VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register
by EDWARD PENTIN 06/27/2014
VATICAN CITY — A former papal diplomat has been convicted of sexually abusing minors and has been laicized, the Vatican announced today.
The news comes ahead of an expected meeting between Pope Francis and victims of clerical sex abuse at the Vatican next week.
In a statement, the Vatican said the first stage in the canonical trial against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, “has been concluded with the laicization of the prelate” and that he has “two months in which to make an eventual appeal.”
It added that the penal trial before the Vatican judicial authorities, following today’s ruling by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “will continue as soon as the canonical sentence has been made definitive.”
This further trial is necessary since, as a papal diplomat, he is a citizen of Vatican City.
Wesolowski, 66, is the most senior Vatican official to be investigated for alleged sex abuse. Until now, the Vatican has refrained from commenting on the charges against him and the exact nature of his offenses is not yet known.
Responding to media reports, the Vatican stressed that Wesolowski has until now been granted “relative freedom of movement, as he awaits the verification by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith of the basis of these accusations made against him.”
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