Abused Dominican Republic minors in Catholic Church milestone

Santo Domingo (Acento.com.do).- For the first time in Catholic Church history, a prelate of the category of former ambassador will be tried in the Vatican state charged with sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic.

Jozef Wesolowski, a confidant of John Paul II, was ambassador in Santo Domingo from 2008 to August 2013, when he was removed by Pope Francis after the journalist Nuria Piera denounced in her investigative program that the Vatican’s representative in Dominican Republic consumed alcohol and sexually abused children and adolescents.

The also journalist Addis Burgos in her program from Santiago accidentally uncovered that the then envoy also met with Polish priest Waldemar Wojciech Gil (who called himself Padre Alberto), pastor at Juncalito, and both sexually abused Dominican minors. Burgos interviewed a man in Juncalito who also revealed that "white man from the capital" who turned out to be Wesolowski, also accompanied Gil.

Gil is serving time in Poland after plea bargaining.

Both journalistic Nuria-Research, as Acento.com.do and Street Code, Addis Burgos, tracked the case until it was brought to justice.

Among other things, Piera showed evidence that the senior prelate used to frequent the seaside avenue of Santo Domingo. Dressed in tourist garb, hat and sunglasses, sat in bars and drank beer. He then contacted minors around the monument to Fray Anton de Montesinos. In some cases he took minors in his vehicle to a house on a beach near the Dominican capital. There paid them for sex or they were left to observe others having sex with minors or adults.

Dominican authorities seized thousands of child pornography images and videos from both computers of Wesolowski and Gil.