Search Results for: maciel

Pope Francis this morning announced the creation of 21 new cardinals, most of whom will be eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. One of them is Robert McElroy, the ultra-progressive bishop of San Diego. For Catholics who actually believe what the Catholic Church teaches, this is terrible news.

And for Catholics who would like their Church to be run by men who can be trusted to do the right thing on sex abuse — well, Francis long ago showed (e.g., the Zanchetta affair) that he cannot be trusted. And here he goes again. Here’s a link to a 2016 letter that Richard Sipe, the (now-deceased) psychotherapist and foremost expert on the sexual habits of the Catholic clergy, sent to McElroy back in 2016. Excerpts:

It was clear to me during our last meeting in your office, although cordial, that you…

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 3, 2020

By Szymon Piegza

Krakow, Poland – Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the influential former long-time personal secretary of Pope John Paul II, is denying a priest’s accusation that he covered up a case of clerical abuse in 2012.

In an extraordinary Oct. 20 interview for the largest private TV station in Poland, TVN24, the cardinal also denied that John Paul had any knowledge of the crimes committed by Marcial Maciel Degollado, a serial child abuser and founder of the once-powerful Legionaries of Christ.

Dziwisz, who served as the Archbishop of Krakow from 2005 to 2016, has been accused personally of not replying to a letter he was given about the case of Janusz Szymik, a long-time victim of the abusive priest Fr. Jan Wodniak.

Fr. Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, a Krakow priest, claims to have given Dziwisz the letter in 2012.

“I don’t…

BROOKLYN (NY)
SLATE

January 15, 2020

By LEÓN KRAUZE

Marcial Maciel’s crimes should have ended his organization.

In Fernando Meirelles’ film The Two Popes, former Pope Benedict XVI, played by Anthony Hopkins, confesses his sins to Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis. It is a crucial scene, in which Benedict aims to convince Bergoglio, played by Jonathan Pryce, of the reasons for his resignation as head of the church.

As Bergoglio listens, Benedict mentions Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, an influential, ultraconservative organization present in more than 20 countries, where it operates more than a dozen colleges and almost 150 schools while maintaining close ties to the upper echelons of political power. Maciel, an infamous pedophile who victimized dozens of children in over six decades in the priesthood, enjoyed the active protection of the church for years, especially during John…

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

December 22, 2019

At least 60 children were abused by Marcial Maciel, founder of the ultra-conservative Catholic order Legionaries of Christ, an investigation has found.

The report, published by the Roman Catholic group, said 33 priests in the order abused at least 175 minors since it was founded in 1941.

In 2006, Maciel was ordered to retire to a life of penitence after years of allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

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.

[Mexican Church faces the Pope’s summit on pedophilia while fending off victims of Maciel]

MEXICO
El País

January 4, 2019

By Georgina Zeregaj and Martín Cullell

La Legión de Cristo enfrenta una denuncia por daños morales de algunos afectados mientras negocia la reparación con otros

José Barba, exlegionario de Cristo y víctima de Marcial Maciel, depredador sexual y fundador de la orden, pasó varios años sin ir a comulgar. Unos meses atrás, en pleno torbellino por los abusos en la Iglesia chilena, volvió a asistir a una misa en Ciudad de México y salió indignado: “El sacerdote no pronunció ni una palabra sobre los casos de pederastia”. Hace quince días regresó a esa misma iglesia y esta vez el sacerdote sí mencionó algo sobre el tema: “Dijo que solo era un granito negro dentro del arroz”, recuerda.

[Insunza and Ortega, specialists in Legionaries: “In Chile they acted with O’Reilly as they did with Maciel”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 4, 2019

By Sebastián Minay

“Maciel fue sancionado porque Ratzinger tuvo la voluntad que Wojtyla no”, subrayan los periodistas y autores de “Legionarios de Cristo en Chile. Dios, dinero y poder” (2008) luego que El Vaticano reconociera tardíamente que tenía papeles sobre la historia pederasta del fundador de la Legión desde los ’40. “Para Juan Pablo II, además, los abusos sexuales eran antes un pecado que un delito”, explican. Y apuntan que el recientemente expulsado irlandés de nacimiento aún es visto como inocente por algunos, pese a su condena por abusos sexuales.

Hace 21 días, el 14 de diciembre, John O’Reilly debió salir del país, expulsado tras cumplir una pena por abus0 sexual contra una alumna del Colegio Cumbres. La escena final de la caída de una de…

[Chilean abuse victims call for action after revelation that Vatican concealed Maciel’s abuses for 63 years]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 3, 2019

By Guido Focacci and Nicole Martínez

Víctimas chilenas de abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes de la Iglesia Católica pidieron acciones concretas de reparación y prevención al Vaticano, luego de que el prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada asegurara que el Estado Pontificio encubrió por 63 años los antecedentes de pederastia de Marcial Maciel.

[Brazilian cardinal says Vatican has covered up the abuses of Marcial Maciel for more than 60 years]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

January 2, 2018

By Valentina Salvo U.

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada de la sede pontificia, João Braz de Aviz, afirmó que existían documentos sobre las conductas ilícitas del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo desde 1943

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de la Vida Consagrada y las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica de la Iglesia Católica, el cardenal brasileño João Braz de Aviz, aseguró que el Vaticano ocultó por 63 años los abusos sexuales a menores cometidos por el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, el sacerdote mexicano Marcial Maciel. Según afirmó en entrevista con la revista católica Vida Nueva, el miembro del organismo de la Curia Romana aseveró que la sede pontificia tenía antecedentes de los delitos de pederastia…

[Chilean reactions to Vatican calling Maciel’s abuse “a terrible mistake”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 2, 2019

By Gonzalo Cifuentes and Nicole Martínez

El Vaticano reconoció este miércoles poseer documentos que daban cuenta de la pederastía del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, desde 1943.Joao Braz de Aviz, prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada del Vaticano, fue quien calificó como un “tremendo error” esta situación.

ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Register

January 2, 2019

By Edward Pentin

Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has disclosed that the Vatican had documents on the abusive conduct of the disgraced founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel, from as long ago as 1943.

The Brazilian cardinal told the Spanish Catholic online magazine Vida Nueva that “those who covered it up were a mafia, they were not the Church.”

Cardinal Bráz de Aviz did not give any more details about the documents in the interview, given while he was in Madrid for a conference late last year, but said his congregation currently has “nothing to do” with such a coverup and now follows “a very good process.”

According to a 2006 article in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Rome investigated Father Maciel for suspected…

MEXICO
Proceso

MEXICO CITY (Process) .- In 1997, when the media began to air the sexual abuse committed by Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera automatically led “the strategy of protection and cover-up of Maciel. The allegations were “totally false”; invented and unjust, Rivera said of his friend Maciel. The allegations of sexual abuse of minors were also a great plot to attack the church and Pope John Paul II, he said.]

POR RODRIGO VERA , 13 JULIO, 2017

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (Proceso).- En 1997, cuando los medios de comunicación empezaron a ventilar los abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel, fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, el cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera encabezó de manera automática “la estrategia de protección y encubrimiento público” del implicado.

Las denuncias eran “totalmente falsas”; “inventos creados y pagados” para “golpear injustamente” a su amigo Maciel y se daban,…

ROME
The Tablet (UK)

25 February 2016 | by Christopher Lamb

Benedict XVI made strenuous efforts to clean up one of the Church’s worst abuse scandals, Pope Francis has said, while hinting that his predecessor was prevented from taking tougher action.

During an in-flight press conference returning home from Mexico, Francis was asked about the case of Fr Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who sexually abused numerous seminarians.

He was also a drug addict, maintained relationships with two women and fathered up to six children, two of whom he was accused of abusing.

Despite this, he founded a successful and extremely wealthy religious order, which included a lay branch, Regnum Christi, and was close to Pope John Paul II and senior figures in the Vatican.

MEXICO
Urgente24

[Francisco in Mexico, overcoming the stigma of Maciel and Wojtyla.]

¿Estaba en sus cables Juan Pablo ll cuando el 05/12/1994 le envió una carta de felicitación a Marcial Maciel Degollado, publicada en los diarios más importantes de la Ciudad de México, llamándolo “guía eficaz de la juventud” que “ha querido poner a Cristo […] como criterio, centro y modelo de toda su vida y labor sacerdotal…”? Maciel Degollado fue un depredador sexual. En noviembre de 1997, 8 ex Legionarios de Cristo publicaron una carta a Juan Pablo II, luego de que hicieron público a través del diario Hartford Courant, de Connecticut (USA), el abuso sexual que sufrieron. Juan Pablo II tampoco se interesó en el tema. En marzo de 2015, el papa Francisco dijo en entrevista con Valentina Alazraki, corresponsal de Televisa en el Vaticano, acerca de Marcial Maciel: “Uno puede presumir que sí (hubo encubrimiento), aunque…

MEXICO
Independent (UK)

Michael Day Rome @michael2day

Pope Francis begins a high-profile visit to Latin America this week in what should be a series of celebrations for the Argentinian pontiff.

Attention instead looks set to be fixed again on arguably the single most shocking case of multiple child abuse, cover-ups and conspiracy in a series of worldwide clerical paedophilia cases.

Even before Francis touches down in Mexico city, victims of serial abuser Marcial Maciel, the close friend of Pope John Paul II, and head of the Legionaries of Christ, are dismayed that Pope Francis will not find time to meet them despite him spending a whole week in Mexico.

The Mexican religious institution had at its height 800 priests, 15 universities, and more than 100 prep schools. Maciel, who died in the US in 2008, aged 86, is said to have exploited his power and position to abuse boys…

MEXICO
SinEmbargo

Por Shaila Rosagel febrero 10, 2016

Distintos testimonios y documentos acusan que las violaciones sexuales de menores por parte de sacerdotes habrían iniciado hace décadas, pero siempre existe una especie de protección por parte de la alta jerarquía católica y de las autoridades civiles encargadas de investigar.

Ciudad de México, 10 de febrero (SinEmbargo).– En marzo de 2015 el Papa Francisco dijo en entrevista con Valentina Alazraki, corresponsal de Televisa en el Vaticano, que el fundador de la Legión de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, era un “gran enfermo” y que “sería raro” que no tuviera un “padrinito”, por ahí, que encubrió las acusaciones en su contra por casos de abuso sexual cometidos contra de cientos de niños.

“Uno puede presumir que sí (hubo encubrimiento), aunque siempre en justicia hay que presumir la inocencia, pero sería raro que no tuviera algún padrinito por ahí, medio engañado, medio que, que…

CHILE
Bio Bio

[con audio]

[Priest Fernando Karadima is the Chilean Maciel Marcial, according to Juan Carlos Cruz, an alleged sexual abuse victim of Karadima. He used this reference because of the accusations against Karadima and the power he accumulated during more than 40 years in which he could abuse people and also build the image that he was a saint, he said.

Cruz is in Osorno to support a laymovement that opposes Bishop Juan Barros, who they believe knew Karadima was abusing youngsters but did nothing. Barros denies this allegation. Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, was convicted in a church trial.]

Como el ‘Marcial Maciel chileno’ calificó a Fernando Karadima Juan Carlos Cruz, uno de los denunciantes contra el sacerdote, debido a las acusaciones en su contra y por el poder que acumuló durante más de cuarenta años, el cual usaba para abusar de las personas,…

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Grant Gallicho concludes his excellent eight part series at Commonweal on the “Curious Case of Carlos Urrutigoity” here.

The conclusion is a bit anti-climactic. The only major player to suffer any kind of serious consequences for this long and tawdry affair seems to be Bishop Livieres of Ciudad del Este, who was asked to resign by Pope Francis back in September. Meanwhile, Urrutigoity and his crew of followers and supporters are still out there, many of them are still functioning as priests, at least one of them continues to fund raise despite his association with the Society of St. John – an organization whose founder allegedly engaged in sex abuse and financial fraud – and I am told that even though Urrutigoity’s associate Eric Ensey has been “defrocked” he still continues to present himself as a priest.

One of…

UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

Updated August 31, 2014

To idiot Catholics members and priests of the Legion of Christ,

Below is our added REBUTTAL to the MM analogy between Marcial Maciel and Mary Magdalene – where we analyse sentence by sentence – the two key paragraphs of the booklet for the Magdala project. The Legion of Christ members are very stubborn in trying to justify their religious existence despite the fact that their order was founded by an evil man – thus making their congregation as a “castle built on sand”. And they will try to use this analogy in another shape and form again. This MM analogy reflects their deep-rooted fanaticism in their charismatic founder Marcial Maciel who is akin to Adolf Hitler (but in the Catholic Church). Hitler was so charismatic he convinced the youth and the entire nation of Germany to fight…

UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

August 28, 2014

The Legion of Christ sitting on tens of billions of dollars in secret Vatican Swiss Banks and with their highest annual ordination of new priests (ordained only in Rome -even outnumbering the Opus Dei) have to find ways to justify their religious existence because whatever churches and no matter how many priests they may have – the raw truth is, the Legion of Christ is ‘a castle built on sand’ — the sand of evil– because its founder, Mr. Marcial Maciel (we refuse to call him “Father”), is one of the most evil member of the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army – one of the evil Achilles Heels of Satanas St. John Paul II. Read more in our related article, John Paul II the Holy Father of Lies! Cardinal Dziwisz book: “JPII knew nothing”…

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 28, 2014

The Legionaries of Christ have apologized for a reflection in a promotional booklet comparing the order’s serial abuser founder to Mary Magdalene.

“I personally and profoundly apologize for my reflections in the booklet, Magdala: God Really Loves Women, published this summer by the Magdala Center in Jerusalem, which is managed by the Legion of Christ,” Legionary Fr. Juan Solana, director of the Magdala Center, said in a statement Thursday.

On Tuesday, NCR reported that the booklet promoting the new $100 million center included a reflection by Solana on Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado — dismissed from ministry in 2006 by the Vatican after it was discovered he sexually abused seminarians and had fathered children — in which he compared the Legion founder to Mary Magdalene, the disciple of Jesus who was present at the cross where Jesus was crucified…

UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Mollie Wilson O’Reilly August 26, 2014

Don’t miss Jason Berry’s lengthy update on the Legion of Christ’s ventures in the Holy Land, in the National Catholic Reporter this week. How has the order coped with diminishment and disgrace following the belated exposure and censure of its founder, serial sexual abuser and all-around con artist Marcial Maciel? Oh, you know, they’re working on it.

“Marcial Maciel’s initials are also MM, just like Mary Magdalene. She had a problematic past before her deliverance, so there’s a parallel. Our world has double standards when it comes to morals. Some people have a formal, public display and then the real life they live behind the scenes.

“But when we accuse someone else and we are quick to stone him, we must remember that we all have problems and defects. With modern communications so out of control, it is easy…

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Aug. 26, 2014

ANALYSIS

The scandal-battered Legionaries of Christ, still facing the unresolved consequences of a disgraced founder, may be seeing a turn in their fortunes with the development of the Magdala Center at the Sea of Galilee in the Holy Land. The order is conducting a major fundraising drive to cover the projected $100 million cost.

The complex, with newly discovered ruins of a synagogue Jesus may have visited, will contain an archaeological park, women’s institute, media center and a luxury hotel the Legion will own. Eduardo Guerra, the center’s assistant director, said that the Legion has raised $40 million from benefactors toward the finished work. (See story.)

Whether the center can overcome its founder’s reputation and the fallout from the prolonged scandal is an open question. While the order is still reeling from revelations that its founder, Fr….

MEXICO
Aleteia

John Burger

The Legion of Christ has announced that the priest who took over as head of the order after disgraced founder Father Marcial Maciel stepped down has died.

“Father Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, L.C. departed for the Father’s house after a long battle with cancer,” said a statement issued by the Legion just an hour after Father Corcuera’s death.

Father Corcuera, who was 56, served as General Director of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ from 2005 until 2014. Father Eduardo Robles-Gil, who was elected general director at the order’s general chapter in Rome this year, wrote in a letter to members of Regnum Christi: “I invite everyone to offer Masses and prayers to commend his soul to God and thank God for the life of this father, brother and friend who has been our General Director during the nine most difficult years in…

MEXICO
Proceso

COLUMBA VÉRTIZ DE LA FUENTE
4 DE MAYO DE 2014
REPORTAJE ESPECIAL

[Summary: Luis Urquiza, director of the film Perfect Obedience which was inspired by pedophile Father Marcial Maciel, said the film is of high quality and was filmed in a responsible manner. It was released a few days after the canonization of Pope John Paul II but he said it is a coincidence.]

El director Luis Urquiza habla de su debut fílmico “Obediencia perfecta”, largometraje de ficción inspirado en la personalidad real del padre pederastra Marcial Maciel, y de cómo fue protegido por la jerarquía católica. Con argumento de Ernesto Alcocer (Perversidad) y Urquiza, esta polémica cinta la protagoniza Juan Manuel Bernal (en el papel del cura Ángel de la Cruz), entrevistado también junto a los actores adolescentes Sebastián Aguirre y Alejandro de Hoyos, así como una víctima verdadera de Maciel, José Barba, entre…

UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

The Opus Dei Beast “supernatural” Holy Father John Paul II

The relic for the new Saint John Paul II presented at his canonization circus at the Vatican was a vial drawn from his blood before he died – but that blood comes from the most cold-blood-ed cold-heart-ed pope in the history of Christendom because as the “Holy Father” – he did not have one drop of compassion in his blood and he didn’t have the fatherly compunction for hundreds of thousands of his Catholic children who were sexually sodomized and tortured by his bestial JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army named aptly after him who said nothing and did nothing to save and protect children during his 27 globetrotting years as the most powerful man, most famous monarch albeit religious dictator in the 20th century.

MEXICO
El Comercio

[Summary: The Film “Perfect Obedience”, which is inspired by the case of Mexican pederast priest Marcial Maciel, opens Friday in Mexico. It brings to the screen the subject of sexual abuse that rocked the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ which was found by Maciel. He was closed to Pope John Paul II until he died in 2008 at age 87.]

La película mexicana ‘Obediencia perfecta’, inspirada en el caso del sacerdote pederasta mexicano Marcial Maciel, no busca la provocación sino “conmover y provocar reflexión”, dijo hoy su director, Luis Urquiza.

El filme, que se estrena el jueves en México, lleva a la pantalla el tema de los abusos sexuales que sacudieron a la congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo, fundada por Maciel. El sacerdote mexicano, cercano a Juan Pablo II, murió en 2008 a los 87 años alejado del ministerio público por órdenes del Vaticano…

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Universal (Mexico)

El ex portavoz papal, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, recordó que la investigación canónica de las denuncias contra Maciel por abusos sexuales a menores comenzó todavía cuando Karol Wojtyla estaba vivo

Juan Pablo II fue informado de las pesquisas hechas por la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe contra el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, iniciadas al final de su pontificado, reveló hoy Joaquín Navarro-Valls.

En un encuentro con periodistas, en la sala de prensa del Vaticano, el ex portavoz papal recordó que la investigación canónica de las denuncias contra Maciel por abusos sexuales a menores comenzó todavía cuando Karol Wojtyla estaba vivo.

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…

VATICAN CITY
Latin Times

By Susmita Baral | Apr 22 2014

Pope John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyła) and Pope John XXIII (né Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) are scheduled to be declared saints by the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, Apr. 27, 2014 in Rome. The canonization process will be led by the current pontiff, Pope Francis, at the Catholic capital, which is estimated to receive 3 million visitors to celebrate the occasion.

Many have said that Pope John Paul II–the Polish pontiff led the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005–was the obvious choice for sainthood but there is more to being declared a saint than winning a popularity contest. According to the church, a pontiff must have two church-verified miracles attributed to him in order to be considered for sainthood.

For Pope John Paul II, the two miracles attributed were a French nun claiming to…

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Canonizing Pope John Paul II is an extraordinarily hurtful move. Now, the pain is being made worse by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, who insists that the now-deceased pope had “no personal involvement” in the horrific, decades-long Fr. Marcial Maciel scandal.

[The Republic]

First, a leader of an institution is responsible for what happens in that institution. This is especially true in an ancient, rigid monarchy like the Catholic Church. So popes can’t wield massive power yet evade responsibility for massive wrongdoing just because his aides may have carefully shielded him from the gory details.

Second, the Maciel case is just one case out of many in which John…

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

John XXIII knew.

Paul VI knew.

John Paul II knew.

Benedict XVI knew.

The story told in the recent RTÉ documentary about Marcial Maciel and the Legion of Christ won’t be new to many of us who watch it. Even so, it’s exceedingly painful to watch–even when one already knows the story of who Maciel was, what he did.

And of how one pope after another from John XXIII forward covered for him, blessed him, assisted him in expanding the power and privilege of the money-generating machine of a religious community he founded, until Benedict XVI found it impossible to continue with this travesty as people everywhere became critically aware of the facts of Maciel’s story. I watch the documentary, and hear its drumbeat of insistence–“John XXIII and John Paul II knew, they ignored pleas to stop Maciel’s abuse of seminarians, and…

IRELAND
Irish Times

[RTE video]

Patsy McGarry

Sun, Mar 9, 2014

Three popes, including two who will be canonised at the end of next month, were aware of abuse allegations against Legionaries of Christ founder Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, but did nothing about them.

It has also emerged that unsuccessful attempts were made to recruit the current papal nucio to Ireland Archbishop Charles Brown to the Legionaries. Later, he worked at the Vatican’s Congregatoin for the Doctrine of the Faith when Maciel was stood aside from ministry by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 .

He was instructed to retire to a life of “prayer and penitence” and died at Jacksonville, Florida, on January 30th 2008, aged 87. Acccording to subsequent revelations Maciel sexually abused numerous underage seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women.

In 2010 the Vatican denounced himl for creating a “system of power”…

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

John L. Allen Jr. | Jan. 28, 2014 NCR Today

Rome

As the embattled Legionaries of Christ continue trying to chart a new course during a General Chapter meeting that began Jan. 8, there are signs the order is far from unanimous about what that course should look like.

The general chapter is intended to end a three year period of papal receivership, after Benedict XVI imposed a delegate to take control of the order in 2010. That decision followed revelations of sexual abuse and misconduct by the founder, the late Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, as well as defections by several high-profile Legionaries and speculation that the order might be suppressed.

Legionaries taking part in the chapter meeting who spoke to NCR in January insist there’s widespread agreement on several fronts, including the need for less control from Rome and more autonomy for local…

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Children must call “Father” – only their own biological fathers or adoptive fathers – and they must not give away this unique paternal title and allegiance to other men on earth.

Children must call “Father” – only their own biological fathers or adoptive fathers – because these lay men alone deserve this unique title which they have rightfully earned through their daily labour and lifetime dedication.

Lay men must TAKE BACK their unique legal titles as “Fathers” because it is they who truly care and provide for their own children through their daily hard work!

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

The main reason why John Paul II must be canonized a saint soon as possible is because all priests are now forced to become Vatican robots: they must cite John Paul II in every homily especially in all Sunday homilies – so that every time they quote the evangelists or the Epistles, they must give only the “official Vatican interpretation” which is — “What ‘saint’ John Paul II wrote”. So in all Vatican Catholic churches today, everything the priests say must be “The Epistle and Gospel (interpretation) according to ‘Saint’ John Paul II” only. Behold the new JP2 Matrix Clones a.k.a. Vatican Catholic Priests Robots! It’s not Roman Catholic Church anymore, see why below. Vatican robots have no hearts akin to Theology and John Paul II are heartless and together they made pedophile priest Fr. Marcial Maciel thrive

VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Analysis: In a new book, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz absolves John Paul of blame for praising a priest accused of pedophilia, claiming that the pope was unaware of the accusations at the time.
Facebook

In a new book, John Paul II’s longtime secretary claims that the former pope is not to blame for his support and praise of a disgraced power broker accused of pedophilia and bribery, according to a Catholic News Service report.

The book, written in Italian by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and titled Ho Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), has apparently changed certain memories of factual inconvenience — creating a sort of performance piece that sings truths people never knew.

Pope Francis has ordered the canonization of John Paul II despite his failure to act on 1998 pedophilia charges lodged by nine ex-seminarians at the Vatican against Legion…

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Tom Roberts | Nov. 6, 2013 NCR Today

Pope John Paul II’s former secretary, in a recently published book, defends his late boss’s promotion of the now-infamous Marciel Maciel Degollado by saying that the pope knew “absolutely nothing” about him because of a lack of communication among the curia.

According to a CNS report by Cindy Wooden, Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, personal secretary to the late John Paul for 39 years, said in his book, Hi Vissuto con un Santo (I Lived with a Saint), that the pope should not have met with and praised the founder of the ultra conservative and secretive order, the Legion of Christ, in 2004. ”When the Holy Father met him, he knew nothing, absolutely nothing. For him, he [Maciel] was still the founder of a great religious order and that’s it. No one had told him anything, not…

IRELAND
Irish Times

Tony Flannery

Mon, Mar 11, 2013

When Pope Benedict spoke of the face of the Catholic Church being “disfigured”, and when he used the word “filth” about aspects of church life, maybe he was partly referring to the Vatican itself. The next pope will have a major task ahead of him, not just with the universal church, but with reforming the Roman curia.

The Vatileaks gave us insight into a dysfunctional system. We got a glimpse of a structure that was riddled with power struggles, infighting and jealousies. Even if only part of what was revealed is true, it still amounts to a major clean-up task for the new pope.

My concern is an older scandal, which continues to reveal new and more astonishing features. I am referring to the story of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel Degollado. For those who don’t…

UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

by Jason Berry
Mar 11, 2013

Marcial Maciel Degollado, a priest from Mexico with an extravagant name, was the greatest fundraiser for the postwar Catholic Church and equally its greatest criminal.

“A life … out of moral bounds,” is how Pope Benedict XVI described Maciel in a 2010 interview, two years after Maciel’s death. A “wasted, twisted life.”

And a life that exposed shocking flaws in the Vatican and the papacy. The saga of Father Maciel opens a rare view onto the flow of money in the Roman Curia across the last half century, a time during which his rise to power and late-life crash into scandal stained the campaign for John Paul II’s sainthood and became a quagmire for Benedict XVI.

In the late 1940s, Maciel began sexually plundering teenage seminarians in the religious order he founded, the Legion of Christ. He…

UNITED STATES
GlobalPost

Kevin Douglas Grant
February 15, 2013

GlobalPost correspondent Jason Berry today published a story explaining the significance of a trove of documents ordered to be released Friday about Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the powerful, ultraconservative Legion of Christ. The documents are expected to illuminate the way in which the Legion handled accusations of rampant child sexual abuse and the siring of several illegitimate children by Maciel over several decades.

Here is a primer on Maciel and his relationships with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II:

Who was Father Marcial Maciel?

Born in Mexico, the Roman Catholic priest founded the powerful, ultraconservative clerical order Legion of Christ in Mexico City in 1941. Dozens of victims in multiple countries made sexual abuse allegations against Maciel over the course of several decades, dating back to the 1950s.

Though he was suspended in 1956 from…

MEXICO
El Universal

Redacción
23 de octubre 2012

Al morir el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo y el movimiento “Regnum Christi”, Marcial Maciel Degollado, se develaron una serie de acusaciones y escándalos en su contra, desde abusos sexuales por miembros de la congregación y estudiantes, pederastia e hijos secretos, entre ellos José Raúl González Lara, quien hoy enfrenta cargos por extorsión.

González Lara fue detenido ayer en Cuernavaca, Morelos, por ministeriales mexiquense quienes contaban con una orden de aprehensión girada por el Juez Tercero Penal de Barrientos, en el municipio de Tlalnepantla, bajo la causa penal 710-12, por el delito de tentativa de extorsión.

Por ello, EL UNIVERSAL Edomex te da a conocer los escándalos del sacerdote mexicano:

1.- ABUSOS SEXUALES Y PEDERASTÍA

En el año de 1997, ocho ex miembros de la Legión de Cristo acusaron al sacerdote Marcial Maciel de haber cometido abuso sexual en…

UNITED STATES
These Stone Walls

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on August 1, 2012

The Catholic Press Association’s June convention handed out lots of awards, but none was for covering the story of Catholic priests falsely accused.

This is Part II of a post I wrote at this time last year entitled “The High Cost of Father Marcial Maciel and Why I Resent Paying It.” To explain exactly what I resent and why, I have to first tell you an old story.

When I was twelve years old, another boy in my neighborhood had a beautiful dog, a German shepherd, kept tethered 24/7 in his backyard. It used to break my heart to watch as this spoiled bully tormented his dog for hours on end. He would stand just beyond the limits of the tether, and taunt the dog mercilessly. This dog would bark and stretch his tether to…

UNITED STATES
These Stone Walls

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on July 13, 2011

After 9/11, religious profiling in the war on terror was deemed unjust, yet many use sexual abuse by one high profile Catholic priest to imply the guilt of others.

Remember the Juan Williams fiasco at National Public Radio? I wrote about it last November in “At the Twilight’s Last Gleaming.” To refresh your memory, the story began when FOX News commentator Bill O’Reilly declared on “The View” that not all Muslims are terrorists, but all the terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 were Muslims. This sparked a loud media fury about religious profiling and whether it is fair and just. The Bill O’Reilly episode culminated in Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar storming in protest off the set of “The View.”

The next evening, appearing on “The O’Reilly Factor” on FOX News,…

VATIKAN
Klosterwolf

Die systematische Vertuschung sexuellen Missbrauchs ist bei der römisch-katholischen Kirche nicht zuletzt eine Folge der Überzeugung, es gäbe außerhalb dieser Kirche kein Heil. Wer dies glaubt und über Missbrauchsfälle öffentlich spricht, schädigt das Ansehen der Kirche, provoziert Kirchenaustritte und nimmt in Kauf, dass viele Menschen „dem ewigen Feuer“ verfallen. Er verstößt dabei gegen die päpstlichen Schreiben „Crimen sollicitationis“ (1962) und „De delictis graviboribus“ (2001 und 2010), die alle drei zur Missbrauchsvertuschung aufrufen, indem sie anordnen, Missbrauchsfälle als „päpstliches Geheimnis“ zu behandeln und nur dem Vatikan zu melden. Dadurch wurde und wird verboten, bei noch nicht öffentlich bekanntgewordenen Missbrauchsfällen die Staatsanwaltschaft einzuschalten.

Herr Dr. Ratzinger war von 1981 bis 2005 der Leiter der Kongregation für den Glauben, zu deren Aufgaben die Behandlung von Missbrauchsfällen gehörte. Schon 1976 zeigte Bischof John R. McGann dem Vatikan 20 Fälle an, bei denen Pater Marcial Maciel Degollado sexueller Missbrauch vorgeworfen wurde. 1989…

MEXICO
Vatican Insider

The majestic Basilica Cathedral of Our Holy Mother of the Light hosts a sort of ‘Latin American conclave’ of South American bishops

Giacomo Galeazzi

An eco resounds in the neoclassical aisles of the Cathedral, it is the invite extended to the audience by the pope as pastor and theologian not to “give into the intimidation campaign of evil forces”, because “ Evil does not have the last word in history” and “God can present new grounds for a hope that does not disappoint”. In the Majestic Cathedral of Leon in Mexico, which has been transformed into a sort of “Latin conclave” as all the continent’s bishops have flocked together, Benedict XVI attacked the bishops who have collaborated with the drug lords and the powerful founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Maciel, who is a paedophile. During the recital of the vespers the Pope deplored “weaknesses and…

MEXICO
El Plural

Mexicanos que denunciaron los abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel, fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, así como algunas de sus víctimas, pidieron al Papa Benedicto XVI, de visita en ese país reconocer la responsabilidad de la Iglesia en el ocultamiento de los hechos.

Los exlegionarios José Barba y Alberto Athié y los investigadores Fernando M. González y Bernardo Barranco han denunciado en una rueda de prensa celebrada en León, la ciudad del Estado de Guanajuato donde pernoctó el Papa este sábado, que el Vaticano ocultó los abusos sexuales cometidos por Maciel desde los años cuarenta del siglo pasado.

MEXICO
La Nacion (Chile)

Víctimas de abusos sexuales del mexicano Marcial Maciel, un sacerdote fallecido en 2008 que fundó la congregación católica Legionarios de Cristo, difundieron un manifiesto en el que acusan al Papa Benedicto XVI, de visita a este país, de haberles ignorado.

“Por vuestras manos pasó la oportunidad de aceptar esa verdad” (los abusos sexuales de Maciel), dice el manifiesto presentado en León, a 400 km al noroeste de la capital, donde el Papa se aloja en su primera visita a México. “Pero no se nos escuchó ni se nos creyó oportunamente. Durante mucho tiempo fuimos ignorados”, agrega el manifiesto.

MEXICO
Orlando Sentinel

Por E. EDUARDO CASTILLO y ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

LEON, México (AP) — El vocero del Vaticano, padre Federico Lombardi, afirmó el sábado que ningún Papa encubrió la doble vida del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, señalado de abuso sexual contra seminaristas y de haber procreado al menos tres hijos pese a ser sacerdote.

Horas después de que fuera presentado un libro sobre el presunto encubrimiento del Vaticano a los abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel, Lombardi consideró “injusto” calificar de esa manera tanto al Papa Benedicto XVI como a su antecesor Juan Pablo II.

MEXICO
International

Luis Prados León (Guanajuato) 24 MAR 2012

Las víctimas de los abusos sexuales a menores cometidos por el fundador de la Legión de Cristo, el sacerdote mexicano ya fallecido Marcial Maciel, han manifestado este sábado su repulsa por la ocultación a sabiendas del escándalo por parte del Vaticano durante décadas y su indignación por que el papa Benedicto XVI, de visita en México, no tuviera previsto recibirlos.

Los exlegionarios José Barba y Alberto Athié y los investigadores Fernando M. González y Bernardo Barranco han denunciado en conferencia de prensa celebrada en León, la ciudad del Estado de Guanajuato donde pernocta el Papa, que la Santa Sede ocultó los abusos sexuales cometidos por Maciel desde los años cuarenta del siglo pasado. Maciel fundó la congregación en enero de 1941 con el nombre de Misioneros del Sagrado Corazón y posteriormente lo cambió a Legión de Cristo.

MEXICO
El Diario de Yucatan

Por E. EDUARDO CASTILLO y ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

LEON, Guanajuato (AP).- El vocero del Vaticano, padre Federico Lombardi, afirmó el sábado que ningún Papa encubrió la doble vida del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, señalado de abuso sexual contra seminaristas y de haber procreado al menos tres hijos pese a ser sacerdote.

Horas después de que fuera presentado un libro sobre el presunto encubrimiento del Vaticano a los abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel, Lombardi consideró “injusto” calificar de esa manera tanto al Papa Benedicto XVI como a su antecesor Juan Pablo II.

“Tengo que testimoniar que los dos Papas fueron hombres, que son hombres de verdad y de transparencias en este problema”, aseguró el portavoz de la Santa Sede. “Creo que es verdaderamente injusto de considerar al Papa Benedicto como un hombre que ha trabajado en contra de la verdad y de…

MEXICO
Que

LEÓN, México (Reuters) – La visita del Papa Benedicto XVI a México se vio ensombrecida el sábado por la revelación de nuevos detalles sobre abusos del padre mexicano Marcial Maciel, mientras las víctimas lamentaban la falta de respuesta ante sus peticiones de reunirse con el pontífice.

Benedicto XVI llega a la segunda nación con más creyentes del mundo después de Brasil cuando la fe católica de los mexicanos se ha visto disminuida entre otras cosas por el escándalo de Maciel, que durante décadas abusó sexualmente de seminaristas y llevó una doble vida.

MEXICO
Pulso

El Universal

La presentación del libro “La Voluntad de no Saber: lo que sí se conocía sobre Maciel en los archivos secretos del Vaticano desde 1944”, ha llamado la atención de los representantes de los medios de comunicación que cubren la visita del Papa a México.

El libro escrito por Alberto Athié, José Barba y Fernando M. González, presentado por Bernardo Barranco y Carmen Aristegui, ha generado grandes expectativa y la presencia de unos 100 representantes de los medios de comunicación.

José Barba no ha podido asistir debido a problemas de salud pero se proyectó un video con un mensaje en el que acusa al Vaticano de saber desde el año de 1997, los abusos cometidos por el fundador de la congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo Marcial Maciel.

MEXICO
Periodista

Federico Lombardi portavoz del Vaticano afirmó que los Papas Juan Pablo II y Benedicto XVI no fueron “encubridores del padre Marcial Maciel y es injusto considerar que el actual Pontífice está en contra de la verdad y la transparencia”.

En conferencia de prensa descartó que el Obispo de Roma se vaya a reunir con las víctimas de abuso sexual, porque es un tema que no está en la agenda de la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) como sí lo estuvo en países que ha visitado como Francia e Irlanda.

El vocero del Vaticano manifestó estar informado de que se había presentado un libro de víctimas de abuso sexual, “el cual no he tenido tiempo de leerlo” pero su punto fundamental es que “si los papas fueron encubridores” y en “mi conocimiento de estos Papas es que no fueron encubridores”.

MEXICO
Periodista

Mexicanos que denunciaron los abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel (1920-2008), fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, pidieron hoy al papa Benedicto XVI reconocer la responsabilidad de la Iglesia en el ocultamiento de ese caso y proclamar que “nunca más” se tolerará la pederastia.

“No pretendemos boicotear la visita, absolutamente. Lo que sí queremos es decirle desde México adónde vas, Benedicto XVI: ¿Quieres reencontrar carisma y tu misión de Pedro o quieres caminar a fortalecer tu Pontificado máximo y tu Jefatura de Estado?”, dijo en rueda de prensa el exsacerdote Alberto Athié.

MEXICO
Milenio

León, Tendencias • 24 Marzo 2012 – 2:11pm — Pedro Domínguez

Los autores del libro ‘La voluntad de no saber’, afirman tener documentos en los que se comprueba que Joseph Ratzinger sabía de los abusos a niños por parte de sacerdotes y exigen rinda cuentas y reconozca su complicidad.

León, Gto. • El Papa Benedicto XVI debe pedir disculpas por los abusos sexuales del padre Maciel y reconocer su complicidad al encubrir el caso, afirmó el ex sacerdote Alberto Athié.

En conferencia de prensa al presentar el libro titulado ‘La voluntad de no saber’, respaldó su dicho en la posesión de archivos secretos de El Vaticano desde 1944 hasta el 2002 donde se da cuenta de cómo la Santa Sede, incluido Joseph Ratzinger, conocían y encubrían la doble vida del ex líder de los Legionarios de Cristo.

MEXICO
El Financiero

AP

La primera visita del Papa Benedicto XVI a México coincidirá con la publicación de un nuevo libro que revelará documentos que presuntamente demuestran que el Vaticano tuvo conocimiento de los abusos sexuales cometidos contra varios seminaristas por parte del fundador de Los Legionarios de Cristo, el mexicano Marcial Maciel, y sobre su aparente adicción a la morfina.

El libro, “La voluntad de no saber”, tiene previsto salir a la luz pública el 24 de marzo, un día después de la llegada a México de Benedicto XVI, un Papa que en viajes fuera del Vaticano y anteriores a éste, se ha reunido con víctimas de abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes pero quien no tiene planeado hacer lo mismo en territorio mexicano.

Editado por Random House Mondadori, el libro tiene un tiraje de más de 6,000 copias y sólo circulará en México.

MEXICO
El Diario

Bernardo Barranco

Distrito Federal— “Este Papa me tiene desilusionado, ya no creo en él”, dice José Barba, catedrático del Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México y una de las víctimas de Marcial Maciel. Cuando se le pregunta si accedería a tener un encuentro con Benedicto XVI en su próxima visita a México, responde categórico: “No estoy dispuesto a juegos mediáticos estériles ni a supuestos perdones cargados de retórica”.

Barba, Alberto Athié y el investigador Fernando M. González son autores de un libro que contiene evidencias documentales de algo que era ampliamente sabido: el Vaticano tenía conocimiento y registro del comportamiento enfermizo de Marcial Maciel desde los años cuarenta.

La próxima semana Random House-Mondadori pondrá en circulación el libro, La voluntad de no saber, cuyo subtítulo es elocuente: Lo que sí se conocía sobre Maciel en los archivos secretos del Vaticano desde 1944. Los documentos incluidos en la…

VATICAN CITY/MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 24, 2012
By Jason Berry

On Saturday, as Pope Benedict XVI makes the first appearance on his March 23-28 trip to Mexico and Cuba, three authors will hold a news conference in the same city, Leon, Mexico, discussing a book that quotes Vatican files on the pedophilia and drug abuse accusations that trailed Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, for decades until his death in 2008.

Maciel, a native of Mexico who died at 88, was a subject of long-running concern at the Vatican congregation that governs religious orders, according to La Voluntad de No Saber – “The Will Not To Know,” published by a Mexico City imprint of Random House international.

The authors are Alberto Athié, a former priest who directed a Mexican bishops’ charity; José Barba, a retired college professor and former Legion seminarian who filed…

UNITED STATES
Catholic Sensibility

Much is being made of the pope not meeting with Mexican abuse victims. Patricio Cerda, who works with victims, strikes a pessimistic tone:

In my opinion it is sad, on the one hand, because Benedict XVI is expected to be more than ‘politically correct’ – he is expected to be a true pastor. On the other hand, the cardinals have their own interests at stake, including the Primate of Mexico (Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera), who defended Maciel to the end. Those directly victimized by the founder do not want to become pawns in what amounts to nothing more than a media game.

Political correctness–the worst sense of that term–can run both ways. There’s a certain pc-strain in churchmen who want nothing more for this scandal of abuse and cover-up to go away. Why does it have to drag on past the obligatory fifteen minutes? This…

UNITED STATES
firedoglake

New Maciel Revelations on the Heels of Papal Visit to Mexico Underscore Need for Accountability at the Very Top of the Roman Catholic Church

By: Center for Constitutional Rights Friday March 23, 2012

By Pam Spees, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights

While nothing is being done to protect the children of Mexico still being assaulted by Catholic clergy, plenty of preparations have taken place for this weekend’s papal visit. According to Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Pope will not be meeting with survivors of sexual abuse by priests while in Mexico as he has done in previous visits to other countries. The reason given is that these meetings would have to take place in “a context in which the bishops asked the pope to do it because it was a problem felt in society and the church, and that it was something…

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The lack of any meeting with the victims of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ could compromise Benedict XVI’s mission

Andrés Beltramo Álvarez
Vatican City

“He is not scheduled to meet with Maciel’s victims – the bishops have not asked him to.” With these words, Vatican Press Office director Fr. Federico Lombardi ruled out the possibility that the Pope will receive the sexual molestation victims of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ during his visit to Mexico – a controversial decision, even within the Roman Curia. Meanwhile, the victims are preparing another demonstration, possibly tarnishing Benedict XVI’s Latin American visit.

“He was not asked. In other countries where these kinds of meetings with abuse victims have taken place, the bishops urged the Pope to do so because the issue was strongly felt in society and in the Church. In this case, it…

MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

by Michael Sean Winters on Mar. 21, 2012 Distinctly Catholic

This story from the Associated Press will, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Santorum, make you want to throw up. A new book details that the Vatican received information about Father Maciel’s crimes more than 50 years ago. (h/t to Rocco!)

I do want to point out one thing however. The article does not implicate Benedict in the cover-up but it leaves open the possibility. That possibility should be foreclosed. As head of the CDF, then-Cardinal ratzinger conducted the investigation of Maciel and then the apartment did nothing with it. Cardinals Sodano and Dziwicz have some answering to do but not Pope Benedict.

MEXICO
Proceso

Bernardo Barranco V.
17 de marzo de 2012

La visita a México de Benedicto XVI no será tan tersa como desearían sus organizadores. Al tiempo de su llegada saldrá a la venta el libro La voluntad de no saber, que mediante documentos del Vaticano demuestra que Juan Pablo II y su sucesor conocían el comportamiento criminal de Marcial Maciel, al que no obstante protegieron. Además, víctimas del fundador de la Legión de Cristo y de otros sacerdotes católicos pederastas hacen gestiones para plantearle al pontífice de manera personal sus exigencias de justicia. El autor de esta reseña es también autor del prólogo de la obra.

“Este Papa me tiene desilusionado, ya no creo en él”, dice José Barba, catedrático del Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México y una de las víctimas de Marcial Maciel. Cuando se le pregunta si accedería a tener un encuentro con Benedicto XVI…

MEXICO
El Diario de Yucatan

Por E. EDUARDO CASTILLO y NICOLE WINFIELD

MEXICO (AP).— La primera visita del Papa Benedicto XVI a México coincidirá con la publicación de un nuevo libro que revelará documentos que presuntamente demuestran que el Vaticano tuvo conocimiento de los abusos sexuales cometidos contra varios seminaristas por parte del fundador de Los Legionarios de Cristo, el mexicano Marcial Maciel, y sobre su aparente adicción a la morfina.

El libro, “La voluntad de no saber“, tiene previsto salir a la luz pública el 24 de marzo, un día después de la llegada a México de Benedicto XVI, un Papa que en viajes fuera del Vaticano y anteriores a éste, se ha reunido con víctimas de abusos sexuales cometidos por sacerdotes pero quien no tiene planeado hacer lo mismo en territorio mexicano.

Editado por Random House Mondadori, el libro tiene un tiraje de más de 6.000 copias…

MEXICO
La Opinion

POR: Gardenia Mendoza Aguilar / gardenia.mendoza@laopinion.com

Benedicto XVI no se reunirá con los denunciantes del artífice de actos consecutivos de pederastia y creador de la congregación católica más poderosa del mundo

MÉXICO, D.F.- “No hemos pedido ninguna cita con el Papa”, corta tajante el exsacerdote José Barba, presunta víctima de abusos sexuales de Marcial Maciel, el fallecido fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, que representa junto con la caída del número de católicos, dos realidades desatendidas en México.

Benedicto XVI no se reunirá con los denunciantes del artífice de actos consecutivos de pederastia y creador de la congregación católica más poderosa del mundo con presencia en 38 países, como lo hizo con otras víctimas de curas en Estados Unidos, Irlanda, Inglaterra y Alemania.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Roberts on Feb. 23, 2012 NCR Today

Sandro Magister writes about the continuing changes to the Legion of Christ being arranged by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the pontifical delegate to whom Benedict XVI has given full power to remake the scandal-plagued religious order and its associated lay movement Regnum Christi, with its hundreds of consecrated men and women.

It is essential to remember that the Legion, a now failed project built on utterly fraudulent life of its founder, the late Marciel Maciel Degollado, was the ideal expression of Catholic priesthood and lay witness for Pope John Paul II. Maciel and the Legion represents more than a blind spot or a dark chapter in John Paul’s papacy. It represented, more importantly, the model of priesthood, leadership and witness that John Paul advocated.

As I point out in my book, The Emerging Catholic Church:…

Authorities arrested a Roman Catholic priest at the capital’s international airport on charges of raping of a minor over a period of years, officials said Thursday.

The Mexico state prosecutor’s office said that Rev. Antonio Cabrera, a member of the Legion of Christ religious order, was arrested Wednesday night on a court order for rape.

Authorities cited incidents in 2004, 2007 and 2011, but the investigation only began in December 2024, after the alleged attacks were reported. The abuse allegedly occurred in Naucalpan, a Mexico City suburb. The prosecutor’s office did not say why Cabrera was at the airport.

The Legion of Christ religious order has been involved in sexual abuse scandals before, including those of its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who was later determined to be a serial pedophile.

The Vatican in 2010 took over the Mexico-based Legion and imposed a process of reform after an investigation showed that…

Antonio María Cabrera faces sexual abuse of minors accusations. The Catholic priest, and member of the Legion of Christ will be arraigned in the coming hours. A report was filed back in January; a judge issued an arrest warrant in May. The police arrested the Legion of Christ priest when he was trying to leave Mexico. Cabrera was a member of Marcial Maciel’s inner circle and held key roles at the Legion of Christ’s flagship college in Mexico City.

On Wednesday June 11, around 6 pm, the Mexico City International Airport became the epicenter of the global clergy sexual abuse crisis as officers of the Attorney General’s Office arrested Catholic priest Antonio María Cabrera, a member of the Legion of Christ.

As far as it is possible to know, there has been no official statement from either the Attorney General’s Office (FGR, after its Spanish-language acronym), which originally made…

The crisis at Bétharram exposes the fault lines of France’s response to clergy sexual abuse, leading to further politicization of the issue.

The Church’s weak response leaves the survivors of abuse at Bétharram at the mercy of French politics, revictimizing them on a daily basis.

Despite French secularism and prior efforts from the Catholic Bishops to acknowledge the depth of crisis in their country, François Bayrou’s response to the crisis at Bétharram is verbose and inefficient.

Whoever follows French news these days would notice how many stories are associated, one way or the other, to issues of sexual abuse and violence. Last year, France, Europe and the world were in shock after knowing the details of Giséle Pelicot’s quest for justice.

More recently, France experienced a similar collective shock when a trial revealed details of how Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon, abused at least 300 of his patients. If that was not…

Some Catholics deride survivors’ calls for change as wealthy donors offer billions in exchange for influence over the Conclave.

With the papal Conclave about to being, deep divisions emerge in the Catholic Church as disillusioned survivors watch from afar.

Hours before the Conclave in Rome, deep cleavages emerge among the faithful. Who should they be worried about? Survivors talking truth to power or wealthy donors willing to buy Peter’s throne?

It is almost impossible to figure out what are the key issues affecting a Conclave’s outcome. The nature of the process, the way the electors are chosen, and a long-standing tradition of uncertainty summarized in the old Italian saying “Chi in conclave entra papa, esce cardinale”, roughly translatable as “who enters a Pope at the Conclave, comes out a Cardinal.”

Over the last week or so, there has been a seemingly endless stream of information in almost any language about…

A Los Angeles cardinal, Roger Mahony, 89, dripping tracks of scandal from recycling predator priests, found a shot of redemption at Pope Francis’ funeral. 

Mahony is a cashiered cardinal. His successor, Archbishop José Gomez, restricted Mahony’s public role after the abuse scandals that cost the archdiocese some $660 million in 2007 legal settlements. Gomez recently approved $880 million to 1,353 survivors who filed later grievances. Mahony’s tarred history can be mined at BishopAccountability.org, the online archive that since 2003 has gathered documents on a criminal sexual underground in clerical culture. 

Aged out as a conclave voter, Mahony, thanks to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the chamberlain in charge of the rituals, was granted proximity to Francis’ coffin — because of seniority, a Vatican spokesman announced. Thus a cameo of the ecclesial court whitewashing a prince’s record of facilitating sexual violations against young people. Mahony, fluent in Spanish, told Los Angeles’ ABC…

The next leader of the global Catholic Church needs to put the issue of clerical sex abuse at the heart of their papacy, victims’ advocates said on Wednesday, criticising the legacies of the last three popes.

The Church has been shaken for at least three decades by scandals around the world involving paedophile priests and the cover-up of their crimes, damaging its credibility and costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.

“We believe it should be the central issue in the conclave,” Peter Isely, one of the founders of abuse survivors’ group SNAP said in Rome, presenting a website that tracks allegations of cover-up by senior church officials.

The conclave, a secret meeting of cardinals to elect a new pope, is set to start on May 7.

Pope Francis, who died on April 21, reiterated pledges of “zero tolerance” made by his predecessor Benedict XVI, and introduced several…

To Catholics in the United States, especially, Mahony is not only a face of the sexual abuse scandal but a totem of the ongoing leadership crisis plaguing the Church.

When Pope Francis’s coffin was sealed on Friday in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Roger Mahony was among the official witnesses.

If you are wondering why that matters, well, suffice it to say Mahony’s presence sends a signal.

Mahony was archbishop of Los Angeles for more than a quarter century, from 1985 to 2011, during which he grossly mismanaged abuse cases and even shielded priests who had abused children.Mahony’s successor in Los Angeles, Archbishop José Gomez–who never got a red hat–stripped Mahony of his public duties in 2013, but Mahony continued to enjoy some favor in Rome.

To Catholics in the United States, especially, Mahony is not only a face of the scandal but a totem of the ongoing leadership crisis plaguing…

The prelate and deputy secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the highest authority in the pursuit of pedophiles within the Church, believes that the next pope will not be able to ignore victims’ cry for justice

The Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, 65, is perhaps the most respected figure within the Vatican in the fight against child abuse. He led the landmark investigation into Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, as well as inquiries into the bishops in Chile and the recent probe into Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, a powerful ultraconservative organization in Peru.

In 2019, he returned to the Vatican’s inner circle to address the ongoing crisis plaguing the Catholic Church: clerical pedophilia. The pope entrusted him with a key role as Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and as a member of the organizing committee for…

On Tuesday the Vatican announced the definitive suppression of all four branches of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christiane Vitae (SCV), including two women’s communities and an ecclesial movement.

On April 15 the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued a statement, signed by its prefect, Italian Sister Simona Brambilla, saying they had made the decision to suppress all branches at the close of nearly two years of Vatican inquiry.

“At the conclusion of an investigation ordered by the Holy Father Francis July 5, 2023, in order to ascertain the validity of accusations regarding responsibilities of various kinds attributed to Mr. Luis Fernando Figari and numerous other members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, it was decided to suppress” both the male and female branches of the SCV, as well as a community of nuns and an ecclesial movement sharing the same founder and spirituality.

Brambilla’s statement comes…

François Bayrou, French Prime Minister will testify on May 14th, before the commission probing clergy sexual abuse at the Catholic school in Bétharram.

Bayrou’s son was a student; his wife taught religion at the Our Lady of Bétharram Catholic school where 200 now adults claim to be survivors of abuse.

In a development that could reshape the French political landscape and is the most significant development in the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church over this year, French Prime Minister François Bayrou is set to testify before a congressional commission investigating decades of abuse at a Catholic school in Bétharram—where his family had close personal ties.

A former judge, a former policeman, and a former professor allege, during a congressional probe, that they warned Bayrou of the abuse as far back as the 1990s. Bayrou, given the peculiarities of the French political system, is the Prime Minister, the district representative,…

Theodore McCarrick’s death takes the clergy sexual abuse crisis into one of its most frequent dead ends. Dead dogs don’t bite?

Back in August 2023, a court declared McCarrick unfit to face trial despite his earlier attempt at declaring himself not guilty of sexual abuse charges.

McCarrick’s death brings no solution or relief to the victims and it only perpetuates a playbook, a template, allowing factions of the Catholic Church to use victims as bargaining pieces in their internal quarrels.

In the wake of Theodore McCarrick’s death, the silence that often follows the demise of accused predators risks blurring our understanding of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

While his passing may close one painful chapter for some, it offers no true resolution for victims and does nothing to dismantle the systemic failures that allowed his abuses, and countless others, to occur.

“Dead dogs do not bite” it is not a stated…

From the CWR archives: Theodore McCarrick deceived many highly intelligent people, more than a few holy people, and a lot of the progressive U.S. Catholic world, for whom he was both hero and fundraiser.

Editor’s note: This essay was published originally on November 18, 2020, and is reposted in response to the news that McCarrick died recently at the age of 94.

From the day it was announced that the Vatican would conduct an investigation into the career of former Washington cardinal-archbishop Theodore McCarrick (compelled to renounce his cardinalate and subsequently laicized for sexual abuse and the abuse of power), it seemed unlikely that the McCarrick Report would fully please anyone.

That intuition hardened as two years passed without any report. During that period, I also came to the view that, whatever the report reported about details, it would not…

The principal of the Regnum Christi Highlands El Encinar school in Madrid, Father Jesús María Delgado, LC, has resigned days after five complaints of sexual abuse involving Father Marcelino de Andrés, former secretary of the disgraced founder of the Legion, Marcial Maciel, were reported.

De Andrés, who served as the school’s chaplain, was arrested March 6 by Spain’s National Police and released subject to restrictions. The priest was initially accused of sexually abusing one female student but subsequently four additional complaints were received.

According to the seventh statement issued by the institution since the case broke, Delgado has resigned from his duties.

“Given the situation we are going through at the school where I am principal, which has caused profound pain and distrust in our institution, I believe I must resign as principal,” the letter begins.

Delgado said he shares the pain of “those…

The principal of a school run by members of Regnum Christi in Spain, the lay arm of the Legionaries of Christ, resigned after a school chaplain was arrested for sexually abusing five underage girls.

“Given the situation we are experiencing at the school where I am principal, which has caused profound pain and has generated distrust in our institution, I believe I must resign,” wrote Father Jesús María Delgado, a Legionaries of Christ priest and principal of the Highlands El Encinar school in Madrid.

“I want to express to those who feel let down and dejected by the disappointment that I share their pain. I apologize for all this hurt,” he wrote.

The scandal first came to light when the school announced March 7 that police had arrested Father Marcelino de Andrés Núñez after the parents of one student filed a complaint after their daughter said the priest had done…

The confirmation, more than 15 years ago, of the sexual abuse of minors committed by the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel, marked a turning point for priests, consecrated men and women, and laypeople in the Regnum Christi movement. The revelation of these painful events led to a period of discernment and renewal that for many became a path of hope.

In 1998, nine victims filed formal charges against Maciel at the Vatican, but he denied the allegations. In 2004, the investigation was resumed, and the Holy See ordered him to withdraw from active ministry, although he was never expelled from the congregation. After his death in 2008, the Legionaries of Christ publicly apologized, confirming Maciel’s double life, which also included fathering at least four children with various women.

According to a 2019 report by Regnum Christi, at least 175 minors between the ages of 11…

Dear SNAP Members,

We want to share an update from our time here, as we’ve had a productive weekend speaking with members of the press. Yesterday, we had conversations with journalists from CNN and Reuters, and today we are scheduled to meet with representatives from the Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Washington Post in preparation for a press conference this Thursday.

Pope Francis has now been hospitalized for over a month. Though it’s impossible to predict the timing, when Pope Francis dies (or resigns), 137 cardinals from around the world will gather in Rome to select the next pope. This is the only semi-democratic process within the Catholic Church, and we believe it is crucial that U.S. cardinals know that SNAP members are paying attention before they cast their votes. No one knows more about the way the hierarchy has covered up and enabled…

Legionaries of Christ priest accused of abusing 5 schoolgirls in Spain

Madrid, Spain, Mar 13, 2025 / 06:40 am (CNA).

Father Marcelino de Andrés Núñez, a priest of the Legionaries of Christ and former secretary of Marcial Maciel, was arrested in Spain and released subject to restrictions, accused of abusing five underage girls at a school where he served as a primary and secondary school chaplain.

Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, sexually abused at least 60 minors, most between the ages of 11 and 16, according to a report issued by the Legionaries of Christ in December 2019. 

According to several statements released by Highlands El Encinar School in recent days, Spain’s National Police arrested de Andrés on March 6, initially accused of sexually abusing one female student.

Upon learning of the events, the school activated the Safe Environment Protocol for cases of sexual abuse reported against a…

Regnum Christi has announced that it will review the safe environments protocols it has in place in Spain following five allegations of sexual abuse against the former secretary of Marcial Maciel, Legionary priest Marcelino de Andrés Núñez, who worked at the Highlands El Encinar school in that country.

Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi, was found to have sexually abused at least 60 minors, most between the ages of 11 and 16, according to a report issued by the Legionaries of Christ in December 2019. 

The measure was announced in a letter to the students’ parents dated March 11 listing a series of “public commitments” that were reportedly conveyed to the students’ parents in an in-person meeting held Monday.

The section on reviewing processes and protocols begins with the decision to “select and hire an external auditing firm to…

Father Marcelino de Andrés Núñez, a priest of the Legionaries of Christ and former secretary of Marcial Maciel, was arrested in Spain and released subject to restrictions, accused of abusing five underage girls at a school where he served as a primary and secondary school chaplain.

Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, sexually abused at least 60 minors, most between the ages of 11 and 16, according to a report issued by the Legionaries of Christ in December 2019. 

According to several statements released by Highlands El Encinar School in recent days, Spain’s National Police arrested the priest on March 6, initially accused of sexually abusing one female student.

Upon learning of the events, the school activated the Safe Environment Protocol for cases of sexual abuse reported against a Legionary of Christ, the last approved version of which dates back to…

Marcelino de Andrés, 58, a member of the Legion of Christ, was the chaplain of the Highlands School in Madrid.

The news about these new cases at the Legion of Christ happen as Pope Francis suppresses a similar, but smaller Argentine predatory order.

Five more victims of clergy sexual abuse to the already monstruous record of the Legion of Christ. The accused of these abuses is a priest, Marcelino de Andrés, a 58-years old Spaniard who was Marcial Maciel’s last private secretary.

Him, as other leaders of the Mexican religious order, appear in the main picture of this story as captured by a photographer who documented how the members of that order paid their respects to the predator behind a multinational religious empire who had, until the end, John Paul II’s support and barely was “punished” by Benedict XVI with a “retierement into a life of prayer”.

Following standard practice, Spanish authorities released De Andrés…

The Vatican has suppressed an Argentine religious order founded by a priest who sexually abused adult members, and abused the confessional to cover his tracks.

The suppression of the clerical religious institute Miles Christi was announced by the Argentine bishops’ conference Thursday, but approved by Pope Francis before he went into the hospital for pneumonia last month, according to a March 6 announcement from the conference.

The suppression is the latest in a series of moves during the Francis pontificate to address issues with religious institutes founded by abusive priests, and to address governance in new ecclesial movements and religious communities.

Miles Christi was founded by the now-laicized Fr. Roberto Yannuzzi in 1994, as an association of clerics in the Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina. Drawing on Ignatian spirituality, the members of the institute focused on spiritual direction, retreats, and other initiatives for the spiritual formation of Catholics.

While Yannuzzi…

Many people have asked for a long time. What did the popes do to curb the incredible amount of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church?

My usual answer is: nothing. This excellent new book by investigative journalist Philip Shenon confirms that the popes ignored abuse and protected abusers every way they could—in the United States and across the world. Shenon’s “investigative history of the modern Roman Catholic Church,” shows that the popes made numerous terrible mistakes in running the church. I focus on sex abuse because this book helps to explain why Catholicism has avoided responsibility for abuse for so long.

Do you know the last seven popes? They are:

• Pius XII (1939-1958)
• John XXIII (1958-1963)
• Paul VI (1963-1978)
• John Paul I (August-September 1978)
• John Paul II (1978-2005)
• Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
• Francis (2013-present)

The Beginning

Father Marcial Maciel Degollado started the Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, in 1941. His abuses started in the…

What will be the effect of the second Trump administration on the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and beyond? Trump’s record on abuse and his relationship with U.S. Cardinals force to wonder what the effects of his second term on the clergy sexual abuse crisis will be.

Dolan, Barron, Naumann, and other U.S. bishops endorse Trump at the expense of spreading lies about the role of other bishops supporting migrants, fostering distrust about their role in the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

One of the most imminent risks posed by what seems to be a coup d’ Etat in the United States at this point is the way many institutions are folding into whatever form the current regime desires.

This is relevant for the global clergy sexual abuse crisis not only because of the potential future of cases in the United States, up until now one of the…

From Peru to Argentina and from the United Kingdom or Thailand; Catholic or Anglican, clergy sexual abuse is a global phenomenon.

In Peru, there is a drive to suppress the Sodalitium, but in Argentina there is little evidence of even symbolic measures being taken against sexual abuse.

In the UK, the Church of England suffers as much as the Catholic which, in Thailand, dismisses the complaints and warnings from faithful trying to prevent clergy sexual abuse.

Last week, the clergy sexual abuse crisis had two major developments. One coming from the Roman Catholic Church has to do with the Peruvian Sodalitium of Christian Life. Other came from the Anglican Church with new revelations about John Smyth’s case and the resignation of yet another bishop in that denomination.

But also, Thailand offers a new example of how dismissive the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church is when warned about potential risks…