Ex-nuncio, facing Vatican trial for sexual abuse, dead at 67

August 28, 2015

Jozef Wesolowski, the former papal nuncio and archbishop who was laicized for sexually abusing minors, died on August 28.

Wesolowski had been living under house arrest at the Vatican, and was facing a criminal trial before a Vatican tribunal on charges of the possession of child pornography and the sexual abuse of minors. His was seen as a key test of the determination of Pope Francis to enforce discipline on bishops involved in abuse. But his trial, scheduled to begin in July, was delayed when he was hospitalized.

Wesolowski, 67, was ordained to the priesthood (1972) and the episcopate (1999) by St. John Paul II. He served as apostolic nuncio to Bolivia (1999-2002); Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (2002-08); and the Dominican Republic (2008-13). He was charged with molesting boys at his last diplomatic assignment, and recalled to Rome.

Accused of child sexual abuse and the subject of investigations in both his native Poland and the Dominican Republic, Wesolowski resigned from his position as apostolic nuncio. In 2014, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found him guilty of sexual abuse in a canonical trial, and laicized him.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic and in Poland had expressed interest in bringing criminal charges against the former archbishop. But the Holy See chose to hold the criminal trial in a Vatican tribunal, reasoning that the former nuncio was immediately subject to Vatican law. Officials in both the Dominican Republic and Poland eventually agreed to cooperate with the Vatican prosecution.

The nature of the illness that forced Wesolowski into the intensive-care unit of a Roman hospital for two weeks in July, and presumably caused his death, has not been disclosed. He was found dead in his residence at the Vatican on Friday morning, August 28. An autopsy report is pending.

 

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Further information:

• Comunicato della Sala Stampa: decesso di S.E. Mons. Jozef Wesolowski (Holy See Press Office)
• Ex-nuncio, awaiting trial, returns to Vatican (CWN, 7/23)