ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Statement by SNAP leader Miguel Hurtado of the U.K/Spain
(outside the Vatican today in Rome) +44 7787 638245
One Polish Catholic official is a soon-to-be saint. A second one, however, is a fugitive.
When John Paul II celebrations wind down on Monday, we call on Francis to extradite Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski to Polish law enforcement authorities who want to charge him with sexually assaulting kids in the Dominican Republic.
Three months ago, The Tablet reported that “The Holy See said that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was a citizen of the Vatican, and that Vatican law did not allow for his extradition.”
This is hypocrisy, plain and simple.
Francis’ top aides claim that they only handle clergy sex crimes that happen on the soil of the tiny Vatican city/state itself. They said this to a United Nations panel in January. They’ll say it again to a similar UN panel next month.
Both can’t be true. The Vatican says
–it will deal with clergy sex crimes that happened in the Caribbean, but
–it can only deal with clergy sex crimes that happened in a tiny portion of Rome.
So Francis should either turn over the fugitive archbishop to secular authorities or reverse his silly claim that he can’t deal with in charge of the church across the globe.
NOTE – ANOTHER UPCOMING SNAP EVENT IN EUROPE
A few SNAP members from several nations will be in Geneva from April 30 through May 7 for a hearing on May 5 and 6 before the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which will consider whether Vatican officials are violating or complying with an international treaty regarding torture.
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