RHODE ISLAND
GlobalPost
Jason Berry
Documents released today by a Rhode Island judge provide a new window into the internal workings of the disgraced Legion of Christ, a religious order of priests whose founder was revealed to have sexually abused seminarians and fathered children by at least two women.
The release of the voluminous court records by Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein came within days of the stunning resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who ordered an investigation into allegations against Legion founder Fr. Marcial Maciel when Benedict played a powerful prosecutorial role in the Vatican as a cardinal and again in the early years of his papacy.
These documents are expected to shed new light on a scandal Benedict inherited from John Paul II, whose unwavering support of Maciel, even allegations against him were filed in the Vatican in 1998, bolstered Legion fundraising campaigns.
Pope Benedict’s trip to Mexico last year ignited a blaze of negative media coverage due to his failure to meet with sexual victims of the late Father Maciel, who symbolized the global scandal that has cast a shadow on Benedict and his papacy. It remains unclear whether the release of these documents had anything to do with the timing of the pope’s resignation.
The documents first surfaced in a probate case accusing Legion officials of defrauding a wealthy widow, Gabrielle Mee, of tens of millions of dollars. They remained sealed when the suit against the Legion and Bank of America, was dismissed last September by Silverstein. He ruled that Mary Lou Dauray, Mee’s niece, lacked legal standing to bring suit.
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