VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
Today the Pope received Cardinal De Paolis, the Legion of Christ’s “chief”, in audience, confirming that the Congregation would have new superiors and constitutions by the end of 2013
GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN CITY
A Legion for Francis. A general chapter will be held at the end of 2013 to elect the Legion of Christ’s new superiors and approve the new constitutions. This morning the Pope received Cardinal Velasio De Paolis President emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, in a private audience. Cardinal De Paolis has been a papal delegate to the Legion of Christ since 2010 and was conferred full decision-making powers by Benedict XVI so as to break completely with the Congregation’s previous leadership. The Congregation was founded and led (until 2005) by Marcial Maciel, a coke-sniffing, child abusing Mexican priest who raped his own children.
In recent days, the Pope’s representative, De Paolis, asked whether he could report to the Pope on the restructuring of the religious order, which was badly shaken by the scandal involving its paedophile founder, Maciel. This morning the Pope listened to the cardinal’s detailed report and was informed about the next steps that would be taken in the “purification” process started in the Legion and the Regnum Christi movement, the Legion’s lay branch.
De Paolis’ three-year mandate ends in July. Today he explained to Francis what was next on the Congregation’s agenda: the approval of the constitutions and the general chapter which will elect the Legion’s new government. The cardinal explained the problems that emerged within the order during its three years under the administration of an external commissioner. In 2012, De Paolis formally dismissed all superiors who had been nominated by Maciel. Maciel himself had enjoyed the protection of John Paul II’s collaborators until the Pope’s death. All except Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He was the only one who did not accept the large offerings made to the Roman Curia.
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