Vatican reports two cases of child pornography possession in last year

One case reportedly involves a defrocked former archbishop arrested on charges of having paid for sex with children while in the Dominican Republic

(AP)

A senior priest and another person were found with child pornography in the Vatican last year, the Catholic Church’s chief prosecutor has said in a new report.

Gian Piero Milano, whose official title is Promoter of Justice, said Vatican police had uncovered “two delicate cases, of varying degrees of seriousness, of possession of child pornography material”.

A Vatican spokesman told Reuters that one case involved Jozef Wesolowski, a former archbishop arrested last September in the Vatican on charges of having paid for sex with children while he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic.

Italian media has reported that child pornography was found on his computer.

The Polish-born priest, who has been defrocked, is currently under arrest in the Vatican awaiting trial.

The Vatican did not identify the other priest under investigation.

In the report, Mr Milano also wrote about investigations related to embezzlement involving former bank managers of the Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).

He also referred to the case of a Polish monsignor who was convicted of embezzling funds from a Rome basilica where he worked as an accountant.

There were three attempts in 2014 to deliver illegal drugs into the Vatican by mail from foreign countries, he said without giving details.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.