Vatican Defrocks Ex-ambassador for Abuse of Minors

By Liam Moloney
Wall Street Journal
June 27, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/articles/vatican-defrocks-ex-archbishop-for-abuse-of-minors-1403887648

The Vatican has ordered the defrocking—the maximum penalty for a member of the clergy—of its highest-level official in recent times for the alleged sexual abuse of minors, as the Catholic Church is determined to show its no-tolerance policy toward clerical abusers.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, ordered in recent days that Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the Holy See's former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, be laicized following a canonical trial, said the Holy See in a statement.

The ruling means that he is forbidden from exercising his priesthood activities.

"He has been found guilty of being a pedophile," said Rev. Ciro Benedettini, deputy head of the Holy See press office.

Archbishop Wesolowski, 65 years old, has two months to appeal the guilty finding, said the Vatican. Should the appeal confirm the defrocking, he can ultimately turn to Pope Francis to seek a reversal of the decision.