The Dominican Republic is investigating
allegations of child sex abuse against Polish-born papal envoy
Archbishop Josef Wesolowski (pictured) following his abrupt removal by
the Vatican, the attorney general said.
The news came as Irish-born priest Father John O'Reilly was ordered
under house arrest in Chile, amid a widening pedophilia scandal that has
engulfed the Legion of Christ in Chile.
O'Reilly, a senior figure in the order, was detained while authorities
investigate allegations against him and others at an exclusive school
run by the order in Santiago.
Officials said O'Reilly is barred from leaving home and has been denied
the right to leave the country.
He also has been relieved of all his
priestly duties and forbidden from having contact with minors.
In the Dominican Republic, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito
said his office is aware only of rumors about the papal nuncio,
Archbishop Wesolowski, and has not received any accusations.
A Vatican spokesman, reverend Federico Lombardi, confirmed that
Polish-born Wesolowski had been removed from his post and that the
church was investigating.
Dominguez said the investigation is in response to media reports of
allegations of sexual misconduct by Wesolowski as well as a friend and
fellow priest.
“We will not allow anyone to use the Catholic Church or other religious
institutions as a shield to commit illegal acts, especially against
children,'' he said.
Wesolowski's sudden departure from the Dominican Republic in recent days
has been the cause of feverish speculation in local media.
Dominican
television network NCDN, citing a statement from the director of a
community group, reported that Wesolowski had slept in the same room as
several altar boys at his beach house.
Shortly before his removal, several residents of the mountain town of
Juncalito made allegations of sexual abuse against reverend Alberto Gil
Wojciech, also a Polish priest and a friend of Wesolowski.
The community
leader, Pedro Espinal, said Wojciech took altar boys to the home of
Wesolowski.
Wojciech was in Poland on vacation when the allegations surfaced and has not returned to the Dominican Republic.
In Chile, the Legion of Christ, a group of priests and seminarians
founded in Mexico in 1941, became embroiled in scandal in 2005 when its
founder and leader, Marcial Maciel, stepped down amid sexual abuse
allegations.
Maciel, who died in 2008, was accused of having sexually abused various children.
Father O'Reilly was the chaplain and spiritual director at the
prestigious Colegio Cumbres run by the religious order until July of
last year.
Some 20 priests have been embroiled in Chile's widening sex abuse scandal, and so far five have been convicted.
Pope Benedict XVI had named Wesolowski to the post in 2008. He had
previously served as papal nuncio in Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, Kyrgzstan
and Uzbekistan, and before that, Bolivia.
He was ordained a priest in 1972 and entered into the Vatican's
diplomatic service in 1980, serving in Vatican embassies in Africa,
Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, India and Denmark, the Catholic news
agency Zenit reported when he was named Dominican nuncio in 2008.
In addition to being the Vatican's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Wesolowski was also apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico.