VATICAN CITY
CBS Springfield
Updated: Sep 14, 2012
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) – A U.S. judge has thrown out a lawsuit contesting the will of an elderly widow who gave some $60 million to the disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ.
But Judge Michael Silverstein of Rhode Island Superior Court found evidence that the woman, Gabrielle Mee, had been unduly persuaded to change her trusts and will and give the Legion her money, detailing the process by which the Legion slowly took over control of her finances as she became more deeply involved in the movement.
Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, lived a double life: he sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. The pope ordered a wholesale reform of the order after finding serious problems with its very culture, and named a papal delegate to oversee it.
The Maciel scandal has been particularly damaging for the church given that the Mexican-born priest was held up by Pope John Paul II as a model for the faithful, admired for his perceived orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and new seminarians.
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