Mags GarganVatican prosecutor has informed Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski of the charges against him
The Vatican has placed a laicised papal ambassador under house arrest as he awaits a criminal trial for sexually abusing young boys.
Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a statement regarding the case of former Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski (pictured), a Pole 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.
Last week, Fr Lombardi said, a Vatican prosecutor summoned Wesolowski and informed him of the charges against him. Because of the ìgravity of the accusationsî, investigators decided to arrest the former ambassador but ìin light of the medical condition of the accused, supported by medical documentationî, he was placed under house arrest in Vatican City.
Fr Lombardi said Vatican authorities had acted in accordance with the ìwill expressed by the Pope that such a grave and delicate case might be addressed without delay, with the just and necessary rigour, with the full assumption of responsibility by the institutions of the Holy Seeî.
In August, the Vatican denied covering up for Wesolowski by bringing him back to Rome last year and suggested he might also have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.