VATICAN CITY
Journal Review
[note: The link cited in this story does not appear to be operational.]
Associated Press
Posted: Monday, April 21, 2014
The late Pope John Paul II and his top advisers failed to grasp the severity of the sexual abuse problem until late in his 26-year papacy, especially concerns about the troubled Legion of Christ order and its leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel. But the Legion’s troubles were not news to the Vatican, according to a trove of 212 Vatican documents exposed in the 2012 book “The Will to Not Know” and placed online at www.lavoluntuddenosaber.com . Here’s a look at some of the more pointed criticism about Maciel from the archive, which also included plenty of letters from bishops and Vatican officials praising him and his order.
___
June 8, 1948:
—The Vatican’s envoy to Spain sends the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious an investigator’s report to determine if Maciel’s new association should be approved as a religious order. The investigator, the Jesuit Rev. Lucio Rodrigo, reports violations of the confessional seal, that Maciel falsified documents, demonstrates “a certain moral lassitude,” and lives a life that “wasn’t very pious and at the same time quite comfortable.”
___
May 28, 1962:
—The Congregation for Religious summarizes the mounting accusations against Maciel: Suspended as superior by the Vatican from 1956-1958, he was ordered to get medical help to cure his morphine “abuse.” Maciel also exhibits “dubious moral conduct,” makes personal use of “copious amounts of money” without identifying its origins, gives “dangerous” spiritual direction to others with regards to priests’ vow of chastity and demands priests in his order vow not to criticize their superiors.
That vow, which the Legion only officially removed in 2007, was key to Maciel’s success in preventing his priests from coming forward with allegations against him.
“Given the nature of the accusations … the moment has come to take definitive measures concerning Father Maciel, also to prevent great public scandal from arising,” the summary reads. The congregation recommends removing him as superior, naming a new superior and a Vatican investigator, or placing the Legion in the hands of the archbishop of Mexico City.
Nothing was done.
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.