ROME, December 24 – RAPSI, Natalia Shmakova. Pope Benedict XVI has pardoned his former butler Paolo Gabriele, sentenced by a Vatican court to 1.5 years for stealing documents from the Pope's apartments, Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, said.

Also, Pope Benedict XVI has pardoned Claudio Sciarpelletti, a former computer programmer for the Vatican's secretariat of state and a second defendant in the case. Sciarpelletti was found guilty of aiding Gabriele and was sentenced to two months in prison.

Gabriele was arrested on May 23 at the Vatican home he shared with his wife and three children. At the time of his arrest, several boxes of confidential documents were discovered in the apartment. The contents of these boxes included the pope's private letters, along with special equipment used to copy documents.

Gabriele is believed to have stolen a 100,000 Euro cashier's check signed by the pope, a nugget of gold, and an edition of the Aeneid published in 1581, in addition to the documents.