The files, which revealed allegations of corruption and infighting at the Vatican, were leaked to the media, triggering a major scandal.
So far, the overriding question of how the church particularly the Curia governs is topping the agenda after months of turmoil, including a leaks scandal that exposed waste and infighting at the Vatican.
Lombardi said Benedict would eventually return to the Vatican and live at a monastery inside the Vatican gardens.
Father Lombardi also further described Pope Benedict's final 48 hours as pontiff: On Tuesday, he was packing, arranging for documents to be sent to the various archives at the Vatican and separating out the personal papers he will take with him into retirement.
Yet many Jews believe that the Vatican has not gone far enough and are furious at Vatican efforts to make the war-time pope, Pius XII, a saint.
ECONOMIST: The pope reaches Israel in his tour of the Middle East
Pope Benedict XVI's resignation the first by a pope in some 600 years sparked a flurry of discussion over a range of issues, including the management of the Vatican's bank and the sluggish pace of reforms at the Roman Curia, the administrative body of the Vatican.
Gabriele has appointed two lawyers of his choice to act at the Vatican Tribunal, and has had a chance to meet them, the Vatican statement said.
CNN: No cardinal suspected of pope papers leak, Vatican insists
In his early 30s he'd already caught the eye of The Vatican and the Pope at the time and was made Spiritual Director of the Scots College in Rome.
The new pope attended Vatican II and supported it at the time, but has since come to think that it may have gone too far.
After visiting the Holy Land in May, he hosted former Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican for a joint prayer service.
The butler was convicted after a trial at the Vatican and was later pardoned by Benedict.
WSJ: Bid to Remake Church Will Focus on Vatican Administration
However, he is expected to spend his retirement in a monastery at the Vatican and his relationship with his successor as pope is bound to be an endless source of speculation, our correspondent adds.
But the pope promptly made him responsible for relations between Poland and the Vatican, while another liberal got his job at the Episcopacy.
Aside from preparing meals, she shopped at the Vatican supermarket and selected produce from the gardens at Castel Gandolfo.
FORBES: Pope Francis Used To Cook His Own Food; How Will He Eat In The Vatican?
The same rules have also been enforced at the Vatican's pharmacy, its post office and the few shops that operate in the tiny territory.
His absence also gave workers time to finish up renovations on the monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens that until last year housed groups of cloistered nuns who were invited for a few years at a time to live inside the Vatican to pray for the pontiff and church at large.
Pope Benedict spoke out against the abuse and was a driving force for Vatican measures aimed at cracking down on it, but the pope's response took more than a decade to develop and many victims of sexual abuse say the push for reform remains incomplete.
This appeal would be made to a higher calling: Abbas and Peres prayed for peace together Sunday at the Vatican home of Pope Francis.
Pope Benedict XVI's resignation the first in some 600 years sparked a flurry of discussion over a range of issues, including the management of the Vatican's bank and the sluggish pace of reforms aimed at making Holy See finances more transparent.
And at the end of a fine Sunday in Vatican City, the Roman Catholic church had its latest new saint, the 468th of John Paul II's papacy: Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, dead only in 1975 but founder some 70-plus years ago of Opus Dei, an order that has attracted more suspicion not only from anti-clericals than any but the Jesuits.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says that the findings were discussed at a meeting between US nuns' representatives and the head of the Vatican watchdog body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, German archbishop Ludwig Mueller.
We hope, though, that when the cardinals gather to pick Benedict's successor, they consider someone able and willing to clean out the Augean Stables at the Vatican itself.
Prof John Haldane, who is a professor of philosophy at St Andrews University and papal adviser to the Vatican, told a special Newsnight Scotland debating panel that the church only learned of the allegations nine days ago.
Davide Cito, a Vatican adviser and professor of canonical law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
WSJ: Tale of Two Popes: Pontiff's Exit Could Challenge Vatican
His papacy has been a bumpy one, marked by poor communication among his Vatican staff, and with the church at large.
In his first audience at the Vatican, he said Jesus Christ and not the Pope was the centre of the Church, which he stressed was "spiritual not political" in nature.
By doing this, the Pope has expressed his dissatisfaction at the way in which some German faithful are challenging the Vatican on such matters as abortion counselling, and allowing divorced persons to receive communion.
It also comes at a time of strained relations between the Vatican and Israel, which accused the pope of overlooking anti-Israeli terrorism.
In January 2011, al-Azhar suspended indefinitely its traditional dialogue with the Vatican in protest at what it said were "repetitive and negative statements" about Muslims by the Pope.
BBC: Pope resigns: Sunni authority al-Azhar eyes better ties
The issues of social justice and poverty came up when German Chancellor Angela Merkel had talks with the new Pope at the Vatican on Saturday.
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