VATICAN CITY
St. Louis Post-Tribune
By FRANCES D’EMILIO The Associated Press
Vatican City • A former papal diplomat accused of sexually abusing teenage boys while stationed in the Dominican Republic has been hospitalized in intensive care, forcing adjournment of his trial Saturday in a Vatican courtroom for allegedly causing grave psychological harm to the victims and possessing an enormous quantity of child pornography.
Medical records showing that Jozef Wesolowski had been admitted Friday because of “sudden illness” to an intensive care unit of a Rome public hospital were presented by the prosecutor to the judge, who read it without revealing what ails the former prelate.
The 66-year-old Pole’s lawyer, Antonello Blasi, told journalists he hadn’t been told what the illness is.
“I saw him two or three days ago, and, given his age and his state of mind, he was fine,” Blasi said. The lawyer told the court that Wesolowski had been “willing and able” to come to court.
Wesolowski, who resides in a room in the courthouse, had been put under house arrest at the Vatican, but subsequently was allowed to go outdoors as long as he stays within the confines of Vatican City. …
When the trial resumes, those monitoring the Vatican’s handling of sex abuse scandals that started disgracing churchmen in the United States and elsewhere decades ago will watch t o see if testimony indicates top-ranking officials might have heard allegations about Wesolowski’s conduct but stayed quiet.
“If he is found guilty, the pressure will be on Pope Francis and the Vatican to cooperate in all the countries where he served,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopsAccountability.org, a watchdog group that follows the global abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
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