Paolo Gabriele, the former butler of Pope Benedict XVI who, with the leak of confidential documents from the Pontiff, gave birth to the first 'Vatileaks' case died this morning in Rome.
Gabriele "aide-room of His Holiness" since 2006, was arrested by the Vatican Gendarmerie on May 24, 2012 because he was found in possession of a quantity of copies of confidential papers of the Holy See, mostly converged in Gianluigi Nuzzi's book 'His Holiness' .
The former butler died at 9.30 this morning in the emergency room of the Gemelli Polyclinic, where he had arrived due to the consequences of a long illness.
The alleged 'crow', practically the lay person closest to the Pope, was then tried for the aggravated theft of secret documents and sentenced on 6 October 2012 to three years of imprisonment, reduced to one year and 6 months.
The former butler was then pardoned by Pope Ratzinger, who visited him in his cell on 22 December.
After his dismissal from his office, the Holy See still kept Gabriele, married and with three children, a house outside the Vatican and a job in a social cooperative operating for the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital.
