By Nick Pisa PUBLISHED: 13:31 EST, 25 May 2012 | UPDATED: 09:42 EST, 26 May 2012 Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's personal butler following an investigation into the leaking of sensitive church documents, it emerged today. In a scenes worthy of a Dan Brown thriller, the butler identified as Paolo Gabriele, 46, was held by gendarmes after a special commission of three top senior cardinals had been appointed by a furious Pope Benedict to identify the source of the leaks which have caused severe embarrassment. Gabriele, who has been at the Pope's side for six years, is one of the German born pontiff's closest members of his inner circle which totals just four lay people and four nuns and he is always at his side - he is so close that he and the nuns who look after him are described as the 'pontiff's family'.
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Documents also show how contracts were awarded to favoured people
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Paolo Gabriele has been at the Pope's side for six years
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Furious Pope appointed senior cardinals to investigate the leaks
The @placeholder had condemned the book as 'criminal' and the printing of the documents were a violation of the Pope's privacy it said.