ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Lilly Fowler lfowler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82210
In the category of in case you missed it, the documentary program Frontline aired “Secrets of the Vatican” last week, which is available online for viewing.
The piece starts out with a profile of the Legionaries of Christ, an order founded in Mexico by Marcial Maciel. Maciel was recently denounced by the organization he founded for having sexually abused children. Pope Benedict XVI removed him in 2006, and he died in 2008, but for years, even as criticism mounted, the Vatican supported him.
The program also features victims from the archdiocese of Milwaukee, which one expert said faces some of the most callous and disturbing cases of sexual abuse he’s ever witnessed. It recounts Cardinal Timothy Dolan, former auxiliary bishop in St. Louis, 2007 transfer of $57 million to a cemetery fund to protect the archdiocese’s assets from victims of clerical abuse.
The Associated Press recently reported that the archdiocese has proposed setting aside $4 million to compensate victims; it filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and the question of whether the cemetery funds can be used to compensate those abused is under appeal, according to the article.
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