Pope’s butler charged in ‘Vatileaks’ scandal

Pope Benedict XVI’s butler has been arrested and charged with stealing confidential documents after embarrassing leaks were exposed in the press alleging corruption and cronyism inside the Vatican, a spokesman has said.

Federico Lombardi said in a statement that Paolo Gabriele, who lives inside Vatican City and is known to be close to the pope, was arrested on Wednesday.

The Vatican said a wider investigation would take place to see if Gabriele, 46, had any accomplices that helped him leak the documents.

Al Jazeera’s Emma Hayward reports.