Patheos blog
Dec. 23, 2019
By David Gee
An ultra-conservative Roman Catholic order admitted that its founder sexually abused 60 different children, and that 115 other minors were likewise abused since the inception of the institute.
Legionaries of Christ, founded in Mexico in 1941, said in a report that 33 priests had abused 175 different kids over the years since it started operations. Keep in mind that these types of internal investigations often underestimate the true numbers of credible allegations.
Marcial Maciel Degollado was ordered to retire in 2006 based on child sex abuse allegations.
He died two years later at the age of 87 without facing his accusers.
“There are probably more cases of abuse than those in the report and the statistics will have to be updated regularly,” the report said.
It added that a process of “reparation and reconciliation” had begun with 45 of the victims.
Because the founder of this order has been dead for more than 10 years, he has never truly been held accountable for what he did. As is often the case, this report focuses mostly on misconduct from the distant past.
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