Vatican court: Butler's theft harmed pope, church [1]

Photo: APMade available by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, shows the pope's butler Paolo Gabriele sitting in the wood-trimmed courtroom of the Vatican tribunal, at the Vatican. The Vatican tribunal that convicted the pope's ex-butler of stealing private papal correspondence has sharply condemned the theft as harming the pope, the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church. The three-judge tribunal issued its written explanation Tuesday Oct. 23, 2012 of how it reached its Oct. 6 ruling against Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted of aggravated theft and sentenced to 18 months, currently being served under house arrest. Gabriele confessed to photocopying papal documents and giving them to an Italian journalist to expose the "evil and corruption" around him, in the biggest Vatican security breach in modern times.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican tribunal that convicted the pope's ex-butler of stealing private papal correspondence sharply condemned the theft on Tuesday as causing "reprehensible" damage to the pontiff, the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church, and said investigations are continuing.

The three-judge tribunal issued its written explanation of how it reached its Oct. 6 verdict against Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted of aggravated theft and sentenced to 18 months in prison, currently being served under house arrest.