No evidence that John Paul II linked to tainted order, priest says

VATICAN CITY
Denver Post

By The Associated Press
POSTED: 04/23/2014

VATICAN CITY — The Polish priest who has spearheaded the case to make Pope John Paul II a saint said Tuesday that no documentation exists linking the pontiff personally to the scandal of the Legion of Christ religious order.

John Paul and his closest advisers had held up the legion and its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, as a model for the faithful, even though the Vatican for decades had documentation with credible allegations that Maciel was a pedophile and drug addict with a questionable spiritual life.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the postulator for John Paul’s sainthood case, didn’t mention John Paul’s closest advisers, who were among Maciel’s staunchest supporters. These cardinals still were praising Maciel’s work years after the Vatican in 2006 ordered him to observe a lifetime of penance and prayer for having sexually abused seminarians.

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.