VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 22, 2014
VATICAN CITY The priest who has guided the Vatican’s sainthood process for Pope John Paul II responded vaguely Tuesday when questioned publicly about the late pope’s response to clergy sexual abuse and his handling of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and a serial sexual abuser.
When Msgr. Sławomir Oder was asked whether those investigating the saintliness of John Paul II considered if the late pope had sufficiently handled Maciel, who by the late 1990s was the subject of substantial investigative reporting, Oder said the investigations were carried out “with the real desire to clear things up and confront all the problems.”
“Even concerning the specific question that you mention, an investigation was carried out, documents were studied, [documents] which are available, and the response was very clear,” Oder said. “There is no sign of a personal involvement of the Holy Father in this matter.”
Oder, a Polish native who serves as a vicar in the Rome diocese, is the postulator of the cause of sainthood for John Paul II and was responsible for organizing the official investigations into the late pontiff’s sanctity and virtues for the official Vatican process to have John Paul II declared a saint.
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.