Archbishop arrested had over 100,000 child porn media

[dragon]

Jeesh that is a lot of illegal porn.

A former Vatican archbishop accused of paedophilia stored tens of thousands of child porn videos and photos on a computer in his office at the Holy See diplomatic compound in the Dominican Republic, it has emerged.

Details of Jozef Wesolowski's massive child porn stash have been revealed after the 66-year-old was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week.

He is the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be investigated for sex abuse, and the first top papal representative to receive a defrocking sentence. He has been charged with sexually abusing minors and child porn possession and might face up to seven years in the Vatican's tiny jail.

Vatican detectives analysed the PC Wesolowski used in his office in Santo Domingo, where he served as Holy See envoy from 2008 to 2012 as part of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of underage boys.

The probe reportedly revealed a collection of horrors. The Polish native held more than 100,000 sexually-explicit files, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
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Some 160 videos showing teenage boys forced to perform sexual acts on themselves and on adults and more than 86,000 pornographic photos were meticulously archived in several category-based folders, the paper said.

Investigators said that at least another 45,000 pictures were deleted, while a second stash of material was found on a laptop Wesolowski used during his trips abroad.

The former clergyman was placed under house arrest in a pre-trial detention at the Vatican earlier this week. He has been detained in a small room in the basement of the Collegio dei Penitenzieri, a convent located in the same building hosting the Vatican's court and military police in the famous Santa Marta square.

Investigators are also probing whether there was a network of people who helped him to set up sexual encounters and if he committed other abuse during his previous posts around the world.

Before arriving in Santo Domingo, Wesolowski served as apostolic nuncio in Bolivia and Central Asia - covering Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and Uzbekistan - after holding less prominent roles in Southern African, Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, India and Denmark.

He was recalled to Rome last year, after Dominican Republic media alleged he hired "rent boys" and was subsequently banished from the clergy, after a canonical court found him guilty of sex abuse.

His trial is expected to start in January.

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[Zixinus]

I have to give credit, the Church is actually dealing with this. That this guy is about to see trial rather than hidden and hushed away speaks of a different attitude than it had in the past.

[Irbis]

Actually the whole affair had been going on for over a year now, since August 2013. Though, I agree, albeit slowly, the investigation proceeds and he steadily loses various diplomatic immunities he had.

Maybe now usual fundamentalist idiots here harping about civilization of death ongoing conspiracy to bring him down will finally shut up

[Batman]

...I admit I usually don't hang around N&P much because that would require me to follow the news which I consider too depressing so what's this ongoing conspiracy you're talking about?

[Grumman]

I have to give credit, the Church is actually dealing with this. That this guy is about to see trial rather than hidden and hushed away speaks of a different attitude than it had in the past.

Not necessarily. The results are certainly better regardless of their motivations, but doing the right thing only because doing the wrong thing started blowing up in your face isn't exactly commendable.

[Irbis]

...I admit I usually don't hang around N&P much because that would require me to follow the news which I consider too depressing so what's this ongoing conspiracy you're talking about?

Catholic writers, priests and sympathisers in eastern Central Europe call everyone bringing any scandal within Church to light as agent of gay-atheist civilization of death (read - West European style tolerance and secularism) trying to bring down Natural Order™

It's pretty sad and pathetic at the same time, really

[Zixinus]

I have to give credit, the Church is actually dealing with this. That this guy is about to see trial rather than hidden and hushed away speaks of a different attitude than it had in the past.

Not necessarily. The results are certainly better regardless of their motivations, but doing the right thing only because doing the wrong thing started blowing up in your face isn't exactly commendable.

If you can't do it Early or at Right Time, Late is still better than Never.

This does not absolve any of the previous bullshit and misery caused, but some progress made is still progress to note.

[Marko Dash]

What the hell is it with the church and kiddie porn, do they hate the sight of tits that much.

[Zixinus]

I don't think that it's anything about pedophilia in particular for the Church. I have heard American churches struggle with a similar problem, they just don't have as much authority as the Catholic Church to hush it up. I am sure that I once heard something similar happening with Boy Scouts.

I don't think it's the religion's fault in particular, I doubt that somewhere there is a theological desire to get pedophiles. It's just the unfortunate fact that if you run an organization that involves putting people into tons of social contact with others and given authority, sooner or later you will get a pedophile. A pedophile that is willing to indulge in his damaging perversion. Finding a pedophile doing bad thing among your people can happen any origination that deals even just somewhat with children.

What is up to the organization is how they react to finding such a person. Wanting to avoid this becoming public news is an understandable reaction: negative backslash against the pedophile will spill on just his coworkers. It can ruin an innocent person's life just by being in proximity. I am not saying that it is necessarily justified, just that it is a reaction that makes sense.

The real ethical problem was that the Church used its authority to try and prevent the prosecution of the pedophiles against cases were made. They transported the priests away and put them in the Vatican where they were outside of reach. What's worse was that (due to priest-to-priest confession tenants) they didn't take steps for the pedophile priests to be isolated from children or (IIRC) punish the priests at all.

[Elheru Aran]

People using ordinary porn within a religious org tend to simply get fired. This can be hushed up as "ethical conflict" or "moral differences" or whatever. Much easier to sweep under the carpet. Even if it's an outright reason for being let go, it can be dismissed later on as a "temporary moral lapse" to those who care about such things.

Child porn, on the other hand, has to be reported. So it's a far more visible and striking thing to be nicked for it. It's offensive to both the religious and non-religious. It can't be dismissed as easily and will make headlines, just as it did here.

I imagine if you were able to poke around, you might find out that a goodly number of religious figures have been let go in their time for affairs, pornography, and so forth; it's just kept quiet for the public image of the faith. Hell, a few famous evangelists have been busted on porn and managed to bounce back anyway. Child porn, now, you can't do that.

[loomer]

Not to mention that there have been more than a few pedophiles who joined the Church thinking that a life of celibacy would prevent them from acting on their urges. It stands to reason that an organization that has attracted a higher number of pedophiles for a variety of reasons will see more child porn busts than the average.

[Raw Shark]

...I admit I usually don't hang around N&P much because that would require me to follow the news which I consider too depressing so what's this ongoing conspiracy you're talking about?

Catholic writers, priests and sympathisers in eastern Central Europe call everyone bringing any scandal within Church to light as agent of gay-atheist civilization of death (read - West European style tolerance and secularism) trying to bring down Natural Order™

It's pretty sad and pathetic at the same time, really

Wait, the Catholics are accusing the gays and atheists of being really into death? The same morbid fucks who gave me nightmares with their stained glass windows of saints being mutilated and executed when I was a kid? I'd love to hear more about this...

[Irbis]

Wait, the Catholics are accusing the gays and atheists of being really into death? The same morbid fucks who gave me nightmares with their stained glass windows of saints being mutilated and executed when I was a kid? I'd love to hear more about this...

Generally, abortion, euthanasia, palliative sedation and in vitro fertilisation support are all EVIL™ according to them and should be immediately banned. Making the jump from these to being gay and atheist friendly like West Europe also does is part of the rejection of the whole thing as opposed to their backward brand of Traditional Family Values

Which makes them rabidly oppose not just introducing gay marriage laws, but they even block any intra-family violence laws and sex education as part of "Gender Ideology" Attack on Holy Marriage...

Then, you have them attributing everyone bad, like Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito or Pol Pot (and others) to be the fault of their pro-atheist/gay/Jew/left-leaning ideology, little historical facts like most of these being conservative, anti-intellectual, religious or quasi-religious, and rather right wing just like imbeciles shouting these "truths" escapes them

[Lord Revan]

Isn't there a small catholic faction who doesn't accept pretty any of the modern popes cause they're not intolerant enough or something stupid like that.

[Irbis]

Isn't there a small catholic faction who doesn't accept pretty any of the modern popes cause they're not intolerant enough or something stupid like that.

Maybe, but we're not talking about minor radical sect. We're talking about large part of Church in 38 mln nation, fundamentalist to the point observers mock it by calling Toruń Catholic Church (location of televangelist monastic media company).

These people explain away and downplay what the Pope says by blaming it on CoD conspiracy. Hopefully Francis won't be as soft as last two Popes were, not only they did little to nothing about them but at times it looked like they embraced the fundamentalists message