VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday pardoned his former butler Paolo Gabriele who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing secret papal memos, but banished the once loyal servant from the Vatican forever. “This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his acceptance of Mr Gabriele’s request for pardon,” the Vatican said in a statement. The pardon for Gabriele, who was convicted and sentenced in October by a Vatican court for leaking secret papal documents to the press, was a “paternal gesture” for a man “with whom the pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years”. However, the ex-butler “cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City,” it added.