VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune
Reuters
2:45 p.m. CDT, May 16, 2012
* Corrects that cardinal is Italian, not Spanish, in para 4
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, May 16 (Reuters) – Leaders of the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order knew that their most famous priest had fathered a child for many months
before they acknowledged it this week, a top Vatican official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The once influential religious order, still in crisis following revelations that its founder was a sexual abuser with two secret families, suffered another major blow on Tuesday when
American Father Thomas Williams admitted to having fathered a child with a woman in Rome.
The question left hanging was how long the order’s leaders knew about Williams’s secret life and why they continued to let him preach, teach and appear on television around the world,
particularly in the United States.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.