Disgraced priest buried in Poland

The News
September 6, 2015

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/220071,Disgraced-priest-buried-in-Poland

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski

Former nuncio Józef Wesołowski charged by a Vatican court of sexually abusing minors and being in possession of child pornography was buried in Poland on Saturday.

Wesołowski was buried in the southern village of Czorsztyn, after a funeral ceremony in the Vatican on Monday.

Eight minutes of silence replaced a homily for the disgraced former archbishop, who died before his trial had finished.

Excerpts of a letter to family members were read out at the ceremony in which Wesołowski declared his innocence. "They accuse of me deeds which I never committed," it read, according to the Polish press agency, PAP.

Wesołowski, 67, died in his room at the Vatican on 27 August awaiting trial in a Holy See court. A preliminary autopsy reportedly showed he had died of a heart attack.

Polish-born Wesołowski had been waiting for the resumption of a trial in which he had been accused of pedophilia.

Shortly before the trial was due to start on 10 former archbishop July Wesołowski was taken into intensive care and was discharged after a few days.

The scandal was associated with allegations of pedophilia that erupted in the Vatican at the beginning of September 2013.

In August, Wesołowski was dismissed from his post of apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, which he had held for five years after a long diplomatic career in many countries around the world.

Allegedly Wesołowski had forced minors into sexual acts, and his computer contained huge quantities of child pornography. One of his victims was reported to be a 13-year-old epileptic who, in exchange for sexual favours, received medication.

Wesołowski was defrocked by the Vatican in late 2013, and his trial was meant to be the first time a high-ranking church official has faced a Vatican judge.