Vatican: Pope says 'frivolous' media tarnishes Vatican image

Vatican City, 30 May (AKI) - A Vatican scandal involving leaked secret documents and the arrest of the pope's butler has been exaggerated and misrepresented by the press, Pope Benedict XVI said on Wednesday.

"Totally frivolous conjecture has been amplified by means of communication that have gone far beyond the facts creating an image of the Holy See that doesn't correspond to reality," he said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Last week, the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and is being interrogated at the Vatican after secret papers were found at his home.

Gabriele's arrest came two months after Benedict, 85, appointed a special commission to investigate the leaks, which included personal letters to the pontiff. The documents have also been passed to the Italian media and printed in a book published in two books, the latest released last week is called "Sua Santita" ("His Holiness").

Rome's Il Messaggero daily ran a story on Monday claiming that an unnamed cardinal was suspected of being a leading mole orchestrating the so-called 'Vatileaks' that exposed corruption and venomous power-struggles amongst rival figures within the Holy See. The Vatican has since denied there were any cardinals involved in the scandal.

Some of the papers discuss corruption, including allegedly inflated prices for Italian companies contracted to do work at the Vatican. Others shed light on a power clash inside the Vatican pitting papal loyalists against those in support of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 76, the Vatican’s second-in-command and administrator.

The pope on Wednesday said the recent events have ''created sadness in my heart," but he renewed his confidence in his "closest collaborators."