September 8, 2013 -- Updated 2238 GMT (0638 HKT)
The pope has pulled out the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican
Republic, a move a local church representative says is linked to child
abuse allegations. FULL STORY
Pope pulls ambassador to Dominican Republic amid abuse allegations
September 4, 2013 -- Updated 1959 GMT (0359 HKT)
Pope Francis is seen during his weekly open-air general audience on September 4, 2013 in St.Peters square at the Vatican.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: "We have formally opened an investigation," the attorney general says
- The pope recalls the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican Republic
- A report connected the nuncio to child abuse and pedophilia, church rep says
- Wesolowski could not be reached for comment
"We have formally opened
an investigation," Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito
told reporters. "Here we have to work with two legal aspects, first
national laws and also international laws in his status as a diplomat,
which implies other mechanisms of investigation and judgment."
The Vatican confirmed
Wednesday that Jozef Wesolowski had been removed from his post and that
an investigation is under way but did not say what allegations were
made.
Wesolowski had been an apostolic nuncio, the Vatican's official representative in the Dominican Republic.
But the pope pulled him
from the post last month after an internal church report connected him
with child abuse and pedophilia, according to Monsignor Agripino Nunez
Collado, the rector of a Catholic university and spokesman for the
church in the country.
Pope vows action against sex abuse
How will Pope Francis handle sex abuse?
"It is a situation that
really shames and hurts the conscience of all Catholics," he told
reporters Tuesday. "Really when there are these kinds of situations,
justice must be done."
The former nuncio's whereabouts were unclear Wednesday, and he could not be reached by CNN en Español for comment.
The situation goes beyond
the authority of Dominican church officials, Nunez said, because
Wesolowski was the Vatican's envoy there.
"It was a surprise for
me. It is an unprecedented case," Nunez said. "An ambassador of the Holy
See, that it reaches that level."
Vatican spokesman
Federico Lombardi confirmed Wesolowski's removal and that "an
investigation is ongoing regarding the accusations moved toward him."
The church's sexual
abuse guidelines allow local dioceses to make the initial decisions on
the removal of accused priests. Papal nuncios, however, are appointed
and supervised by the Vatican.
Before he was elected pope, Francis said that he supports a "zero tolerance" approach to clergy sexual abuse.
In 2012, when Francis was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, he said
that when he was asked for advice by another bishop, "I told him to
take away the priests' licenses, not to allow them to exercise the
priesthood any more, and to begin a canonical trial in that diocese's
court."
For years, the Catholic
Church has faced calls for reform in the wake of scandals involving the
sexual abuse of children by priests and allegations of corruption.
Shortly after his election to the papacy, Francis told a senior Vatican official to "act decisively" against sexual abuse and carry out "due proceedings against the guilty."
In July, the pope made it a crime to abuse children sexually or physically on Vatican grounds.
The acts were already crimes under church law, but are now specifically
outlawed within the Vatican city-state, which is home to hundreds of
people.
Journalist Livia Borghese and CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, Daniel Burke and Hada Messia contributed to this report.
TOP LATIN AMERICAN STORIES
- Jose Manuel de la Torre pays price for Mexico's World Cup struggles
- Venezuelan lawmaker vows to fight for Syria's al-Assad
- Family of slain Chilean singer seeks justice in U.S.
- Tropical Storm Gabrielle nears Puerto Rico
- Earthquake hits waters off Costa Rica
- Nyad completes record-breaking swim | Photos
- Hunt for killer 'Diana' in Mexico
- Usain Bolt to retire after 2016 Olympics
- Report: U.S. spied on Mexico, Brazil
- copy http://edition.cnn.com
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário