Medina says the Pope had vowed to prosecute former envoy

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.- President Danilo Medina revealed Friday that Pope Francis promised he would not rest until former envoy Jozef Wesolowski, charged with child abuse during his tenure in Dominican Republic, received the maximum penalty from the ecclesiastical court.

On Friday the Vatican announced that its ex ambassador in the country from January 2008 to August 2013, was expelled from the priesthood after a canonical process, information which Medina says didn’t surprise him. "When I was at the Vatican the Pope opened the meeting with that topic. He said he would not rest until this situation was penalized, so I’m not surprised that he has been punished exemplary."

As to Santo Domingo Auxiliary bishop Victor Masalles’ complaint that Wesolowski freely walked the streets of Rome, the Vatican said he was allowed relative movement while awaiting the ecclesiastical proceeding.

Embassy statement

"Taking into account the sentence pronounced by that court, all procedures appropriate to the gravity of the case shall be adopted with the envoy," said a statement by the Dominican Embassy in the Vatican.