UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Donald Snyder | Sep. 6, 2014
Catholics in Poland are watching with interest the case of the Polish archbishop who has been laicized for sexually abusing minors while he served as papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic.
Most believe that Jozef Wesolowski, 66, a veteran Vatican diplomat who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic from 2008 until he was recalled in August 2013, will be tried in a Vatican court.
The Vatican announced June 27 that a canonical court had investigated Wesolowski on charges of sex abuse and concluded by dismissing him from the “clerical state,” depriving him of all rights and duties associated with being a priest except the obligation of celibacy. Wesolowski would face a criminal trial under the laws of Vatican City State, the Vatican said at the time.
But the Vatican’s spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, opened the possibility that Wesolowski could be extradited when he released a statement Aug. 25 that said when Wesolowski’s diplomatic activity ceased, so did his immunity.
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