Edition: U.S. / Global

Vatican Allows That Butler Scandal Is Hurting Trust

The Vatican acknowledged Monday that the newest crisis in Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy was damaging trust in the church, even as it tried to contain a scandal that has sent the Italian news media into a frenzy since the pope’s butler was arrested days ago and accused of leaking the pontiff’s confidential correspondence.

Italian news media have suggested that the butler, Paolo Gabriele, could not — and would not — have acted alone, and several newspapers suggested that a cardinal was the guiding force behind the dissemination of the documents.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, on Monday dismissed those news reports as “unfounded speculations” that were causing the church harm. “There is no cardinal under suspicion,” he said flatly.

“It is painful to see such a negative image” emerge of the Holy See, Father Lombardi told reporters hastily convened for a briefing. The scandals “put trust in the church and the Holy See to the test.” He added, “That’s why we must confront them directly and not hide.”

The arrest last Wednesday of Mr. Gabriele in connection with the illegal possession of confidential documents was the latest act in a scandal called Vatileaks, which has been punctuated by the periodic release of correspondence laying bare conflicts and clashes within the Holy See, including internal accusations of cronyism and corruption.

News of Mr. Gabriele’s arrest capped a turbulent stretch of days in which the president of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was dismissed by the bank’s board, which accused him of failing to do his job, acting erratically and not attending board meetings, according to a memorandum by the board published in the Italian news media over the weekend. The board also suggested that Mr. Gotti Tedeschi might have leaked some of the documents himself.

Mr. Gabriele, who has been the pope’s butler since 2006, is being held in a Vatican detention facility and on Monday morning he met with this wife and his lawyers. One lawyer, Carlo Fusco, said that his client would “cooperate fully” with Vatican magistrates investigating the leaked documents.