Archbishop accused of child sex abuse died of ‘heart event’

VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Sat, Aug 29, 2015

The Holy See today stated that the autopsy on the former papal nuncio Josef Wesolowski, who died on Thursday night in the Vatican, has concluded that he died as a result of a “heart event”.

In its statement, the Holy See said that the autopsy was carried out by a “commission of three experts”, led by professor of forensic medicine Giovanni Arcudi of Rome’s Tor Vergata University, adding:

“The autopsy took place [Friday] afternoon and, from initial examination of the corpse, it was determined the natural cause of death was attributed to a heart event.”

Archbishop Josef Wesolowski was charged with child abuse and possession of child pornography. In June 2014, he was found guilty by a church disciplinary panel and deemed no longer fit to serve as a priest. Photograph: Danny Polanco/EPAArchbishop on trial for paedophile crimes found dead in Vatican

The statement said that, in the coming days, “the [chief prosecutor] will receive further results of the usual laboratory tests . . . ”

Archbishop Wesolowski (67), formerly papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic, was about to stand trial in a Vatican City court, accused of a wide variety of criminal offences relating to paedophilia.

His sudden death has prompted intense specultation.

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.