Pope Benedict XVI’s onetime butler declared he was innocent of a charge of aggravated theft of the pope’s private letters, but acknowledged that he photocopied the papers and said he feels guilty that he betrayed the trust of the pontiff he loved like a father.

The pope’s butler has said he is innocent of stealing private correspondence but guilty of betraying the trust of the pontiff, whom he said he loved like a son would his father.

The pope’s butler has said he is innocent of stealing private correspondence but guilty of betraying the trust of the pontiff, whom he said he loved like a son would his father.

Pope Benedict XVI has returned to the Vatican after three months on holiday to find his former butler on trial in one of the most damaging scandals of his pontificate: the leaks of stolen papal correspondence detailing power struggles, defamation campaigns and allegations of corruption at the highest level of the Catholic Church.

THE Vatican yesterday said Pope Benedict was willing to meet more sexual abuse victims but not under media pressure and scoffed at calls that the Pope should be arrested when he visits Britain in September.

The Pope is refusing to comment publicly on individual sex abuse cases rocking the Catholic church because they were not his responsibility, his private secretary said today.

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal aide has visited the mentally disturbed young woman who jumped over a barrier and knocked the pontiff down in St Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, a Vatican spokesman said today.

It was a scene that moved a nation: mourners clinging to one another and sobbing over neat rows of more than 200 coffins, some with tiny children’s caskets resting on top.