A former archbishop and papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic fell ill and was taken to an intensive care unit before the opening of his trial today for alleged child sex offences, a Vatican official said.

The official gave no further information.

Jozef Wesolowski, a former Polish archbishop and "apostolic nuncio", or Vatican ambassador, in Santo Domingo, is accused of paying boys to perform sexual acts.

He also faces charges of downloading paedophile images from the Internet.

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