The Vatican defrocked its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic for sexually abusing boys in the first time a top papal envoy has been convicted of the crime, according to Reuters.
The Vatican said Friday that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was found guilty by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and sentenced to the harshest penalty possible against a cleric under canon law: laicization, meaning he can no longer perform priestly duties or present himself as a priest, Reuters reported.
Wesolowski has two months to appeal and after the canonical case is finished, he faces a separate criminal trial in the Vatican City State's tribunal, which could carry a jail term if he is convicted, according to Reuters. The Vatican said it would take "adequate measures" to ensure Wesolowski doesn't flee pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Pope Francis has told reporters"there were no privileges" for anyone who violated a child and promised "zero tolerance" for abuse at all levels, Reuters reported.
The Holy See recalled the Polish-born Wesolowski on Aug. 21, and relieved him of his job after the archbishop of Santo Domingo told Francis about rumors that Wesolowski had sexually abused teenage boys in the Dominican Republic, according to Reuters. Prosecutors there say he allegedly paid boys to masturbate.
Dominican authorities opened an investigation, but never charged him on the grounds that Wesolowski had diplomatic immunity. Poland, too, opened an investigation, Reuters reported. On Friday, the Dominican prosecutor general, Francisco Domínguez Brito, expressed satisfaction with the canonical verdict.
"This decision paves the way for a penal sentence, which should condemn him," Brito said, according to Reuters.
Wesolowski's case had initially raised questions about whether the Vatican, by extracting him from Dominican jurisdiction, was protecting him and placing its own investigations ahead of those in the Caribbean nation, Reuters reported. The case was cited by two U.N. committees that grilled the Vatican earlier this year on its sex abuse record. But Vatican officials assured committee members that justice would be served.
