VATICAN CITY
GMA News (Philippines)
By DARIO THUBURN, Agence France-Presse
January 8, 2014
VATICAN CITY – A scandal-tainted conservative Catholic religious movement whose founder was a sexual predator begins a series of meetings in Rome on Wednesday in what is being seen as a key test of Pope Francis’s reform drive.
Top members of the Legionaries of Christ are meeting to reform their congregation and elect a new leadership in their first meetings since they were put under Vatican oversight in 2010 after the scandals first exploded.
“Pope Francis faces the first major challenge, the first major clash of his pontificate,” said Jesus Bastante, a columnist for the Spanish-language Vatican affairs website Religion Digital.
Francis has called for a radical overhaul of the group and a Vatican-appointed delegate, Italian cardinal Velasio De Paolis, will inaugurate the proceedings with a mass and will take part in the discussions.
There have been tensions between senior Legionaries in favour of the status quo and De Paolis, whose mandate runs out at the meetings starting Wednesday.
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