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Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski: A Most Wanted Man
Peter Borre
December 08, 2014
http://peterborre.com/2014/12/08/monsignor-jozef-wesolowski-a-most-wanted-man/
Overview
On December 3, 2014, the Vatican Information Service issued a Declaration “on the situation regarding the ex-nuncio Msgr. [Jozef] Wesolowski.”
The news hook was a meeting held that day between the Attorney General of the Dominican Republic and “the Promoter of Justice of the Tribunal of the Vatican City State.” The AG declared himself “satisfied” with cooperation from the Vatican which is keeping Wesolowski confined within the Vatican Walls, and plans to try him criminally.The Pope stated that it is important for “the truth to prevail always.”
The three-paragraph Declaration is attached to this post; worth reading for its careful phraseology.
For readers with short memories, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski is the former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, with the collateral duty of apostolic delegate to the Commonwealth of Porto Rico – a U.S. Territory (more on this later). A nuncio is the ambassador of the Holy See to the government of a country that has diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Wesolowski served as nuncio in the DR from 2008 until August, 2013 when he was “secretly recalled” to Rome (New York Times, August 23, 2014).
His prior diplomatic post as nuncio was to four of the Asian “Stans” (former Soviet Republics), from 2002 through 2008. There are detailed allegations against him of sexual abuse of minors in the DR, with on-the-record plaintiffs; also reports of his stash of porn involving minors, more than 100,000 pictures and videos. And he is wanted for questioning in his home country Poland, but per the Associated Press (December 1, 2014) the Polish authorities “cannot proceed…because the Vatican has refused to share the evidence.”
As bad as it is, this latest clergy sex abuse episode has the potential of getting much worse. As discussed below, there are several dangerous issues for the Vatican which could greatly expand the scope of this scandal, and its risks to the Vatican. In summary, these issues are:
The Vatican’s direct involvement through one of its senior diplomatic-service employees.
Multiple legal jurisdictions where the alleged abuse occurred:
The Dominican Republic and Poland, for starters.
And other countries where allegations may surface, perhaps the Stans, and the United States via his responsibility for Porto Rico.
Two associates of Wesolowski now in legal jeopardy, one in Poland and the other in the DR, who may flip and expand the story.
The distinct possibility of Wesolowski’s involvement with an organized international network of pedophiles, as reported by Italy’s newspaper of record, the Corriere della Sera, September 26, 2014.
Finally, the peculiar response of the Vatican to date, which raises the possibility of damage control verging on a cover-up.
Discussion
Wesolowski’s alleged abuse may create legal liability for the Vatican itself as his employer and direct supervisor through the Secretariat of State, and its foreign relations department, the Seconda Sezione – Rapporti con gli Stati .
In the U.S., diocesan bishops have settled abuse cases involving failure to supervise local priests, and billions of dollars have been paid.
But the Vatican has operated behind a layer of protection as a sovereign state. There are continuing efforts to breach this protective wall but under U.S. law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act so far has been a formidable legal barrier.
However, here’s a newsflash for tort lawyers:
The Vatican’s pockets are much deeper than those of any U.S. diocese. As reported in the New York Times recent report of December 5, the Vatican’s CFO Cardinal George Pell announced that,
“…his staff had turned up hundreds of millions of euros that the Vatican did not know it had. The funds were ‘tucked away’ in various accounts…the cardinal presented the found money [sic] as a happy surprise.”
The banknotes have undoubtedly been starched and pressed to a clean, white sheen.
There are multiple legal jurisdictions currently involved.
The Vatican City State for criminal charges not yet filed; the Holy See where the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has defrocked him, presumably for delicta graviora (graver crimes);
The Dominican Republic;
Poland;
The UN committee holding hearings on the Convention against Torture; sex abuse is legally recognized as a form of torture.;
Other jurisdictions may want in:
The U.S., if there are credible allegations involving Wesolowski’s trips to Porto Rico where his duties as Apostolic Delegate would have brought him frequently. Interestingly, the Vatican’s Annuario Pontificio describes the Delegates as “representing the Supreme Pontiff without diplomatic character [emphasis added],” i.e. immunity; tort lawyers, please bookmark;
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, where he served as nuncio from 2002 until 2008.
There are two supporting players in this curious cast who may be inclined to cut deals if pressed by prosecutors.
Fr Wojciech Gil, whose service in the DR (2009 to 2013) overlapped almost completely with Wesolowski’s, and is now under arrest in Poland; per the Times, “Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic say that Father Gil and Mr. [sic] Wesolowski spent time with young boys at the nuncio’s beach house.”
Santo Domingo Church Deacon Francisco Javier Occi Reyes who has stated that he procured young boys for Wesolowski; the deacon’s June, 2013, arrest for solicitation of minors and his subsequent frantic letters to Church authorities must have played a role in the Vatican’s swift and stealthy removal of Wesolowski from the DR less than two months later, in August of 2013.
Wesolowski may have been involved with a network of pedophiles.
Italy’s Corriere della Sera reported in September that “Wesolowski is suspected of belonging to an international network beyond what has emerged so far…”
The tens of thousands of electronic porn files of “youngsters aged between 13 and 17…” (the rest of the quote is much more graphic) were found on a desktop computer at the nunciature in the DR, and thousands more on Wesolowski’s laptop. It widely known by now that child porn on a cleric’s computer is a firing offense, so why compound the risk by having stashes on two computers? Perhaps because a desktop was needed for bulk storage, and a laptop for frequent travels.
The “more than 100,000 files of a sexual nature, to which must be added more than 45,000 deleted images” (Corriere’s article) indicates a long period of time to accumulate a porn library of this magnitude; and probably extensive Internet connections to download, forward and share. One hopes that the ISPs in Santo Domingo are being checked thoroughly.
From the Corriere, “Analysis of his network connections, email and other writings stored on the hard disk could reveal the identify of those with whom he exchanged images and provide leads to his connections.”
Given the likelihood that Wesolowski’s abusive behavior went back several years, in the event that it could be shown that his Rome direct supervisors had received credible indications of his crimes, whether from concerned colleagues or possibly through run-ins with local law enforcement, the Vatican might be on the hook for child endangerment, depending upon where-and-when the alleged offenses occurred.
Finally, from the secretive and improvised response of the Vatican over the past 16 months its strategy seems to be a combination of concealment and containment.
Pulling Wesolowski stealthily and swiftly out of the DR in August of 2013 shows a definite lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Vatican for doing the right thing, namely waiving diplomatic immunity and turning him over to DR law enforcement.
Since August of 2013, the Vatican has lagged events, rather than leading them. Wesolowski was spotted walking freely in downtown Rome in June, 2014, by a DR auxiliary bishop; the bishop’s outraged tweet put the Vatican into high gear.
Since there was a substantial risk that the DR might ask Italy to arrest and extradite Wesolowki, the Vatican pulled him back into the confines of its sovereign territory (all 105 acres of it), and has kept him under tight control ever since.
Finally, the prevailing Vatican talking point seems to be that the truth will prevail, and the Vatican’s own legal processes, both canonical and criminal, will suffice.
The contorted language of the Vatican Information Service’s recent Declaration indicates that both the Holy See and the Vatican City State (take your pick) are deeply concerned, but in classic Roman style much is left unsaid. Some of the peculiar language in the Declaration;
The term Vatican City State is used throughout, as in: “The Magistrature of Vatican City State…has already questioned the defendant.”
So this case is now within the Vatican City State, although it also remains within the Holy See if (probable) Wesolowski has filed an appeal against his June, 2014 conviction by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In poker parlance this dual language is an obvious tell, manifesting nervousness about legal jeopardy to the Holy See itself.
The Vatican City State as a legal entity was invented in 1929 for the execution of the historic Lateran Pacts between Fascist Italy and the Holy See.
For almost 60 years before, from the storming of Rome and what was left of the Papal States by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870, the popes of the day considered themselves prisoners in the Vatican.
Until normalization of relations in 1929 with the Lateran Pacts, the Catholic Church at its highest level had no legal expression, so the technical solution in 1929 was to create the Vatican City State entity as a legal convenience to transact secular legal business, while keeping the Holy See – and its patrimony – protected and off stage.
Since then the Vatican has been very careful to differentiate between the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Certain autonomous organs do not fall within the Holy See, but operate “in the name of the Sovereign Pontiff,” notably the Vatican Bank (sigh) and the Tribunals of the Vatican City State.
Putting the criminal proceedings against Wesolowski under the Vatican City State’s Tribunals keeps this explosive case out of the hands of the Holy See’s judiciary, i.e. the Apostolic Signatura.
However, the parallel judiciary systems of the Holy See and the Vatican City State actually meet at the summit, sort of:
The Tribunals of the Vatican City State are multi-level, with a panel at their highest appellate level consisting of three Signatura cardinals, including its prefect, sitting not as the Signatura but as the Tribunals’ Corte di Cassazione.
This ultimate involvement of the Holy Signatura’s prefect as presiding judge over proceedings of the Vatican City State’s Tribunals might explain the recent sudden removal of Cardinal Raymond Burke as the Signatura’s prefect.
To which you might say, “bananas.” But in all fairness, is this explanation of Burke’s removal any less plausible than the one offered just a few days ago by the Pope himself in an interview with Argentina’s La Nacion, where he suggested that Burke wanted the transfer from the highest judicial position in the Holy See to the chaplaincy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Via dei Condotti, right next to the Hermès Boutique)?
End Comment
Apologies to renowned author John le Carré for borrowing for this post the title of his wonderful book, A Most Wanted Man; on Amazon.
More than half a century of superb fiction from him, from A Call for the Dead in 1961 to A Delicate Truth in 2013. Amazing.
And one other English connection, lest you think that the Church Universal has a monopoly on lurid pedophilia scandals. Just a few weeks ago one of the most senior British government officials went on a popular evening talk show, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Home Secretary and minister for women and equality. As the U.K.’s homeland security chief, with Britain’s legendary domestic spy organization MI-5 in her domain, she is thoroughly informed on criminal matters. She is also on every short list as an eventual prime minister. And this was the jaw-dropping lede in The Telegraph on November 23 last, reporting on her comments:
Revelations that politicians allegedly murdered and raped young boys is “only the tip of the iceberg” in the Westminster historic child abuse scandal, Theresa May has warned. [‘Westminster’ is the part of London with Parliament and government buildings; something like Capitol Hill/Pennsylvania Avenue.]
Is it beyond imagining to wonder whether there might be some kind of overlap between two scandals involved pedophilia organized on a vast scale?
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