Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

As the Vatican waits for a new pope under a cloud of scandal, the journalist at the center of the Vatileaks case is revealing the high-stakes, cloak-and-dagger operation he undertook to protect the butler who went public with the secrets.

Investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi told NBC News' Richard Engel how he met Paolo Gabriele in public squares and used old-fashioned public phones to set up rendezvous to make it harder for anyone to eavesdrop on their blockbuster conversations.

He gave Gabriele a code name -- Maria -- and would leave it on the door buzzer he was to press for meetings in a Rome apartment, Nuzzi said in a "Rock Center with Brian Williams" interview.

"He was excited, he was careful, he was afraid," Nuzzi said.

Slideshow: Pope Benedict XVI's departure

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The pope delivers his final audience in St. Peter's Square as he prepares to stand down.

Launch slideshow

"Then I understood why: because the Vatican has a very strong security system...Once Paolo Gabriele told me a confidence, which I do not know if it is true. He told me the cameras inside the Vatican as so powerful that they can even read the lips of people."

Their first sit-down, set up by intermediaries before Nuzzi even knew who he was meeting, was a "dangerous encounter," he said.

A dozen or so more followed, during which Gabriele gave Nuzzi photocopies of the pope's personal papers, including letters from a top aide,  Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò, who had investigated the alleged corruption. In one of the letters, Viganò complained that he felt he was being slandered and sidelined from the inside. He was eventually transferred off the case, and moved to Washington, D.C., to become Papal Nuncio, the Vatican’s diplomatic envoy.

Nuzzi used the documents for broadcast reports and a book that shed light on the infighting and dysfunction at the highest level of the church bureaucracy last year.

Gabriele, who said he was trying to help the pope and the church by shining a light on the dark underbelly of the Vatican, was eventually unmasked as the source of the leaks and sentenced to 18 months in Vatican custody. He was later pardoned by the pope and given a job in a hospital.

Pope Benedict XVI commissioned three retired and independent cardinals to investigate the leaks and they presented him with a report late last year, weeks before the pontiff shocked the world by announcing his abdication.

The Vatican has since denied reports that the cardinals' dossier contains details of a gay cabal in the Vatican and blackmail threats. Allegations of a gay Vatican subculture predate the Vatileaks scandal. In 2010, journalist Carlo Abbate went undercover and filmed Rome priests cavorting with other men.

Abbate doesn't buy the Vatican denials.

"In my opinion, Pope Benedict XVI's move represents his last attempt to save the Catholic Church from the public exposure of the contradictions of the church in the matter of sexuality," he said. "In a sense, he is casting himself aside in order to let those contradictions rise to the surface."

Benedict cited his age when he announced his resignation on Feb. 11 though he has also referred to the Vatican's difficulties. The 115 cardinals who will elect his successor have assembled in Rome but they will not see the Vatileaks report because Benedict decreed that only the next pontiff will get a copy.

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ROME — A Vatican computer expert charged with helping the pope's former butler Paolo Gabriele to steal and leak papal documents to a journalist was given a suspended, two-month prison sentence Saturday.

Claudio Sciarpelletti was initially given a four-month sentence, but it was reduced immediately to two months because of his clean record and later suspended.

In reading the verdict, chief judge Giuseppe della Torre said Sciarpelletti was sentenced for "obstructing justice."

Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October for stealing and leaking papal documents.

Pope's ex-butler Paolo Gabriele gets 18-month sentence in 'Vatileaks' case

During his testimony Saturday, Sciarpelletti said he said he gave contradictory statements over the source of an envelope containing documents addressed to Paolo Gabriele because he was in a state of "shock" and "panic" following his arrest and the night spent in a Vatican prison cell.

He said he forgot who gave him the envelope as he had received it more than two years before it was found.

Sciarpelletti admitted to have written "Paolo Gabriele" on the envelope, but insisted he didn't know who gave it to him.

'Did it for my children'
Carlo Maria Polvani, head of the Vatican’s information office and Sciarpelletti's boss, said he had never seen the envelope and had not given it to Sciarpelletti.

Polvani is the nephew of cleric Carlo Maria Vigano, who tried to expose a web of corruption and nepotism in the awarding of contracts for the maintenance of Vatican real estate – something revealed by the leaking of the documents. Vigano was later sent to become Washington ambassador, a move seen by some as a way to drive him away from the Vatican.  

Polvani told the judges that Sciarpelletti told him after he was arrested and released: "Please forgive me. I did it for my children and my family."

Pope's ex-butler says eyesight was damaged by 24-hour light in Vatican cell

He said he believed Gabriele and Sciarpelletti were good friends, and that Gabriele would come see him in the office often. This contradicted Sciarpelletti's lawyer's declaration that he and the butler knew each other, but were not close.

Gabriele said Sciarpelletti was a friend and a confidant, and that he gave him the documents found in the envelope on his desk by Vatican authorities back in May.

He told the judges he used to give Sciarpelletti printouts of documents he would download from the Internet, but that he never handed out any reserved, official or confidential documents.  

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Pope Benedict's former butler, who was convicted of stealing papal documents,  had not allowed technicians to check his computer for the last six years, a court trying a second suspect in the Vatican leaks scandal heard on Monday.

The detail was made public at the first hearing in the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert who is charged with aiding and abetting Paolo Gabriele, the former butler.

The courtroom inside a Renaissance building was so small it could barely hold the three judges, the five witnesses, the defendant and a selected pool of journalists chosen among the international media. Cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom.

Pope's ex-butler Paolo Gabriele gets 18-month sentence in 'Vatileaks' case

No picture has ever been released of the computer expert, so the quasi-mystery over his identity remains, in good old secretive Vatican style.

The leaks scandal unleashed one of the biggest crises of Pope Benedict's papacy, embarrassing the Vatican at a time when it was struggling to overcome several child sex abuse scandals involving clerics, as well as mismanagement at its bank.

AFP/Getty Images

Pope Benedict's former butler Paolo Gabriele

Gabriele was convicted of aggravated theft at a separate trial last month and sentenced to 18 months in jail for stealing sensitive papal documents and leaking them to the media. He kept some confidential information on his computer.

One of the pope's closest household assistants, Gabriele admitted leaking the documents in what he said was an attempt to help disclose corruption and "evil" in the headquarters of the 1.2 billion-member faith.

The former butler attended the opening of Monday's trial for a few minutes but was then ushered out along with other witnesses. He looked calm and was smiling but did not look at Sciarpelletti. Gabriele was wearing the grey suit he sported during his trial, and appeared to be in good spirits despite having been locked for days in a tiny cell in the Vatican Gendarmerie headquarters.

And yet the pope's former butler has all the reason to worry. While it was widely expected that the pope would pardon him following his conviction, he hasn't yet done so. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in October that the pardon was still a possibility, but it would require Gabriele's repentance and a sincere request for pardon to the pontiff and the others affected by his actions.

Pope's ex-butler says eyesight was damaged by 24-hour light in Vatican cell

Gianluca Benedetti, Sciarpelletti's lawyer, said Gabriele's work computer had become "obsolete" and was one of the oldest in the Vatican but that he had refused to allow Sciarpelletti, 48, to touch it.

Sciarpelletti and Gabriele could not therefore have been great friends, much less accomplices, he argued, if Gabriele had not even trusted him to look at his computer.

"Do you think my client would have risked a record that included 20 years of faithful service in the Vatican to help someone who was not even a great friend?" Benedetti asked the court. The court allowed Sciarpelleti's employment record to be entered as evidence.

Sciarpelletti fidgeted nervously during the two-hour hearing, often rubbing his hands and looking at the floor.

Pawns in a bigger game?
While the Vatican has said that Sciarpelletti's role in the whole affair was "minor," excitement grew over the possibility that his trial could reveal whether more people were involved in the leaking of the documents. It also provided the former butler with the opportunity to testify once again, the first time he would comment on the scandal since his conviction.

But when reports from inside the courtroom emerged after only two hours from the start of the hearing, it became clear that Monday's proceedings were only a formality.

Many Vatican watchers are skeptical that Gabriele could have acted alone, suggesting he may have been forced to take the blame in order to shield bigger players inside the Holy See. They say both men could be pawns in a palace power struggle.

Vatican officials say Sciarpelletti's role in the leaks scandal was marginal and expect the trial, which is being held in the same small courtroom, to be speedier than that of the butler, which lasted only four sessions.

After preliminary arguments, Sciarpelletti's trial was adjourned to allow the defense team to study the minutes of the Gabriele trial.

Sciarpelletti spent one night in a Vatican jail cell on May 25, two days after Gabriele was arrested when police searched the ex-butler's home and found many copies of papal documents, some alleging infighting in the papal court and corruption at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church.

When Vatican police searched Sciarpelletti's desk in the Secretariat of State - the nerve center of the Holy See's administration - they found a closed envelope addressed to Gabriele marked "personal."

It contained documentation relating to a chapter in a book about Vatican corruption and intrigue written by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who had received confidential documents from Gabriele.

Sciapelletti's lawyer told the court on Monday that the search was carried out after Vatican police received an anonymous note from someone in the Secretariat of State saying that Sciapelletti and Gabriele had often been seen together.

In four sessions of questioning in May and June, Sciarpelletti provided "wavering and contradictory" answers, according to a court indictment.

On the night of his arrest, Sciarpelletti said he only had a "working relationship" with Gabriele. But he later said the two were friends and that their families had gone on outings together and that he knew Gabriele's childhood had been tough.

Sciarpelletti initially said Gabriele had given him the envelope. But he later said it had been given to him by someone in the Vatican identified only as "W" in court documents, only to change his story again later and say it had been given to him by someone identified as "X."

It is not clear if "X" or "W" are clerics or lay people working in the Vatican.

Apart from Gabriele, other witnesses who will be called to testify include Monsignor Carlo Polvani, Sciarpelletti's superior in the Secretariat of State; Maj. William Kloter, the deputy commander of the Swiss Guards; and two Vatican security officials, including the commander of the police force, Domenico Giani.

Sciarpelletti faces up to one year in jail but is expected to get off with a light sentence or a fine.

The next, and possibly final hearing is scheduled for Saturday. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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The pope’s former butler Paolo Gabriele testified Tuesday that he was held in isolation in a tiny cell with the light on 24 hours a day for the first two weeks after he was accused of stealing and leaking private documents to the media.

The case -- dubbed "Vatileaks" -- saw the butler imprisoned in the Vatican police station while investigators seized 82 boxes of evidence from the apartment where he lived with his wife and three children.

The president of the Vatican tribunal opened an inquiry into Gabriele’s treatment during his detention after he told the court that the constant light had caused problems with his sight.

He also said his cell was so small that he was not able to extend his arms.

Responding to the claim in court, a spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, said, "Vatican cells comply to international standards, but we are taking the accusation seriously and an inquiry has been opened."

Gabriele, 46, told a Vatican court that he was solely responsible for the leaks – confirming what he told prosecutors during the pre-trial investigation – but despite this declared himself innocent of charges of aggravated theft, saying “I only feel guilty of having betrayed the trust the Holy Father placed in me.”

L'Osservatore Romano via AP

The pope's former butler Paolo Gabriele in the courtroom of the Vatican on Sunday.

He denied he was helped by an accomplice and that he had received money or presents in exchange for the documents from an Italian journalist.

Cronyism
Gabriele admitted that in 2010 he started collecting the documents, including letters to the pope in which Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano -- then a senior Vatican functionary -- expressed concern about improper behavior in the Holy See's business dealings.

Vigano denounced a web of corruption, cronyism and nepotism in the awarding of contracts for the maintenance of Vatican real estate to outside companies at inflated prices. Vigano was later removed from his post and sent to become the Vatican’s ambassador to Washington, seen by some as a way to push him away from Rome.

Trial of pope's former butler over leaked papers gets under way

Gabriele said that he felt disheartened by what he described as an unbearable situation. Initially, he planned only to gather information and did not intend to leak the documents to the media, he said.

He said that after leaking the documents he realized he would soon face justice and decided to turn himself in.

However Gabriele did not know how to go about this, so he confessed to a priest only known as Father Giovanni, and gave him a copy of the documents.

Vatican says the 'butler did it,' orders trial

He was asked about Vatican property allegedly found at his home.

Asked about a 16th century edition of the Aeneid, he said he just took it for educational reasons for his son and daughter. “I didn’t know the value of this book,” he said.

And of a $130,000 check found by investigators, he said: “I never saw that check in my house.” He furtherdenied having had a gold nugget at home.

Pope easy to manipulate?
Gabriele also spoke about dining with the pope.

“I had the unique opportunity to speak to him. That’s where I realized that it’s easy to manipulate somebody with such an enormous decisional power. Sometimes he would ask questions about situations he should have been aware of,” he said.

Conducted under a 19th-century criminal code, the trial began with a setback for the defense on Saturday when judges refused to admit evidence from the Church's own investigation.

Gabriele's lawyer, Cristiana Arru, hoped to explain her client's motives by admitting as evidence an inquiry by a commission of cardinals who questioned Vatican employees about the leaks.

Pope Benedict: 'Sadness in my heart' over butler leak scandal

A summary of the inquiry's results released in August showed Gabriele acted because he saw "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church," and felt the pope was not sufficiently informed.

But chief judge Giuseppe Dalla Torre said the commission of cardinals answered only to the pope and that the inquiry had "no relevance" to Vatican City's penal code.

Only evidence gathered by a prosecutor and the Vatican police will be allowed.

Facing charges of aggravated theft, the man who helped the pope dress and rode in the front seat of the Popemobile could now face up to four years in an Italian prison.

Another man, Vatican computer expert Claudio Sciarpelletti is on trial separately for aiding Gabriele.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Gregorio Borgia / AP

Clouds pass over St. Peter's square at the Vatican on Monday.

ROME – It doesn't get more symbolic than this: dark clouds hung over the Vatican on Monday morning after months of glorious sunshine, just as its spokesman announced the outcome of an investigation into one of the biggest conspiracies to emerge from the Holy See in years.

As explained in a 35-page document issued by the Vatican, a judge charged Pope Benedict XVI's former butler with "aggravated theft" for allegedly stealing and leaking private documents from the pope's apartment to the Italian media.

Paolo Gabriele must now stand trial in one of the biggest conspiracies to hit the Vatican in years.

The documents purporting to contain damaging details of alleged corruption and power struggles among the Church's hierarchy provide a rare peek through the keyhole of the secretive Vatican medieval walls.

'Vatileaks'
The scandal, branded "Vatileaks," started in January after Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi revealed for the first time one of the documents in his television program, "The Untouchables," on the Italian channel La7.

Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters file

The Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, bottom left, arrives with Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican in a file photo from May 23, 2012.

In a private letter sent by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano to his superiors, including the pope, he appeared to expose a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the awarding of contracts for the maintenance of the tiny city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure. Vigano complained that much of the work was often given to the same companies at double the cost when compared to what they charged outside the Vatican.

Among the many expenses a medieval state like the Vatican, the cradle of Christianity, needs to maintain its splendor, perhaps the most typical one is the cost of the nativity scene, which adorns St. Peter's Square every Christmas. In one of the leaked letters, Vigano complained that it cost almost $700,000 to put on in 2009, and managed to almost halve its cost the following year.

Despite the cost-saving efforts by Vigano, the archbishop was soon deposed from his post and sent to Washington as a "Nuncio," the Vatican equivalent of an ambassador. What was meant to be a promotion, Vigano denounced as a smear campaign against him by members of the Vatican hierarchy, whom he believed were unhappy about his push for transparency in the church's complex financial structure.

"Holy Father, my transfer right now would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments," Vigano wrote to the pope on March 27, 2011, according to the leaked documents.

After the program aired, the hunt for the whistleblower – colorfully called the "crow" (Italian for mole) – was on. In Nuzzi's book he or she was called, almost heretically, "Mary."

The Vatican gendarmerie, the Holy See's "police" force, quickly began searching for clues.

Then, as if out of an Agatha Christie novel, the predictable outcome: the butler did it.

The butler did it
On May 23, the Vatican gendarmerie arrested Paolo Gabriele, the pope's personal assistant. He was one of the very few people to have access to the pope's private chambers and was caught red-handed when a stash of secret documents was found in his apartment.

Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi speaks at a press conference about the charges on Monday.

In his possession, authorities also found some presents sent to the pope, including a check for a $130,000, a gold nugget and a rare 16th century book. He was held for 53 days in a Vatican cell before being put under house arrest.

The decision to order Gabriele to stand trial on charges of aggravated theft for leaking the documents was widely expected. But if the butler did it, was he part of a wider whistleblowing operation aimed at shaking up the Vatican hierarchy as some have suggested?

On Monday, the Vatican revealed that at least one other arrest was made during the investigation. Claudio Sciarpelletti, a layman Vatican IT employee, was also ordered to stand trial, but on lesser charges of aiding and abetting a crime.

Big crime in a small country
Officially, the Vatican is one of the countries with the highest crime rate per capita in the world. The surprising statistic is skewed by the fact that, despite there being only 800 residents, there's an abundance of purse-snatchers from abroad (meaning Italy, which is just across the fences of St. Peter's Square). Its sole judge spends a lot of time dealing with mostly petty crimes.

The last serious crime the court had to deal with was the 1998 murder of a Swiss Guard commander and his wife by a young Swiss Guard, who later took his own life.

The trial for the conspiracy that has shaken the Vatican at the top of its hierarchy will not take place until October at the earliest. If Gabriele is found guilty, he risks up to six years in prison.

Unless, of course, the pope can find it in his heart to forgive - and pardon him.

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Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters file

Paolo Gabriele, Pope Benedict XVI's butler, is accused of leaking documents alleging Vatican corruption, but new documents published Sunday— after his arrest last month — suggest he may be a scapegoat.

Pope Benedict XVI's butler, who is under arrest for allegedly leaking confidential Vatican documents, is just a scapegoat, according to the source of new secret documents published Sunday by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The butler, Paolo Gabriele, 45, remains in a Vatican jail cell on charges of aggravated theft for possessing confidential correspondence. Publication of the new documents Sunday — which La Repubblica said it had received from an unknown person after Gabriele's arrest on May 25 — would strongly indicate that Gabriele wasn't the only person with access to the secret correspondence of the Roman Catholic Church.

M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

The documents lay bare the political machinations among cardinals posted to the Vatican, suggesting an administration riven by infighting over which Benedict, 85, has — or chooses to exercise — little authority.

In a letter accompanying the three new documents, the shadowy provider calls Gabriele "the usual scapegoat" and says his or her intention is to "drive out the real culprits from the Vatican," whom the letter identifies as Msgr. Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's personal secretary, and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, his secretary of state.

The source warns that the new papers are just "three of the hundreds of documents in our possession" that could be damaging to the Vatican.

The documents published Sunday include two written on Gaenswein's personal letterhead. The text, however, had been whited out — a step the source said he or she had taken to protect the pope. In the accompanying cover letter, the source says the documents prove that Benedict is being served by an "inept staff."

Gaenswein has greatly increased his influence in the Vatican in recent years, according to La Republicca, and is one of the pope's closest confidants. The letters, if authenticated, could suggest that even the most sensitive Vatican documents have been compromised.

The third document is a letter to Bertone from Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, an American who is head of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura — in essence, the Vatican's chief justice.

It is marked "highly confidential" and registers Burke's dismay that Benedict had approved the liturgy of a controversial lay group known as the NeoCatechumenal Way, which its critics contend violates the prescribed protocol for the Catholic Mass.

"I believe that approval of such liturgical innovations ... does not seem consistent with the liturgical teachings of the Pope," Burke wrote.

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Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images

Paolo Gabriele (bottom left), the pope's butler, was arrested three days ago for allegedly feeding documents to Italian journalists.

VATICAN CITY -- The worst crisis in Pope Benedict's pontificate deepened on Monday when Italian media said at least one cardinal was among those suspected of leaking sensitive documents as part of a power struggle at the top of the Catholic Church. The pope's butler, who has been arrested, has pledged to cooperate in the probe. 

Leading Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Messaggero reported Monday that the pope's butler — arrested three days ago for allegedly feeding documents to Italian journalists — clearly did not act alone, and that an unidentified cardinal is suspected of playing a major role. 

The scandal exploded last week when within a few days the pope's butler was arrested, the head of the Vatican's own bank was abruptly dismissed and a book was published alleging conspiracies among the cardinals or "princes of the Church."

Vatican cops arrest pope's butler over leaked papers alleging corruption

However, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied the reports that a cardinal might be the next target of the "Vatileaks" probe. He said many Vatican officials were being questioned but insisted: "There is no cardinal under suspicion." 

Meanwhile, the lawyer for the pope's butler says his client has pledged "full cooperation" in the investigation and wants the truth to come out. 

The commitment by butler Paolo Gabriele to cooperate raises the specter that higher-ranking prelates may soon be named in the scandal. Leaks of confidential Vatican correspondence have shed light on power struggles and intrigue inside the highest levels of the Catholic Church. 

Gabriele, the pope's personal butler since 2006, was arrested Wednesday evening after documents he had no business having were found inside his Vatican City apartment. He remains in detention in a Vatican detention facility, accused of theft, and has met with his wife and lawyers. 

The 46-year-old father of three was always considered extremely loyal to Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, for whom he briefly served. Vatican insiders said they were baffled by his alleged involvement. Gabriele's lawyer, Carlo Fusco, reported Monday that Gabriele was "very serene and calm." 

So far, Gabriele has been the only one arrested, but Lombardi stressed that the investigation was continuing. 

Pope at Easter vigil: Technology without God is dangerous

The probe is working on two separate tracks. Vatican magistrates are pursuing the criminal investigation, and Gabriele was arrested as part of that. Separately, Pope Benedict appointed three cardinals to form an investigative commission to look beyond the narrow criminal scope of the leaks. 

Those cardinals have the authority to interview broadly across the Vatican bureaucracy, Lombardi said, and can both share information with Vatican prosecutors and receive information from them. 

They report directly to the pope, who Lombardi said, was being kept informed of the investigation. 

Like a Dan Brown book? Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed

Benedict has not commented directly on the scandal. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators marched to St. Peter's Square on Sunday to demand information on Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican messenger who disappeared in 1983 at the age of 15. 

Various theories have surrounded her disappearance, linking her kidnapping to an attempt to free the Turkish gunman who shot John Paul in 1981, or to alleged Vatican financial dealings with a Rome criminal gang. 

The march came a day after an Italian prosecutor told CNN that a priest who used to run a church in Rome is under investigation on suspicion of complicity in her abduction.

Reuters and The Associated Press Press contributed to this report.

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