Vatican orders former archbishop to stand trial for sex abuse

Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop and papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic, will stand trial on criminal charges of paying for sex with minors and possessing child pornography, the Vatican said on Monday. The trial, due to start on July 11, will be the first on such charges inside the tiny city-state that is the headquarters of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church. Vatican sources said the decision by the president of the Vatican’s tribunal to indict Wesolowski could not have been taken without a green light from Pope Francis. They said it was another sign of the pontiff’s intention to get tough on sex abuse by clergy.

It remains to be seen whether the Vatican City State will administer real justice (or if holding the trial in the Vatican) was effectively a way to protect the church from the damaging revelations…

Anne Barrett-Doyle of BishopAccountability.org

The Vatican said allegations of crimes committed in the Dominican Republic were based on an investigation by police there, but other charges were based on a Vatican investigation that found child pornography on Wesolowski’s computer after his arrest last September. Wesolowski was recalled to Rome by the Vatican in 2013 when he was still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and he was relieved of his duties after Dominican media accused him of paying boys to perform sexual acts.

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