Vatican arrests former nuncio accused of paedophilia

Jozef Wesolowski

The Vatican yesterday arrested a former archbishop accused of abusing minors while he was a papal envoy to the Dominican Republic.

Jozef Wesolowski, 66, a Pole who was defrocked by a Vatican tribunal in June, has been placed under house arrest awaiting a criminal trial. Wesolowski was recalled to Rome by the Vatican last year when he was still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and relieved of his duties after Dominican media accused him of pedophilia.

Holy See Press Office Director, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ told a press conference last night that it was Pope Francis' express will that grave cases regarding the abuse of minors by clergy be dealt with rigorously and without delay. Moreover with “the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy See”.

Fr Lombardi said the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice of the Court of First Instance issued the restrictive measure against former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski in light of the “grave facts of abuse against minors that took place in the Dominican Republic” where he had served as Nuncio.

He said, the “seriousness of the allegation” prompted the investigator’s office to issue the order.  However, due to the former Archbishop’s documented medical condition, he has been placed under house arrest at a facility within Vatican City State limits.

Wesolowski was reduced to the lay state following a canonical trial last June conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in which he was found guilty of the crime of child abuse.

Fr Lombardi said the initiative taken by Vatican City State’ judicial organs is "in accordance with the Pope’s express will that such a grave and delicate case be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigour and with the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy See”.

The former archbishop could face up to 12 years in jail in what will be the first trial for sexual abuse to be held inside the Vatican City.