By Jason Berry
ABC News
March 5, 2010
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/legion-christs-father-maciel-father-mexican-men-molested/story?id=10009430
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| Father Marcial Maciel celebrating Mass on August 15, 2005 in Rome. Two men now say they are sons of Maciel and that he sexually abused them as boys. |
Two Men Claim That Founder of Catholic Order Legion of Christ, Already Disgraced by Pedophilia Charges, Used Fake Name in Long Relationship With Their Mother
Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the powerful Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ, was banned from active ministry by Pope Benedict in 2006 after testimony from more than 20 men that he molested them when they were teens.
Now Maciel's reputation has been further tarnished by accusations made Wednesday by two Mexican men who say they are his sons, and that Maciel sexually abused them when they were young.
The allegations come as Vatican investigators, already looking into charges that Maciel misused funds and fathered up to six children, are about to deliver their findings to Pope Benedict.
After founding the Legion of Christ in Mexico in 1941, Maciel built a vast network of schools, colleges, seminaries and lucrative real estate holdings. At its peak the Legion had an annual budget of $650 million, more than 650 priests and 60,000 followers in an affiliated lay group also founded by Maciel, Regnum Christi. Its pockets were so deep that Mexicans sometimes called the order the "Millionarios de Cristo."
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