The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made the order against Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

The order against Polish-born Wesołowski is thought to be the first such move taken against a papal ambassador for sexual abuse.

The archbishop will have two months to prepare an appeal against the ruling.

Wesolowski was removed from his Dominican Republic post last August with little explanation.

The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, reported allegations against Wesolowski to Pope Francis.

News accounts at the time gave accounts of paying for sex with minors and being connected to a Polish priest accused of sexually assaulting at least 14 underage boys.

The Vatican said at the time it would co-operate with Dominican authorities.

The CDF statement does not declare Wesolowski guilty of any specific crime.

It states that the first part of a canonical process against him has been finished and that he has been dismissed from the clerical state.

The Holy See also announced that the archbishop faces criminal charges in the Vatican courts.

Proceedings will reportedly start after the conclusion of any appeal against the laicisation order.

Wesolowski could risk extradition to the Dominican Republic, if he is found guilty in a criminal trial.

A CDF statement noted that Wesołowski has been at liberty in Rome since he was recalled, saying the archbishop has had a "relative freedom of movement".

"Taking into account the sentence now pronounced by the dicastery . . . there will be taken against the former nuncio all measures appropriate to the seriousness of the case," the statement noted.

Laicisation means the archbishop can no longer perform priestly duties or present himself as a priest.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic are investigating Wesołowski, who was appointed as nuncio to the country in 2008, but they have yet to announce any charges.

Investigations in Poland are also continuing.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• The Tablet
• The Independent
• Image: Not in Honduras

Bishop Victor Masalles, an auxiliary of the Santo Domingo archdiocese in the Dominican Republic said that he recently saw Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski "walking along the Via della Scrofa".

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic say they have convincing evidence that Wesolowki molested young men.

He has also been accused of abuse in his native Poland.

The former nuncio to the Dominican Republic was recalled to Rome last year.

The Vatican has promised to cooperate with Dominican and Polish prosecutors.

It has stated that as a citizen of the Vatican city-state, Archbishop Wesolowski is also subject to criminal prosecution there.

But Bishop Masalles said that the Vatican's failure to clarify the status of the former nuncio is damaging.

"The silence of the Church has injured the People of God," he said.

Speaking to a United Nations committee in May, Archbishop SilvanoTomasi confirmed previous Vatican statements about Wesolowski.

The former nuncio is the subject of a canonical investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as a criminal investigation by the Vatican police and court.

Weslowski is widely believed to be one of the three bishops that Pope Francis has said were being investigated in connection with abuse investigations.

On his flight back from the Holy Land in May, the Pope told reporters "three bishops are under investigation" for misdeeds related to the sexual abuse of minors and that "one has already been condemned and his penalty is being studied".

One of the bishops thought to be among the three alluded to by the Pope has been cleared of abuse allegations.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith concluded that Bishop Cristian Contreras Molina of San Felipe in Chile was innocent of abuse accusations against him.

The local district attorney's office in Chile has also closed its investigation.

Bishop Molina said the accusations were a slander.

Paraphrasing Pope Francis' words, he added that "there is no place in the Church for priests who abuse minors".

Sources

• Catholic World News
• The Catholic Register
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Prosecutors earlier said they have opened an investigation into allegations that two Polish priests, including a Vatican envoy, sexually abused boys in the Dominican Republic.

Bishop Wojciech Polak, secretary of the Episcopate, told a news conference that the Church is seeking to make amends, including to Dominican victims, and work on prevention of such abuse.

"The victims have been profoundly wronged," Polak said. "It is a very painful situation, and we sympathize with the victims because their trust has been violated," an Associated Press report quoted Polak.

"Sorry is the least that can be said," he said.

Poland has obtained sufficient information from Dominican investigators to open a probe into pedophilia allegations against the two Polish priests, one of whom has diplomatic status, according to Mateusz Matyniuk, a spokesman for the prosecutor general.

He gave no names, but Dominican prosecutors have identified them as papal nuncio Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski and the Rev. Wojciech Gil, a parish priest.

The Vatican has recalled Wesolowski from the Dominican Republic on Aug. 21, and relieved him of his mission as apostolic nuncio after learning of the allegations against him from Dominican church authorities.

Source

AP/Huffington Post

Image: Huffington Post

A special prosecutor had been appointed to investigate Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, who has been ambassador to Santo Domingo for nearly six years.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Holy See had started a probe of Wesolowski and that he had been recalled "in the last few weeks," specifically over the pedophilia accusations.

"He has been relieved of his duties and the Holy See has begun an investigation," Lombardi said.

The attorney general of the Dominican Republic said his office is investigating what he termed "rumors" of abuse against Wesolowski.

Francisco Dominguez Brito said his office had received no formal complaints of abuse and was responding to media reports.

The whereabouts of the 65-year-old Wesolowski are unknown.

Sources

Reuters/NBC News

AP/ABC News

AP/Fox News

Image: AP/NBC News