August 28, 2014
Column #1,722
Vatican Hides Predator Archbishop
By Mike McManus Where is Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski of the Dominican
Republic? No one knows. This is a scandal at several levels, but I regret to say
it begins with Pope Francis.
The Pope called priestly sexual abuse “a leprosy in our house.” He met recently
with victims of sexual abuse by priests, and told them, the Church “should weep
and make reparation” for any such crimes.
In May he vowed “zero tolerance” for abusers and said bishops would be held
accountable if they covered up crimes of any who violated children. I believed
him.
Sadly, no longer. The Pope has not kept his word.
In 2008 Archbishop Weslowski was sent to the Dominican Republic as the Vatican’s
ambassador or nuncio. At age 23 he was ordained a priest in Poland by then
Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II.
On Sunday in a page 1 story, the New York Times reported that a Dominican TV
crew learned last year that the papal nuncio went to the beach to pick up young
boys, who he paid for various sexual acts.
One was Francis Aquino Aneury, now aged 17, who earned $1.50 a day shining
shoes. But the balding man with a baseball cap gave him more than $10 when they
met three years ago, to swim naked in the ocean while Wesolowski watched.
Gradually, the man wanted more and paid $25 to $135 for sexual acts, such as
watching the boy masturbate.
“I felt very bad,” said Aquino. “I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I
needed the money,” he told the Times.
The nuncio noticed the TV crew and disappeared from the waterfront. But he began
sending a young church deacon to procure boys. On June 24, 2013 the police
jailed him for soliciting minors.
No one bailed him out. So the deacon wrote to Wesolowski, saying “We have
offended God” by sexually abusing children “for crumbs of money” so that “your
sexual appetite can be satisfied. Hopefully you will consider asking God for
forgiveness.”
The deacon mailed a copy to Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, head of
the nation’s Catholic Church. A year ago Wesoloski was secretly recalled to Rome
where he met with Pope Francis. This action violated Vatican guidelines which
say that criminal sexual accusations should be reported to local police.
In September the TV station broadcast the story in which a boy asserted he had
been abused. That prompted the local district attorney to interview four boys
aged 12 to 17 with similar accusations. She said the case should have been
prosecuted in the Dominican Republic:
“These children who were abused and their families and the Dominican society
have a legitimate right to see Jozef Wesolowski judged by a jury, not as a
diplomat, but for what he really is, a child abuser.”
What happened to Wesolowski? He’s faced the harshest penalty possible under
church law, other than excommunication. On June 27 he was defrocked by the
Vatican and is now a layman. The Vatican also plans to try him on criminal
charges, the first time it has held a criminal trial for sexual abuse.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests –
is not impressed: “Throughout the whole affair the Vatican kept silent, quietly
whisked him abroad, and let the man walk freely in the literal and figurative
power center of Catholics.
“They rebuffed secular authorities who want to prosecute – as they have done for
centuries. The Vatican is saying one thing but doing another. The Archbishop
could be anywhere. By defrocking him, they have enabled him to escape. They have
increased the odds he will flee – or has fled.”
The deacon remains in jail, but Wesolowski has disappeared.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated case, a Catholic diocese in Missouri was ordered this
week to pay $1.1 million to victims of sexual abuse. Why? Bishop Robert Finn,
who promised he’d report any new cases of child abuse so that “there will never,
ever be a repeat of the behaviors” that led the church to pay $10 million to
victims.
However, Father Shawn Ratigan was discovered with hundreds of photographs of
girls on his computer. He pled guilty to child pornography and was sentenced to
50 years in prison.
Bishop Finn was found guilty of a misdemeanor of failing to report Father
Ratigan, sparking the new fine.
Yet Pope Francis has not removed the Bishop, as he promised.
The cover up continues – not “zero tolerance.”
|
|
Since 1981...
2000+ Columns |
|
LATEST ARTICLE |
|
January
12, 2021: Column 2057: Trump Impeached a Second Time |
|
Recent Columns |
|
Trump is Corrupt |
|
Christian Choices Matter |
|
Who Was Mary? |
|
2020 Was A Terrible Year |
|
Suicides Rates Are Rising |
|
The Biblical Sexual Standard |
|
Thankful for Thanksgiving |
|
How to Cut the Divorce Rate in Half |
|
Divorce Rate Is Falling |
|
Latinos Deserve More Help |
|
How To Defeat Covid - 19 |
|
How To Save Marriages |
|
55 Years of Marriage |
|
How To Cut America's Divorce Rate |
|
Suicide Rate Rising |
|
Overcoming Porn Addiction |
|
The Devastation of Pornography |
|
Marriages Are Falling - But Improving |
|
Divorce Rates Are Falling |
|
Cohabitation: the Enemy of Marriage
|
|
How To Reduce Suicide |
|
How To Stop Drug Addiction |
|
Cut Federal Funds for Planned Parenthood |
|
The Horror of Soaring Suicides |
|
Make
Adoption More Appealing |
|
The Addictive Nature of Pornography |
|
Abortion Becoming Illegal |
|
Protecting Girls from Suicide |
|
The Worst Valentine:
Cohabitation |
|
Pornography: A Public Health Hazard |
|
Sextortion Kills Teens |
|
Cohabitation: A Risky Business |
|
Recent Searches |
|
gun control,
euthanasia,
cohabitation,
sexting,
sextortion,
alcoholism,
prayer,
guns,
same sex marriage,
abortion,
depression,
islam,
divorce,
polygamy,
religious liberty,
health care,
pornography,
teen sex,
abortion and infanticide,
Roe+v+Wade,
supreme court,
marriage,
movies,
violence,
celibacy,
living+together,
cohabitation,
ethics+and+religion,
pornography,
adultery,
divorce,
saving+marriages |
|