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	Mexican Priest Disciplined over Sex Abuse Allegations Dies PR-inside January 28, 2008 http://www.pr-inside.com/mexican-priest-disciplined-over-sex-r415597.htm VATICAN CITY - The Rev. Marcial Maciel, the most prominent Roman Catholic official to be disciplined by the Vatican for alleged involvement in child sex abuse, has died, the conservative order he founded said Thursday. The 87-year-old Mexican priest died on Wednesday in the United States of natural causes, said a statement on the web site of the Legionaries of Christ. The order was a favorite of the late Pope John Paul II. The Vatican spent eight years investigating allegations against Maciel made by former seminarians, and in 2006 _ a year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI _ it asked him to conduct «a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry,» meaning he could not celebrate Mass in public and was a priest in name only. The Vatican did not say if it had determined whether the accusations against Maciel were true. It said it had decided against proceeding with a full-fledged church trial against Maciel because of his age and ill health. Maciel and the Legionaries had strongly denied the allegations. When he was disciplined, the order said he had accepted the Vatican's decision with «tranquility of conscience. Initially, nine former seminarians said Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers in Roman Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy in the 1940s-1960s. Later, others came forward. The Legionaries of Christ, which Maciel founded in 1941 in Mexico City, is one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the Catholic Church with more than 600 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 20 countries in North and South America, Europe and Australia. It was well-regarded by John Paul in particular because of its conservative views, loyalty to church teaching and because it has been so successful in recruiting. The statement, which announced the death of the order's «beloved founding father,» did not say exactly where Maciel died. It said a private funeral service would be held, in accordance with Maciel's wishes.
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