A former papal diplomat accused of sexually abusing teenage boys while stationed in the Dominican Republic has been hospitalized in intensive care, forcing adjournment of his trial Saturday in a Vatican courtroom for allegedly causing grave psychological harm to the victims and possessing an enormous quantity of child pornography.

Medical records attesting that Jozef Wesolowski had been admitted a day earlier because of "sudden illness" to an intensive care unit of a Rome public hospital were presented by the prosecutor to the judge, who read it without saying what ails the former prelate.

The 66-year-old Pole's lawyer, Antonello Blasi, told journalists he hadn't been told what ails his client.

"I saw him two or three days ago, and, given his age and his state of mind, he was fine," said Blasi. The lawyer told the court that Wesolowski, who has been under house arrest in a room above the courtroom, had been "willing and able" to come to court.

Judge Giuseppe Della Torre adjourned the trial indefinitely.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, later told journalists that Wesolowski felt ill on Friday afternoon, was taken to a Vatican infirmary, and then transferred to a hospital. Citing reasons of patient privacy, Ciro declined to say more, including which hospital.

The trial is seen as a high-profile way for Pope Francis to make good on pledges to punish high-ranking churchmen involved in sex abuse of minors, either by molesting children or by systematically covering up for priests who did. Recent changes to the Vatican legal code under Francis' leadership allowed prosecutors to broader their case against Wesolowski.

Charges included possession of what prosecutors described as "enormous" quantities of child pornography on his two computers, including after Wesolowski was recalled to the Vatican following the emergence of rumors that he sexually abused shoeshine boys near Santo Domingo's waterfront.

Wesolowski was the first such high-ranking Vatican prelate to be criminally charged at the Holy See for sexually abusing minors.

In Saturday's six-minute hearing in a tiny courtroom, the clerk read out the charges, including one of "conduct that offends the principles of Christian religion or morality for having repeatedly accessed pornographic sites," including while in Vatican City.

Another charge described how Wesolowski — in one case with the alleged complicity of his aide, a former deacon — allegedly "corrupted, through lewd acts, adolescents presumed to be between 13 and 16 years old, in order to carry out on them, and in their presence, sexual acts." Prosecutors said that at least once the sexual activity happened in a public place.

The trial indictment also accused him of causing psychological damage to his victims.

He has been defrocked, a decision he is appealing. While still a Vatican citizen, he lost the diplomatic immunity he enjoyed while serving as papal nuncio.

Wesolowski was ordained and later appointed as bishop by St. John Paul II, a fellow Pole whose papacy was marked by reluctance to fire bishops in abuse scandals.

In 2008, during Benedict XVI's papacy, Wesolowski was appointed Vatican ambassador to the Dominican Republic. The Vatican said Wesolowski lost his diplomatic immunity in 2014, the year following his recall after rumors surfaced about the abuse.