FILE - A Wednesday, April 18, 2012 photo from files showing Pope Benedict XVI's butler Paolo Gabriele, bottom, and personal secretary Georg Gaenswein as they sit in the car with the pontiff, not seen, as he arrives in St.Peter's Square at the Vatican for a general audience. A Vatican judge on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, ordered the pope's butler and a fellow lay employee to stand trial in the scandal of pilfered documents from Pope Benedict XVI's private apartment. The indictment accused Paolo Gabriele, the butler under arrest at the Vatican since May, of grand theft. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
August 13, 2012 - 7:10 AM
VATICAN CITY - A Vatican judge has ordered the pope's butler and a fellow lay employee to stand trial in the scandal of pilfered documents from Pope Benedict XVI's private apartment.
The indictment Monday accused Paolo Gabriele, the butler under arrest since May at the Vatican, of grand theft.
While the Vatican had insisted throughout the investigation that Gabriele was the only person under investigation, the indictment also orders trial for Claudio Sciarpelletti. He is a layman in the Secretariat of State office and is charged with aiding and abetting Gabriele.
The scandal embarrassed the Vatican, exposing infighting at high church levels, primarily involving Italian prelates.
The Vatican has promised a public trial. No date was immediately announced.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012