VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has named a new ambassador to the Dominican Republic after the previous one was forcibly removed amid a sex abuse investigation.
The nomination Monday of a replacement for Archbishop Josef Wesolowski signaled that the Vatican's investigation into his actions warranted permanent removal as envoy to the Caribbean country.
The new ambassador is Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, currently Vatican nuncio to the Central African Republic and Chad.
Wesolowski, a Pole ordained by Pope John Paul II and made a bishop in 2000, was recalled Aug. 21 after allegations against him were made public in the Dominican Republic. The Vatican has refused to say where he is, whether he has retained an attorney or how he responds to the allegations.
Dominican prosecutors are investigating him but haven't indicted him.
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