VATICAN CITY: A former archbishop and papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic fell ill and was taken to an intensive care unit ahead of the planned opening of his trial on Saturday for alleged child sex offenses, a Vatican official said.
The official gave no further information.
Jozef Wesolowski, a former Polish archbishop and “apostolic nuncio,” or Vatican ambassador, in Santo Domingo, is accused of paying boys to perform sexual acts. He also faces charges of downloading indecent images of children from the Internet.
He is the first high-ranking Roman Catholic official to stand trial in the Vatican on sex abuse charges and the case is seen as an important test of Pope Francis’s drive to clean up the Church, which has been battered by repeated sex scandals.
Critics have accused the Vatican of regularly trying to hush up the controversies. In an effort to make the clergy accountable for their actions around the world, Pope Francis has re-written Church rules, opening the way for Wesolowski’s trial.
Wesolowski, 66, was recalled to Rome in 2013 when accusations first surfaced and the pope ordered a criminal investigation, leading to his arrest last September.
Former Vatican ambassador hospitalized ahead of trial
