May 18, 2006

Vatican to issue statement on sex abuse

VATICAN CITY
San Luis Obispo Tribune

NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Thursday it would issue a statement on its investigation into allegations the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ sexually abused seminarians decades ago.

The statement is expected to be issued Friday, Vatican officials said. TheAbuse Tracker said on its Web site Thursday that the Vatican had asked the Rev. Marcial Maciel to limit his public activity by not celebrating public Masses or giving lectures or interviews.

The reported action was taken after the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded its long-running investigation into allegations by former seminarians that the 86-year-old Maciel sexually abused them. Nine former seminarians accused Maciel in the 1990s of having abused them when they were boys or teenagers from the 1940s to 1960s.

The Vatican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the statement had not been issued, declined to say what the Vatican's findings were or what action, if any, was taken against Maciel.

Posted by kshaw at May 18, 2006 04:19 PM