Vatican investigates 2 cases of child porn possession

Saturday, January 31, 2015 | 4:54 PM    

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican investigated two cases of child pornography possession in the past year, officials said Saturday.

The chief prosecutor of the Vatican city state’s criminal tribunal, Gian Piero Milano, cited the two cases in a speech summarising the tribunal’s work in 2014.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said one of the cases concerned the Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski.

The Polish-born Wesolowski was recalled from his post in 2013 following accusations that he had sexually abused young boys. Wesolowski has been defrocked and placed under modified house arrest inside Vatican City pending a decision by the Vatican court on whether to indict him.

Neither Lombardi nor Milano identified the second child pornography possession suspect.

In his speech, Milano referred to a separate case involving another Polish prelate who was convicted by the Vatican tribunal of fraud. Lombardi confirmed that the prelate was Monsignor Bronislaw Morawiec, an administrator at St Mary Major Basilica, a Rome church where Pope Francis sometimes prays.

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Vatican investigates 2 cases of child porn possession

Chile investigates condor deaths

12 August 2013 Last updated at 20:46 ET Footage of the birds, who experts say are showing “signs of intoxication”

Health authorities are trying to find out what poisoned at least 20 condors in the Andes mountain range between Chile and Argentina.

The huge endangered birds, with a wingspan of up to 3m, were found near the town of Los Andes, about 80km east of the Chilean capital, Santiago.

The authorities say two birds died, but 18 are recovering at a clinic.

They suspect the damage may have been caused by eating carcasses of poisoned cattle, fox or puma.

Witnesses alerted the authorities on Sunday after seeing the condors, known for their effortless gliding at high altitudes, flying low and crashing into rocks.

‘Phosphorous compounds’

Once on the ground, they were not able to take off again and walked apparently dizzily and foaming from the beak, authorities say.

Continue reading the main story Two of the birds were reportedly found dead, as well as two foxes.

“[The poisoning] seems to have been caused by the ingestion of an ill animal or one that ate another being with some phosphorate compound,” the regional director of the Chilean Farming and Cattle Service, Pablo Vergara, told the Argentine newspaper Clarin.

The chemical compound can be found in herbicides and poison used to kill animals considered to be pests.

The poisoned condors were taken to a veterinary clinic, given an antidote and are said to be recovering.

The possibility of finding more animals with the same symptoms has not been ruled out.

The Andean condor is one of the world’s biggest bird species and is considered a symbol of the region.

Scientists estimate less than 10,000 condors live in the wild.

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Chile investigates condor deaths