VATICAN CITY
The New York Times
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: May 11, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The Legion of Christ, a powerful but troubled worldwide religious order whose late founder became enmeshed in a sex scandal years ago, said Friday that the Vatican was investigating seven Legion priests for alleged sexual abuse of minors.
The investigation cast a new shadow upon an order already struggling to move beyond revelations that its charismatic founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had fathered several children and molested underage seminarians.
On Friday, the Legion said that after looking into “some allegations of gravely immoral acts and more serious offenses” committed by some Legionaries, internal preliminary investigations “concluded that seven had a semblance of truth.” Those cases were forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that handles investigations of sexual abuse, the Legion said in a statement.
The Vatican confirmed that the Congregation was investigating “cases of abuse” carried out by Legionaries but did not address the allegations. The inquiry was first reported by The Associated Press.
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.