The Vatican said that Jozef Wesolowski, a defrocked former archbishop and Holy See ambassador to the Dominican Republic, was found dead in his room at the Vatican early Friday. Wesolowski, born in Poland, had been scheduled to stand trial last month at a Vatican court to face sex abuse and child pornography charges related to his time in the Dominican Republic. The trial — the first Vatican civil trial for sex abuse — was postponed after Wesolowski fell ill.
Wesolowski's death appears to be from natural causes, the Vatican said, but the church prosecutor has ordered an autopsy for later today.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How will the next pope change the Catholic Church?Talking Points Conclaves can be unpredictable
-
Conspiracy theorists circle again following RFK file releaseThe Explainer Both RFK and his brother, President John F. Kennedy, have been the subjects of conspiracies
-
7 equestrian activities for when you feel like horsin' aroundThe Week Recommends These graceful animals make any experience better
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
Swearing in the UK: a colourful historyIn The Spotlight Thanet council's bad language ban is the latest chapter in a saga of obscenity
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
