True, the
Vatican announced recently that Jozef Wesolowski, the former Papal Nuncio to the
Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico who is the highest-ranking official in the
Catholic Church to be charged
with child sexual abuse, won’t
be extradited either to Poland or the Dominican Republic. Why? Because he’s
in the diplomatic corps of the Vatican, which doesn’t permit extradition.
This was
announced a few days ago and discussed in Geneva, Switzerland, in what The
Telegraph called
“an unprecedented grilling” by the United Nations. Instead, he will face trial
in the Vatican. And, assuming he’s found guilty, he’ll serve time there.
Very
convenient, because... Dominican jails? Well, Puerto Rico got an earful about
them when a journalist
ventured off to the Dominican Republic and got herself into some trouble over a
little cocaine deal. So the island stood on its ear for months and watched as
she got tried and convicted.
I’ve tried
to google “Dominican
Republic jails” but guess what? The Internet is off somewhere in a
meeting—presumably on how to be capricious, willful, and completely unreliable,
as well as maddening—so this account of Laura Hernández is completely from memory.
But if
memory serves, the Dominicans start with the presumption of guilty until proven
innocent—a nice little Caribbean twist on things. And unlike the United States,
which according
to today’s edition of The New York Times is seeing a surge in request for Kosher meals (which are
better and four times more expensive than regular prison fare), Dominican jails
tend to offer a more basic experience. Which is to say that the family has to
bring in the food, personal hygiene items, and pretty much everything else. And
as I remember it, the floor was dirt. Nor was there a bed….
And so for
a period of several years, the island was treated to pictures of Hernández, who
was reliably sobbing, and the inhumane, awful treatment she was receiving. And
then, one day—presumably after some pressure from the United States—Hernández
was freed.
Well,
Wesolowski had a habit of drinking beer—very Caribbean—and walking
the Malecón—Caribbean,
yes, but, in this case, an area associated with kids who provide services not
encouraged by the Catholic Church. Officially, that is.
So the top
guy in the church went off and told the new pope—whom we’re all in
love with—that the Dominican press was about to out Wesolowski and another
Polish priest. And what happened? Did the Vatican follow its own rules—which as
I remember require the offending clergy to be turned over to local authorities
and jurisdiction? Nope—the Polish priest returned to Poland, and Wesolowski was
recalled to the Vatican. And also, if memory serves, there were rumors swirling
about false travel documents.
Well,
whatever the Vatican is going to do, it has acted swiftly and decisively in at
least one action. And that would be? They photoshopped him out of an official picture. Here’s
the Telegraph on the
subject:
In
the original picture, he appears smiling in the second row, wearing a dog
collar, black vestments and a heavy crucifix.
But
in the re-touched photograph, his head has been replaced by that of an emeritus
bishop, Francisco José Arnáiz.
The
Huffington Post, writing of Wesolowski, said this:
His case
has raised questions about whether the Vatican, by removing him from Dominican
jurisdiction, was protecting him and placing its own investigations ahead of
that of authorities in the Caribbean nation.
Raised
questions?
Not for me!
