The Pope's private butler, 46 year old Paolo Gabriele, stole a raft of private documents from the Pontiff's office and ‘leaked’ them to the media as part of a campaign to rid the Vatican of ‘evil and corruption.’ A judge ordered Gabriele to stand trial for aggravated theft. A Vatican IT expert was also charged in connection with the leaking of the documents and faces a lesser accusation of aiding and abetting. According to a 35-page document Gabriele had told prosecutors that he had acted because he had seen ‘evil and corruption everywhere in the Church’ and he wanted to stop it spreading, adding. ‘I reached the point of no return. I was sure that a shock, perhaps by using the media, could be a healthy thing to bring the Church back on the right track.’ The Pope's spokesman said the Pope could step in and pardon Mr Gabriele and avoid a trial.
Pray: that the Vatican will open itself up to appropriate external scrutiny so that anything hidden will be revealed. (Job 9:4-6)