AFP
May 1, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gr--cvFSDTkGlXe2dGEvNS4PBSyQ
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| Pope Benedict XVI |
VATICAN CITY — The Roman Catholic Church will overhaul the ultra-conservative Legion of Christ whose late founder Marcial Maciel was disgraced after abuse scandals, the Vatican said Saturday.
Maciel's "conduct... had consequences in the life and the structure of the Legion that are so serious as to require a journey of profound restructuring," a statement said.
Pope Benedict XVI will name an interim leader within weeks, said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, in a major shakeup at a time when the Church faces intense pressure to crack down on abusers and their protectors in the hierarchy.
"The pope is taking this case very seriously," Lombardi said.
The Church "has the firm resolve to accompany and help (the order) on the way to the purification it needs," the statement said.
The Mexican-born Maciel, who died in the United States in January 2008 aged 87, was accused of molesting eight seminarians and secretly fathering children.
The Vatican said that many members of the order had been unaware of Maciel's misconduct as he "created around him a defence mechanism that shielded him for a long time".
"Uncovering the truth caused surprise and deep pain," it said.
Maciel founded the Legion of Christ in 1941 and ran it with an iron fist, requiring a vow of secrecy and barring any criticism of the order's superiors including himself.
Before Maciel's fall from grace, he and his order enjoyed the adulation of Benedict's predecessor John Paul II.
Just weeks before the Polish pope died in 2005 he hailed Maciel's and the Legionaries' work throughout the world as the Church battled tough competition from evangelical groups, notably in its Latin American stronghold.
The Legion of Christ, which won Vatican recognition in 1965, is one of the largest and wealthiest of the Church's dozens of orders, and Maciel was a prodigious fundraiser and recruiter of priests.
A nine-month probe into the order concluded last month and the investigating team of five bishops reported to the pope on Friday and Saturday.
Maciel's "very serious and objectively immoral actions confirmed by incontestable testimonies ... show a life without scruples nor authentic religious sentiments," the Vatican said.
Last month in Mexico the order asked for forgiveness from two brothers claiming to be Maciel's sons who said he had abused them.
Last year the order confirmed a report in The New York Times that Maciel had also secretly fathered a daughter.
In May 2006, just over a year after John Paul II's death, Benedict ordered Maciel to renounce all duties and lead a "quiet life of prayer and penitence".
But a canonical trial was ruled out because of his advanced age and poor health. Maciel had always denied any wrongdoing.
The Vatican said that in addition to naming interim leadership it would review the order's constitution and help those who "inside or outside the order became victims of sexual abuse or of the power structure" established by Maciel.
"The current leadership has no future," said Vatican expert Sandro Magister, arguing that the Vatican was setting a "positive example that the Church is decisively tackling the paedophilia issue."
Vatican expert Bruno Bartoloni concurred, but also noted that the Vatican did not dissolve the order which had proved to be "quite efficient".
The Legion of Christ "must survive despite the responsibilities of its leader," he said.
Widely seen as elitist, the Legion of Christ is present in 22 countries, notably in the United States, Spain, Mexico, France and Australia, and runs 12 universities. It counts 800 priests, 2,500 seminarians and 70,000 lay members.
The Legion of Christ has a lay branch, the Regnum Christi, with more than 70,000 followers.
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