Pope's butler vows to help Vatican scandal probe

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Pentecost Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, May 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates a Pentecost Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, May 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

FILE - In this March 23, 2012 file photo, Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, left, looks on as Pope Benedict XVI talks to journalists during a press conference aboard the flight to Silao, Mexico. An already sordid scandal over leaked Vatican documents took a Hollywood-like turn Saturday, May 26, 2012 with confirmation that the pope's own butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment. The "Vatileaks" scandal has seriously embarrassed the Vatican at a time when 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. Bertone, 77, has been blamed for a series of gaffes and management problems that have plagued Benedict's papacy and, according to the leaked documents, generated a not inconsiderable amount of ill will directed at him from other Vatican officials. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

FILE - In this Monday, April 21, 2008 file photo, Pope Benedict XVI, left, arrives at the Italian air force 31st Squadron base in Ciampino, 30 kilometers (19 miles) southeast of Rome, on his way back from a six-day trip to the U.S. including the U.N. and Ground Zero in New York. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, that the pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, at right carrying bags, was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele, a layman, was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals.(AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

This file photo taken Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, shows the building, left, which hosts the Vatican bank, formerly known as the Institute for Religious Operas, I.O.R., inside the Vatican. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, head of the I.O.R. was ousted after a no-confidence vote of the I.O.R. governing body on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The "Vatileaks" scandal has seriously embarrassed the Vatican at a time during 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. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have undermined that effort, alleging corruption in Vatican finance as well as internal bickering over the Holy See's efforts to show more transparency in its financial operations. But perhaps most critically, the leaks have seemed aimed at one main goal: to discredit Pope Benedict XVI's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The biggest scandal to rock the Vatican in decades widened Monday with the pope's butler, arrested for allegedly having confidential documents in his home, agreeing to cooperate with investigators ? raising the specter that higher-ranking ecclesial heads may soon roll.

Few believe butler Paolo Gabriele worked alone to leak dozens of documents shedding light on power struggles, corruption and intrigue inside the highest levels of the Catholic Church. The leaks have tormented the Vatican for months and painted a picture of a church hierarchy in utter disarray.

Gabriele, the pope's personal butler since 2006, was arrested Wednesday evening after Holy See documents were found inside his Vatican City apartment, adding an unfathomable Hollywood twist to the already sordid Vatileaks scandal. He remains in custody in a Vatican detention facility, accused of theft, and has met with his wife and lawyers.

Gabriele's lawyer, Carlo Fusco, said Monday his client was "very serene and calm," despite the whirlwind of speculation surrounding his arrest. He said Gabriele himself had told the Vatican judge investigating the case that he would "respond to all the questions and will collaborate with investigators to ascertain the truth."

Italian media reported Monday that a cardinal is suspected of playing a major role in the scandal. However, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied the reports categorically. He said many Vatican officials were being questioned but insisted "there is no cardinal under suspicion."

But Lombardi acknowledged that the investigation continues.

He also dismissed as "pure fantasy" a rash of other unsourced reports about the investigation in the Italian media, which have been on a frenzy ever since reports of Gabriele's detention emerged Friday.

Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three, was always considered extremely loyal to Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, for whom he briefly served. Vatican insiders have said they were baffled by his alleged involvement, and Lombardi said Monday that the entire scandal has caused pain throughout the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI, who in March appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the leaks, was being kept informed of developments and is "aware of the delicate situation that the Roman curia is going through," Lombardi said.

He acknowledged the "negative image" of the Vatican that was emerging from the scandal but said the developments made it ever more important to "reestablish a climate of clarity, truth, transparency and trust as soon as possible."

He said the Vatican intended to confront the scandal head on "clearly and without hiding anything to try to fully understand the situation."

The Vatileaks scandal broke in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.

The scandal widened over the following months with documents leaked to Italian journalists that laid bare power struggles inside the Vatican over its efforts to show greater financial transparency and comply with international norms to fight money laundering. There was even a leak of a memo claiming that Benedict would die this year.

The scandal reached a peak last weekend, when Nuzzi published an entire book based on a trove of new documentation, including personal correspondence to and from the pope and his private secretary, much of which paints Benedict's No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a negative light.

Vito Mancuso, an Italian theologian, told reporters at a press launch of the book "His Holiness" that the documents, many of which point to Bertone's involvement in scandals that have afflicted the papacy, all appeared aimed at providing evidence for why he should resign.

"Looking at the documents in succession, it seems like you're seeing a series of bullets aimed at hitting Bertone," Mancuso said.

Bertone, 77, was Benedict's loyal No. 2 at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being named secretary of state. With no diplomatic or broad administrative experience coming into the job, he has earned not a few critics inside the Vatican bureaucracy.

The Vatican probe into the leaks is actually working on several tracks: Vatican magistrates are pursuing the criminal investigation, and Gabriele was arrested as part of that. The Vatican secretariat of state is pursuing an administrative probe. And the three cardinals appointed by Benedict are acting in a sort of supervisory role, looking beyond the narrow criminal scope of the leaks to interview broadly across the Vatican bureaucracy, Lombardi said.

They report directly to the pope and can both share information with Vatican prosecutors and receive information from them, Lombardi said.

The group is headed by Cardinal Julian Herranz, an Opus Dei prelate who headed the Vatican's legal office as well as the disciplinary commission of the Vatican bureaucracy before retiring.

Gabriele's arrest occurred almost simultaneously with another stunning development inside the secretive walls of the Vatican: the ouster of Benedict's hand-picked president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, himself close to Opus. The bank's board took a vote of no-confidence last week to oust him for failing to do his job.

And it came amid new developments in one of the Vatican's most enduring mysteries, the case of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared in 1983 while on her way to a music lesson in Rome.

On Sunday, Orlandi's brother led a march to the Vatican in hope that Benedict would offer them a prayer following the unearthing of the tomb of a mobster alleged to have kidnapped her. The tomb, inside an Opus Dei church in Rome, yielded hundreds of old bone fragments that are being examined for a trace of the girl.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

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