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	'He Was Acting As If He Was Getting Revenge on God' By Alistair Bell The Age [Mexico] May 21, 2006 http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/he-was-acting-as-if-he -was-getting-revenge-on-god/2006/05/20/1147545567331.html THE founder of a powerful Catholic order disciplined by the Pope is a charismatic charmer who sexually abused trainee priests to get "revenge on God" for having been abused himself as a child, a victim has said. Jose Barba (pictured above), now a Mexican university professor, said he was abused by Marcial Maciel in the early 1950s when, aged 16, he was studying for the priesthood in Rome. "He asked me to give him a massage but it was masturbation. He said the Pope gave permission for that kind of thing," Professor Barba, 68, said. Other abuses followed, he said. The censure of Maciel was Pope Benedict's first major decision involving sexual abuse charges since his election last year, and raised eyebrows because the conservative order had found favour under the late Pope John Paul. Begun by Maciel in 1941, the Legionaries of Christ has about 600 priests and 2500 seminarians in more than 20 countries. It also runs a major pontifical university in Rome. Professor Barba is one of nine former trainees who sued Maciel under the Vatican's canonical law in 1998. Other victims have since come forward. Professor Barba said the priest had told other victims that he had been sexually abused as a child. "I think he was acting as if he was getting revenge on God. He suffered a lot as a child." Maciel's charm and air of authority scared the seminarians into bowing to his will and keeping quiet about abuses for years. "He has a very strong charisma but is corrupt and knows how to corrupt others," Professor Barba said. He welcomed Pope Benedict's decision to discipline Maciel. "We believe it is a necessary step for the purification of certain quarters inside the church and for a historical moral lesson," he said.
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