Photo ~ Paolo Gabriele

Papal butler's lawyers say client acted out of love for church, pope

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Everything Paolo Gabriele did, he did for love of the church and the pope, said the lawyers for the personal assistant to Pope Benedict XVI accused of leaking private documents.

The lawyers spoke to reporters July 21 after Gabriele was allowed to leave a Vatican cell and return to his Vatican apartment to be with his wife and three children. He had been in custody for 60 days.

Vatican magistrates said they had finished their interrogation of the 46-year-old papal valet and were putting him under house arrest. The magistrates are still drafting their formal decision on whether or not they believe they have enough evidence to put Gabriele on trial for his alleged part in the "VatiLeaks" scandal.

After his arrest, Gabriele was held in a 12-foot-by-12-foot room in the Vatican police barracks. He was allowed to see his lawyers and his wife, and Vatican police accompanied him to Mass in the Vatican.

Fusco and Arru said that Gabriele's house arrest was granted under a number of normal conditions: he may not leave his Vatican apartment or communicate, including by telephone or Internet, with anyone beside his immediate family, a spiritual adviser, his doctor or lawyers except with the express permission of the Vatican magistrates.

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