Józef Wesołowski (born 15 July 1948 - 28 August 2015) is a Polish former prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was forcibly laicized by the Holy See in 2014. He was the Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic from January 2008 until he was recalled in August 2013. Authorities in the Dominican Republic are investigating allegations of child abuse against him. In June 2015, it was announced by the Vatican that he would stand trial for charges of possessing child pornography, and faced a possible prison term.

Career

Wesołowski was born in Nowy Targ, now a part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship, on 15 July 1948. He was ordained a Catholic priest in Kraków on 21 May 1972 by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II. He was appointed as nuncio to Bolivia on 3 November 1999. On 6 January 2000 he was consecrated Titular Archbishop of Slebte by Pope John Paul. During the course of 2002 he was appointed as nuncio to the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On 24 January 2008 he was appointed nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

Investigations

On 21 August 2013, Wesołowski was dismissed by Pope Francis and left the Dominican Republic immediately. Initial rews reports from Italy attributed the departure of Wesołowski to a three-year dispute between the latter and Roberto González Nieves, the archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In this regard, the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez told to the press on 27 August that Wesołowski was "a great friend and a great advocate of peace", and explained that the dispute between Wesołowski and González was because of the latter’s support for Puerto Rican independence.

However, on 2 September 2013, the Dominican investigative reporter Nuria Piera reported that Wesołowski’s dismissal was because of his involvement in child abuse. By then it was believed that Wesołowski had left the Dominican Republic. The next day Agripino Núñez Collado, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher, said that Wesołowski had been recalled to the Vatican because of child abuse allegations. The leadership of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic disavowed Núñez Collado and stated that the dismissal of the nuncio was "routine", it also labeled as "rumors" the allegations of child abuse against Wesołowski.

On 4 September 2013, Dominican Republic authorities launched an investigation into Wesołowski's conduct. The Vatican confirmed there was an investigation into Wesołowski by both the Vatican and the Dominican Republic authorities and that he had been recalled by the Vatican. A Vatican spokesperson denied that allegations of child abuse were the basis for the recall, but said the allegations were serious enough to suspend Wesołowski during the investigation. Local church leaders later denied that Wesołowski was being investigated for child abuse and described his recall as an administrative procedure.

A priest accused along with Wesołowski, Wojciech Gil, had returned home to Poland, and Dominican investigators provided their Polish counterparts with extensive documentation of criminal allegations against him in September, since Poland and the Dominican Republic have no extradition treaty. Gil had been suspended from his duties in May 2013 while on vacation in his native Poland. He has said the charges against him are the work of drug gangsters opposed to his educational work. Polish officials arrested Gil on 17 February 2014.

In January 2014 there were reports that the Vatican had refused to extradite Wesołowski to his native Poland, based on the Vatican's reply to an inquiry from District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw that said: "Archbishop Wesołowski is a citizen of the Vatican, and Vatican law does not allow for his extradition." According to Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi, no extradition request had been made and the Vatican, Poland, and the Dominican Republic were cooperating with one another. He said that Wesołowski is subject to a canonical investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and possible outcomes could include his laicization. He also said that criminal charges to be tried in a Vatican court were a possibility.

On 27 June 2014, the Vatican Press Office announced that the first stage of the canonical trial of Wesołowski had ended with his laicisation. A laicized cleric is forbidden to exercise ministerial functions under nearly all circumstances. In general, any exercise of his power to administer the Sacraments is considered valid but illicit, except in extraordinary circumstances.

On the following 23 September, the Vatican held an opening hearing in criminal proceedings against Wesołowski. Because of his health, he remains under house arrest for the duration of the trial rather than under more restrictive detention. According to Lombardi, Wesolowski no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity and is subject to any judicial procedures that may be brought against him. According to a report prepared by IT investigators for the prosecutors, thousands of sexually explicit photographs and videos have been found on computers he used. They are using technical data they have recovered to reconstruct Wesołowski's contacts in the course of his diplomatic career.

Gian Piero Milan, the Vatican's Promoter of Justice, and Francisco Domínguez Brito, the Attorney General of the Dominican Republic, discussed Wesołowski's case before Pope Francis met with Dominguez Brito on December 3. Domingues Brito told the Pope he and Milan had "looked into the procedures, legal competencies and steps to follow, in line with Vatican criminal procedures". According to the Pope's spokesman, Francis "underlined that the institutions of both judicial systems must act with complete freedom and within the law".

Prosecution

Wesolowski was indicted on June 2015 by a Vatican prosecutor for possessing child pornography, with a trial date set for 11 July.

The trial was postponed on 11 July because of an 'unexpected illness' which put him into intensive care.