VATICAN CITY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s ability to reform the troubled Legion of Christ has again been thrown into doubt following revelations that a half-dozen priests are under Vatican investigation for allegedly molesting children and that the order’s leadership knew its most prominent priest had fathered a child yet did nothing to prevent him from teaching and preaching about morality.
The Vatican on Thursday expressed confidence in Benedict’s delegate running the congregation but acknowledged that the process of reform is “certainly long and complex precisely because it aims to be profound.” Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi rejected suggestions that the revelations proved that the reform process wasn’t working and that the Legion was too flawed to be saved.
On the contrary, he told The Associated Press, the revelations showed that the Legion under papal delegate Cardinal Velasio De Paolis is doing the right thing by taking action once the revelations became known.
“Even the recent public communications about the Legion seem to be new and a positive sign of transparency,” he said. “There is no reason then not to have confidence in the way Cardinal De Paolis is guiding this complex path of renewal.”
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