This has been in the news in the Dominican Republic for a while now, but it was easy to ignore the local media, let’s see if a little article in the NY Times helps get the word out. Here’s the deal:
Two polish priests are caught abusing children (they even helped each other). As it happens one of those was the Vatican ambassador to the DR. Once word started getting out the lowly priest fled back to Poland (and to Poland’s credit, he was convicted there), the ambassador was “recalled” back to the Vatican, where he was defrocked, and is apparently doing some tourism about town. The Vatican asserted his diplomatic immunity in advance of any effort to extradite him. The Vatican plans (one hopes) to indict him there. No word on how they’ll do that, seeing as the victims are all back in the DR.
That article has so much slime you’ll need a shower after reading it. The best part: he had sex with a minor with Parkinsons in exchange for medication to control his condition. Such a generous guy.
Please notice the reaction of our local head creep, the Cardinal. Another upstanding citizen only fit as meat for hyenas.
Oops, I must be really bad at searching, I couldn’t find any thread about it. Can somebody summon a friendly mod to move my post there, please? I am not sure how to do that, maybe some kind of incantation.
This would be a good opportunity for the Vatican to withdraw his diplomatic immunity for this offense and have him extradited when the request is made.
The Pope cannot directly do anything official to the Cardinal, who according to my understanding of Catholic law, is the top authority in his sovereign diocese, but he can send a note and release it to the public stating that this matter should be taken care of by local laws and that it would be appreciated that either sides right to a fair trial should not be influenced by the former priests powerful friends.
Let’s not be too hasty. Don’t you have some things you’d like to say here in The BBQ Pit about the situation that might not be appropriate in Great Debates?
FTR, I grew up Catholic, even attended Catholic school for 12 years. Growing up the word in the streets is that “all” priests had mistresses, even kids, never heard a word about child abuse.
This has shaken DR Catholics something fierce (about time), the level of slime in the local church has become evident to anyone with two eyes. This doesn’t lower my opinion of the local RCC by much though. It was very low already.
Admittedly there’s a fair amount of nuance in this article, but on the surface it appears that Wesolowski has been stripped of his immunity and could well be on his way back to the DR in the not-too-distant future. He’s currently appealing a tribunal decision to defrock him, and after that’s decided (October?) he’ll be facing a Vatican criminal court.
The article also mentions that it’s not unusual to recall a diplomat who is facing legal difficulties, and cites a recent incident where the US removed an official who had killed a man in a traffic accident in Kenya. Granted that the Vatican would be well advised to go above&beyond where pedophilia is concerned, but it’s not (necessarily) further evidence of coverup.
Yeah, keep this thread open in case the usual suspects start falling over themselves explaining how by the exact wording of criminal and canon law, no one involved, except possibly the victims, did anything wrong.
In the early 60’s my brother wasn’t allowed to be alone in the same room with my priest uncle, everyone knew he was a piece of shit pedophile, but he was still revered by most of the family and his parishioners. I enjoyed the day his name appeared in the Boston Globe (posthumously) alone with the rest of the pedos.
I’d like to see a video of the Pope personally chopping the head off this pedophile cardinal with a Swiss halbred - presimably, while chasing him around the Vatican.
