No evidence that John Paul II linked to tainted order, priest says

Denver Post
April 23, 2014

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_25617234/no-evidence-that-john-paul-ii-linked-tainted

VATICAN CITY — The Polish priest who has spearheaded the case to make Pope John Paul II a saint said Tuesday that no documentation exists linking the pontiff personally to the scandal of the Legion of Christ religious order.

John Paul and his closest advisers had held up the legion and its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, as a model for the faithful, even though the Vatican for decades had documentation with credible allegations that Maciel was a pedophile and drug addict with a questionable spiritual life.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the postulator for John Paul's sainthood case, didn't mention John Paul's closest advisers, who were among Maciel's staunchest supporters. These cardinals still were praising Maciel's work years after the Vatican in 2006 ordered him to observe a lifetime of penance and prayer for having sexually abused seminarians.

Asked about John Paul's record on sexual abuse, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi noted that sainthood isn't a judgment on a papacy or an evaluation of someone's perfection in life. "The important thing is that the intentions were upright and that there was respect," Lombardi said. "This does not mean that he or she was perfect."