ROME
Vatican Insider
The Legion needs to break away from an embarrassing past. Cardinal De Paolis is working hard to purify a body that has been tainted by some very serious misdoings
Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City
There is no peace in the Legion which the Pope has placed under the supervision of the Pontifical delegate, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis. The process of “purification” wanted by Benedict XVI is shedding light on further abuses, offences and betrayals on the part of the religious order which had become one of the pillars of the universal Church, particularly the Latin American one, during Karol Wojtyla’s pontificate.
“All the new things that are emerging are showing that this issue will not simply be resolved by the order severing its ties with its founder because other representatives of the Legion are guilty of the same offences,” a qualified source told Vatican Insider. “All remaining irregularities need to be removed in order to save the majority within the Legion of Christ which did not have double standards.”
For a long time now, the pact of steel between the Legion’s leaders and some elders of the Roman Curia has guaranteed “extensive moral exemption” which Joseph Ratzinger put an end to the minute he was elected Pope. However, the recovery process is far from over, as has been proven by the latest scandals which have broken out in the order. Seven Legionaries of Christ are being investigated by the former Holy Office and in at least one of the cases, it was found that the abuse was committed recently.
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