VATICAN CITY — The Vatican confirmed Saturday that the pope’s butler had been arrested in its embarrassing leaks scandal, adding a Hollywood twist to an already remarkable tale of power struggles, intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance.

Paolo Gabriele, a layman who lives inside Vatican City, was arrested Wednesday with secret documents in his possession and was being held Saturday, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

Gabriele is often seen by the pope’s side in public, riding in the front seat of the pontiff’s open-air jeep during the pope’s general audiences.

The “Vatileaks” scandal has embarrassed the Vatican, at a time in which it is trying to show the world financial community that it has turned a page and shed its reputation as a scandal plagued tax haven.

Vatican documents leaked in recent months have undermined that effort, alleging corruption in Vatican finance as well as internal bickering over the Holy See’s efforts to show more transparency in its financial operations. But perhaps most critically, the leaks have seemed aimed at one main goal: to discredit Pope Benedict XVI’s No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state.

The scandal took on even greater weight last week with the publication of “His Holiness,” a book which reproduced confidential letters and memos to and from Benedict and his personal secretary.