinfeld did a Butler episode....

http://watchseinfeldonline.org/season-4/episode-9

[Politicalboi]

14. Oh yes the Poop acts fast on this

But pedophiles get a pass. They are a sick and disgusting breed. I am disgusted that people still support this "religion". By going to the catholic church YOU support pedophiles. YOU support putting women in the stone age, YOU support hate. Stop supporting these freaks.

[The Second Stone]

15. Shouldn't they transfer him to another diocese

so he can do it again? And keep it quiet so that the new diocese doesn't have a clue to keep him away from financial records?

[Zen Democrat]

17. The Vatican arresting a whistleblower? Truth in the Catholic Church is a big secret, evidently.

Every organized religion known to man is in it for the money. Jesus just walked around being cool, healing and helping. He didn't ask for a dime.

These crooks live in gold castles. That cross around the pope's neck is probably worth a million dollars.

Call me cockeyed optimist, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus. And I have benefited from the teachings of Buddha. But these religious kings, of any denomination, are fronting scams. The "Church" is not on Earth. It's in your heart and mind.

[glinda]

19. I know! Arresting a whistleblower screams "serious coverup".

[bjb]

18. The Catholic Church is still full of secrets

Several years ago we were assigned a new priest. He had been married and divorced and had a son (long story.) Our aging parish accepted him and he was likable. About six months later he suddenly disappears. The archdiocese told us that they were not at liberty to tell us what happened. Our guess was he went back to his wife but heaven forbid that they tell us adults the truth. We then had different priests every week filling in for months. Then one morning and I swear it was by divine intervention, the assigned priest for the day didn't show up. The service was going to be called off and there was a priest in the pew who was retired and said he would be glad to say the mass. After mass he told us the reason he was there was he wanted to rent a room in our rectory so he wouldn't have to move in with relatives. He said he would be willing to say our masses for room and board. It was the best seven years our parish ever had. He was the closet thing to Jesus we had ever seen. What little money he received from doing weddings or funerals he gave away to the poor. He marched up and down a busy street one day every week for years with Stop the War signs. He wanted to welcome gays into our church and wanted women to be able to be priests. When the churches were merging last year for supposedly a shortage of priests, the archdiocese made sure that he was no longer needed. I swear it was like losing Jesus.

[pacalo]

20. That's a nice, heartwarming addition to the thread.

[Blue Owl]

21. How about them Papals?

Rotten to the core.

[Boabab]

22. Scapegoat. nt