DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
TribTown
By EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ Associated Press
First Posted: September 05, 2013
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The Vatican’s recently ousted ambassador to the Dominican Republic has not been accused of child sex abuse, Catholic Church officials in the country said Thursday, while refusing to shed any light on the envoy’s sudden ouster.
Amid an outcry in the largely Catholic country, and a newly opened investigation by the attorney general’s office, senior church leaders portrayed the removal of Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski as an administrative matter.
“Church authorities are always evaluating on an annual basis every priest. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a criminal matter,” said the Rev. Manuel Ruiz, who acted as a spokesman for the Dominican church’s leadership at a news conference in the capital.
Pedro Joaquin Dominguez, general secretary of the Dominican bishop’s conference, said that there have been no accusations of child sex abuse against Wesolowski, who was the Vatican’s representative in the country from 2008 until he was removed Aug. 21.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.