Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sex investigation casts shadow on troubled order

Los Legionarios de Cristo reconocieron hoy por primera vez que su fundador, Marcial Maciel, cometi? abusos sexuales contra menores de edad y pidieron perd?n a las v?ctimas por haber ignorado sus acusaciones. En la imagen de archivo, el padre Maciel al lado del Papa Juan Pablo II.THE Legion of Christ, a powerful worldwide religious order whose late founder became enmeshed in a sex scandal years ago, says the Vatican is investigating seven Legion priests for alleged sexual abuse of minors.

The investigation cast a new shadow on an order already struggling to move beyond revelations that its charismatic founder, Marcial Maciel, had fathered several children and molested under-age seminarians.

Officials at the order followed church procedures and brought the cases, ''which for the most part date back decades'', to the attention of Vatican authorities, said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.
Numbering nearly 900 priests and 70,000 lay members worldwide, the Legion was founded by Maciel in Mexico in 1941. 

Over the decades, the charismatic leader, who was a prodigious fund-raiser, built it into a wealthy and politically influential order and Pope John Paul II singled out Maciel as the model for dynamic priesthood.

But that legacy crumbled when revelations emerged that Maciel had fathered several children, abused seminarians and misappropriated funds. 

In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI removed Maciel from priestly duties and restricted him to a life of prayer and penance. He died two years later.

In 2010 the Pope decided against dissolving the order and instead appointed his delegate to oversee reforms. 

The Vatican said at the time the majority of Legionaries had been unaware of Maciel's double life, ''a life devoid of scruple and of genuine religious sentiment''.

Critics contend the order's leaders must have known of the wrongdoings of Maciel, who was born in Mexico.