The Vatican has placed a laicized papal ambassador under house arrest as he awaits a criminal trial for sexually abusing young boys.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement Tuesday regarding the case of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who served as nuncio to the Dominican Republic until August 2013.
The Vatican announced in June that a canonical court had investigated Wesolowski on charges of sex abuse in the Dominican Republic 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.
On Tuesday, Father Lombardi said that a Vatican prosecutor had summoned Wesolowski and informed him of the charges against him.
Because of the “gravity of the accusations,” investigators decided to arrest the former ambassador, Father Lombardi said, but “in light of the medical condition of the accused, supported by medical documentation,” he was placed under house arrest in Vatican City.
