Vatican prosecutors may appeal the 18-month jail sentence handed to Pope Benedict XVI's former butler for theft of confidential papers once the full judgement has been published, a Vatican spokesman said Friday, October 12.Paolo Gabriele was found guilty of stealing secret papal documents which revealed fraud scandals and intrigue at the heart of the Church. He is not appealing the verdict, but his immediate fate is still unclear.
"It's all still open, there has been no delay," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said when asked why Gabriele is still under house arrest.
The Vatican has no prison, so should he go to jail he would have to serve time in Italy.
Lombardi was unable to give any precise timetable for the publication of the judgement or the prosecution's decision over whether to appeal or not.
Prosecutor Nicola Picardi had called during his final speech to the court for Gabriele to go to jail for three years.
The judge initially gave the butler three years behind bars but immediately cut his sentence down to 18 months for his prior service to the Church and because he had apologised and admitted he had betrayed the 85-year-old pontiff's trust.
Lombardi earlier said the pope is "very likely" to pardon Gabriele.
According to sources cited by ANSA news agency, the Vatican is trying to find a solution that would allow Gabriele to remain an employee.
He was suspended when the investigation against him began but has continued to receive a salary.
Vatican watchers said there are those in the Church who fear Gabriele would be too talkative should he end up in Italy, cut off from the Holy See.
The secret memos revealed cloak-and-dagger politics at the heart of the Church, as well as accusations of back-stabbing, fraud and favour-buying.
They were smuggled out of the Vatican by the ex-butler and given to an Italian investigative journalist who then published them in a book in May.