Vatican indicts ex-Dominican ambassador on sex abuse charges

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic has been charged with sexually abusing young boys in the Caribbean country and having child pornography on his computer and will stand trial next month in a Vatican court.

In a statement, the Holy See said Jozef Wesolowski will have his first hearing July 11.

The Holy See recalled Wesolowski in 2013 after rumors surfaced in Santo Domingo that he allegedly paid shoeshine boys to masturbate. Wesolowski has since been defrocked and placed under modified house arrest inside Vatican City pending a decision by the Vatican criminal court on whether to indict him.

That decision came June 6, when the Vatican prosecutor asked the head of the Vatican City State tribunal to indict him. The decision and trial date were announced Monday.