Search Results for: maciel

MEXICO
MSN

The story of an influential Mexican priest accused of rampant child sex abuse will be featured in a new movie — secretly filmed in Mexico this summer.

Marcial Maciel founded the Legionaries of Christ over six decades ago. It is now active in 22 countries, and in particular at schools and universities.

But starting in 1997, a number of students began to come forward to accuse the high-profile priest of molesting them.

After years of denials, the Vatican finally opened an investigation in 2004, culminating two years later with Maciel’s resignation from the top post at the Legionaries.

UNITED STATES
City of Angels

[with videos]

Kay Ebeling

(Transcripts of interview below:)

Update on The Hague International Criminal Court filing September 2011 re Vatican Crimes Against Humanity, interviews took place July 28, 2012, in Chicago. First Pam Spees of Center for Constitutional Rights in NY, gives current status of case:

Transcript:

TAPE ONE:

Q: You’re Pam Spees from the- what is the name of the organization in New York.

A: The Center for Constitutional Rights.

Q: And tell us what the status is of the case that you filed in The Hague last year.

A: Well since we filed the larger submission in September along with twenty-two thousand pages of documentation, we have filed a supplemental communication to the prosecutor in April of this year. Which was intended to provide an update as things have come to light just since we filed in September. And that included the…

VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY — The disgraced Legion of Christ religious order needs to rethink its identity before going forward with its internal reform, the papal envoy in charge of the group’s overhaul told priests and lay members in a letter published on Wednesday (July 11).

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis was appointed in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to oversee the order’s reform after revelations that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, had lived a double life, abusing children and fathering a son.

Macial had enjoyed iconic status in the Legion, with strong suspicions that its leaders had been at least partly aware of his actions.

De Paolis writes that the troubled groups’ various branches, which include priests, religious and lay people, need “a common platform” to “regulate reciprocal relations … according to the identity proper to each group.”

UNITED STATES
First Things

Jun 22, 2012

Rev. Thomas V. Berg

Cardinal Velasio de Paolis was named papal delegate to the Legionaries of Christ early in July 2010 to shepherd the congregation through a “process of profound re-evaluation” as mandated in a communiqué from the Holy See to the Legionaries on May 1st of that same year. His appointment followed upon a close scrutiny of all Legionary houses of formation and apostolate—a “canonical visitation”—conducted by a team of bishops appointed by the Pope. The visitation was mandated by Benedict after the congregation’s major superiors admitted in early 2009 that Maciel had lived a morally depraved double life, fathering at least a daughter and perhaps other children from at least one mistress, and sexually abusing young seminarians.

After twenty-three years as a Legionary, I discerned that it was best for me to abandon the congregation in 2009. Since the naming…

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Jun. 21, 2012
By Jason Berry

A string of Vatican investigations and the arrest of the papal butler for allegedly leaking secret documents to the Italian press grabbed the big headlines out of Rome in May and June. The tales of palace intrigue, backbiting cardinals and new mysteries of the Vatican Bank overshadowed the latest jolts in the deepening saga of the Legionaries of Christ, the once high-flying order founded by Marcial Maciel Degollado.

A new disclosure in a just-published book based on leaked Vatican documents, Sua Santità: Le Carte Segrete di Benedetto XVI (“His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI”) by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, reports that the Legion priest who was closest to Maciel for many years met with Pope John Paul II in 2003, attempting to brief him on Maciel, but was shown the door.

Moreover, a priest who…

DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Da ist zum Beispiel das schockierende Geständnis von Pater Alfredo Moreno, dem Sekretär von Marcial Maciel, des 2006 wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs mit Amtsverbot belegten Gründers der Legionäre Christi. Am 19. Oktober 2011 um 9.30 Uhr trifft Moreno den Sekretär des Papstes. Er gibt zu, Dokumente über Maciels Schandtaten vernichtet zu haben. Er enthüllt aber vor allem, dass er bei Papst Johannes Paul II. kein Gehör fand, als er 2003 von diesen Taten berichten wollte. Warum, bleibt ein Geheimnis. Moreno war ein glaubwürdiger Zeuge, er war viele Jahre Maciels treuer Schatten. So aber mussten noch Jahre vergehen, bis der Skandal ans Licht kam.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 01, 2012 All Things Catholic

While the arrest of the pope’s butler has triggered feverish speculation about the “who” of the Vatican leaks scandal, there’s been less attention so far to the “what” of the revelations contained in the sensational new book His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI, published by journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

In part, that’s because the scores of documents in the 326-page book are complex and highly diverse, often composed in dense ecclesiastical Italian; in part, that’s because a Vatican whodunit is tough to resist.

Yet the substance of the leaks obviously merits consideration, so below, I present a sampling of the highlights, including material likely to interest English-speaking readers. Later, I’ll roll out more. …

2. The Legionaries of Christ

Critics have long asserted that the Vatican had all the information it…

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Father Alberto Cutie

The news that Father Alavaro Corcuera (General Director of the Legionaries of Christ) apologized on May 22, 1012 for keeping secret the situation surrounding Father Thomas Williams may have come as a surprise to most people familiar with The Legionaries and Regnum Christi.

Be assured that Father Corcuera is not solely responsible for not revealing this, or any other case, sooner. For years there have been many people in authority above him – including members of the present and past Vatican Curia – who were repeatedly made aware of the struggles and difficulties surrounding the abusive behavior of the founder and other dysfunctions in the Legionaries.

For a variety of reasons, which you can read below, they chose to ignore it and even dismiss and ridicule those who came forward. A visit to the website connected to the new book “La Voluntad…

UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

Gerald T. Slevin

MACHIAVELLI BACK IN ROME? …. The straightforward advice to lie, steal and punish that Machiavelli craftily gave a papally related Prince a half millenium ago is apparently followed today in the Vatican at times more diligently than the Gospel message. This imperial pope is a highly disciplined and demanding World War II veteran who has appointed an obedient and subservient officer corp. He brooks no disobedience or dissent. The increasingly evident corrupt conspiracy that Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope, has effectively overseen for decades in Rome has many branch offices, as we are learning daily, throughout the worldwide Church, including in the US as well as Mexico.

It is important that Catholics see some of the bigger picture so vividly encapsulated locally in Mexico in the sordid Maciel story that has been reported so well by Jason Berry. Incidentally, Canon “L”aw, like…

ROME
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) — The head of the Legionaries of Christ admitted he knew about the sexual improprieties of a U.S. priest based in Rome and did too little to restrict his high-profile ministry.

But more important than his failure to limit the priest’s ministry, he said, is the need to reassure members “that things are handled differently now.”

Legionary Father Alvaro Corcuera, who succeeded the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado as director general of the order, said he had known in 2005 that Legionary Father Thomas D. Williams had fathered a child, but acknowledged he “was not diligent in setting proper restrictions and enforcing them.”

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

[the letter]

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press –

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Legion of Christ religious order, already discredited for having covered up the crimes of its pedophile founder, suffered another blow to its credibility after its superior admitted Tuesday that he knew in 2005 that his most prominent priest had broken his vows of celibacy and fathered a child, yet did nothing to prevent him from teaching and preaching about morality.

The admission by the Rev. Alvaro Corcuera is likely to enrage members of the Legion and its lay branch who have endured years of apologies, hypocrisy and explanations for the crimes of the order’s founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who sexually abused his seminarians and fathered three children with two women.

The Rev. Thomas Williams, the public face of the Legion in America, admitted last week that he had fathered…

ROME
Legionaries of Christ

Fr Alvaro Corcuera, LC, general director of the Legion of Christ, offers the following letter to members and friends of Regnum Christi.

The letter is also available in pdf format.

***
Thy Kingdom Come!
REGNUM CHRISTI
MOVEMENT
_________

GENERAL DIRECTOR

Rome, May 21, 2012

To the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members in North America

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

All of us have had to deal with very difficult news over the past few days. And of course, this comes in light of the terrible news three years ago regarding Father Maciel.

I want to take this opportunity to share with you my part in what many of you may regard as failings – and to explain how the Legion is working to ensure better performance in the future.

While serving as the rector of our seminary…

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

Editorial

At long last, the Roman Catholic Church is taking action to investigate allegations concerning priests from the Legion of Christ, whose U.S. headquarters is in Connecticut.

Although the Vatican assumed direct leadership of the scandal-plagued religious order two years ago, this is the first evidence that the church will actually do something about accusations that seven of its priests sexually abused minors.

The Legion (also known as Legionaries of Christ) runs a seminary in Cheshire. It has acknowledged that its founder, the Mexican-born Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, abused underage Legion seminary students over the years and fathered at least one child out of wedlock. But all along, despite complaints to the contrary, the order has insisted that any Legion-based crimes were isolated incidents committed by Father Maciel alone.

Now, to its credit, the Legion has referred the cases of seven priests accused of abusing…

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: May 15, 2012

A telegenic American priest, widely known for his media commentary from Rome on popes, prayer and personal morality, has publicly acknowledged having an affair and fathering a child — the latest jolt to hit his scandal-torn religious order, the Legionaries of Christ.

The priest, the Rev. Thomas D. Williams, apologized in a statement on Tuesday “for this grave transgression” and “to everyone who is hurt by this revelation.” He said he would take a year off from public ministry to reflect on his transgressions and his “commitments as a priest” — a decision he said he made with his superiors.

Father Williams was the most visible American member of the Legionaries, a powerful and conservative Roman Catholic religious order that has been in turmoil since 2006, when its charismatic founder was banished by the Vatican to…

VATICAN CITY
7 News (Australia)

Philip Pullella, Reuters
May 16, 2012,

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ Roman Catholic religious order suffered another major blow to its image on Tuesday when one of its most prominent members admitted to having fathered a child.

Father Thomas Williams said in a statement he was “truly sorry to everyone who is hurt by this revelation”.

Williams, the American author of more than a dozen books on spirituality and dean of moral theology at a papal university in Rome, often appeared on American television to explain Vatican affairs and Catholic teachings.

The Legionaries have been at the centre of controversy since 2009 when they admitted their charismatic Mexican founder, Father Marcial Maciel, had led a double life, secretly fathering children, using drugs and misusing donations.

VATICAN CITY
Newser

By NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press

The Legion of Christ religious order was hit Tuesday by its second scandal in a week after its most well-known priest _ a prominent author, lecturer and television personality _ admitted he had fathered a child.

The Rev. Thomas Williams, an American moral theologian, said in a statement he was “deeply sorry for this grave transgression” against his vows of celibacy and that he would be taking a year off to reflect on what he had done and his commitment to the priesthood.

The statement was issued after The Associated Press presented the Legion with the allegation against Williams, which was lodged by a Spanish association of Legion victims. The association’s accusations, sent to the Legion and Vatican several weeks ago, also named other Legion priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

Williams, who was not accused of abuse, said that…

ROME
The Irish Times

The entire order may become as infamous as its founder, paedophile Marcial Maciel, writes PADDY AGNEW in Rome

A ROTTEN fish smells from the head down, or so goes a much-used Italian saying.

The “fish” in this case is the religious order the Legionaries of Christ, and the bad smell left behind is that of its disgraced founder, the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, a serial paedophile, a drug addict and a man who fathered six children by two different women.

The details of Fr Maciel’s immoral behaviour have long been known, with even the order itself asking for forgiveness for it in March 2010.

However, following revelations last weekend, it may transpire that Maciel was not the only child abuser in the Legionaries of Christ.

In this case, the rot seems to have spread through the Legionary body.

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican is reported to be investigating seven priests of the Legion of Christ order in connection with allegations of child abuse.

In a statement to the AP news agency, the Mexican order said seven cases had been referred to the Vatican’s department that deals with sex crimes.

The Legion of Christ’s founder, Marcial Maciel, sexually abused many boys and young men over a period of 30 years.

He was disciplined by the Vatican in 2006 over the abuse.

VATICAN CITY
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW

The Holy See senior spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, last night confirmed media reports that cases of clerical child abuse in the disgraced, ultra-conservative Legionaries of Christ movement have been reported to the Vatican.

“The relevant superiors followed the norms in force, signalling to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) some cases that have come to light from several decades ago,” Fr Lombardi told reporters.

Vatican insiders say the CDF is investigating paedophilia accusations against seven Legionary priests. Founded in Mexico in 1941 by the late Marcial Maciel, the movement has been at the centre of bitter controversy in recent years after it was revealed that Fr Maciel had himself been a serial paedophile who had children by at least two women.

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: May 11, 2012

VATICAN CITY — The Legion of Christ, a powerful but troubled worldwide religious order whose late founder became enmeshed in a sex scandal years ago, said Friday that the Vatican was investigating seven Legion priests for alleged sexual abuse of minors.

The investigation cast a new shadow upon an order already struggling to move beyond revelations that its charismatic founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had fathered several children and molested underage seminarians.

On Friday, the Legion said that after looking into “some allegations of gravely immoral acts and more serious offenses” committed by some Legionaries, internal preliminary investigations “concluded that seven had a semblance of truth.” Those cases were forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that handles investigations of sexual abuse, the Legion said in a statement.

The…

VATIKAN
Spiegel (Deutschland)

Von Simone Utler

Es geht um mindestens sieben Verdachtsfälle sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger: Die Legionäre Christi haben dem Vatikan mehrere mutmaßliche Vergehen ihrer Priester gemeldet. Der verstorbene Gründer Marcial Maciel Degollado brachte den Orden in Verruf, weil er sich an Kindern vergangen hatte.

Hamburg – Der Mexikaner Marcial Maciel Degollado bescherte dem Vatikan einen der größten Skandale des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der vor vier Jahren verstorbene Gründer und frühere Leiter des konservativen Ordens Legionäre Christi predigte Keuschheit, Armut und Gehorsam – und verging sich jahrzehntelang an Seminaristen. Außerdem zeugte er mehrere Kinder, die er ebenfalls sexuell missbraucht haben soll.

VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By NICOLE WINFIELD 05/11/12

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned.

The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion’s founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations – later proven – that he raped and molested his seminarians.

The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of its late founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, were his alone.

But the Vatican investigation of other Legion priests indicates that the same culture of secrecy that Maciel created within the order to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children – just as abusive…

VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post UK

Huffington Post UK | By Felicity Morse

Seven priests from the secretive Catholic religious order the Legion Of Christ are being investigated by the Vatican over claims of child sex abuse, the Associated Press has reported.

Two other priests from the conservative order are also being investigated for other alleged crimes, according to the news agency, after the Legion issued a statement to AP.

The Legion of Christ has already been forced to cope with a wave of scandal after it was proved that the order’s late founder, Reverend Marcial Maciel Degollado, had abused and raped students of the Legion.

In the wake of the revelations, the Vatican insisted that the crimes of Degollado, who was also a close ally of Pope John Paul II, had been his alone, and the Legion was to continue under their leadership.

VATICAN CITY
Sky News (United Kingdom)

The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors, according to the Associated Press news agency.

All but one case involves alleged abuse dating from decades ago, the Legion said.

Two other priests are also under investigation for alleged sacramental violations, believed to involve using spiritual direction to have inappropriate relations with women.

It is the first time the Vatican is known to have taken action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the order’s founder.

The church had previously insisted the crimes of the late Reverend Marcial Maciel were his alone.

VATICAN CITY
Poughkeepsie Journal

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned.

The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion’s founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations — later proven — that he raped and molested his seminarians.

The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of its late founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, were his alone.

But the Vatican investigation of other Legion priests indicates that the same culture of secrecy that Maciel created within the order to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children — just as abusive clergy of other religious…

ROME
Vatican Insider

No peace for the movement now seeking new leaders

Andrés Beltramo Álvarez
Vatican City

The female branch of the Catholic movement Regnum Christi is seeking a few things. These days, the consecrated women must choose their new superior – but that is the least of their problems. For them, the real challenge will be to regain the serenity lost in an internal crisis that some members have been unable to withstand, falling into chronic physical illness or depression.

The “Regno” (as is well-known by now) is undergoing reforms, as are the Legionaries of Christ, the congregation it is tied to. The two institutions have been going through a true dark night of the soul because of the immoral actions of their founder, the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel Degollado. This has been publicly acknowledged by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the delegate appointed by the Pope to…

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

It is very timely that on the first year anniversary of Opus Dei Golden Cow Blessed John Paul II, revelations have hit Ireland that Cardinal Brady, the Catholic primate of all-Ireland failed to protect children from sexual abuse by a paedophile priest and he is being asked to resign…just like Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law who confessed in public to transferring 80 pedophile priests from one parish to another but John Paul II did not bother to meet any of these pedophile priests or their victims. Cardinal Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston but John Paul II papal farted at us Bostonians by taking him to glorify him in Rome. That is why Blessed John Paul II is the Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests. With Cardinal Brady at its head, Ireland is like the vast Catholic Church with Benedict Ratzinger…

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Baloney, ‘David Quinn: The beliefs of the church are not going to change by poll’…but the Pope apologizes centuries later for Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils

Paris Arrow

The sooner The Hague puts Benedict XVI for his crimes against humanity into trial, the better, and we will see how the Vatican Dream Team will try to defend him for his ‘unchanging beliefs’ that it was all right to cover-up thousands of pedophile priests as Cardinal Ratzinger during the 27 years papacy of John Paul II. John Paul II apologized for Pope Crimes and Vatican Evils but he was hiding inside his papal evil Achilles Heels Fr. Marcial Maciel and Cardinal Bernard Law who confessed in public that he transferred from one parish to another 80 pedophile priests in Boston, read our related article, Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests!…

NEW YORK
The Daily Pleasantville

by Robert Michelin

THORNWOOD, N.Y. – After the Legion of Christ announced it will be selling its location in Thornwood, the town of Mount Pleasant is left to speculate about what could eventually take over the 262-acre location.

“I definitely wouldn’t want to see some sort of department store move in, or Costco or anything like that,” Thornwood resident Miriam Thompson said. “It would cause too much commotion here around town.”

The Legion of Christ announced early last week that it will be forced to close the Thornwood facility after experiencing a severe decrease in donations to the Roman Catholic congregation. Jim Fair, a spokesperson with the legion, attributed the lack of funding to the poor economy and a sexual-abuse scandal connected to the legion’s founder, Marcial Maciel. The facility, located off of Columbus Avenue, first opened in Thornwood in 1996.

UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

This is one of the reasons why the Untied Nations must end the status of the Vatican as a “country” because of the totalitarian regime of the Pope. He preaches one thing and does the contrary like in his recent visit to Cuba, Benedict asked Fidel Castro to allow more freedom of speech and soon as he gets home into his out-of-touch-with-reality Vatican Palace, he silences an outspoken priest Fr Tony Flannery, for his liberal views. Fr Tony Flannery is a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests and has had his monthly column and written his opinions with Reality, the Redemptorists’ monthly magazine for the past 14 years, but now it has been discontinued. It is quite timely that during this Holy Week, Benedict XVI the criminal head of the Mystical Body of Christ is showing his true hypocritical…

NEW YORK
Catholic News Agency

Thornwood, N.Y., Apr 3, 2012 / 11:25 am (CNA).- The Legionaries of Christ have announced plans to sell their Thornwood property in Westchester County, New York, citing financial strain and fallout from revelations about the late Father Marcial Maciel.

“The scandal involving our founder has been a great shock to us all, shaking our trust and raising doubts in many hearts. We are working hard to regain the trust of our friends – and of one another,” explained Father Luis Garza, L.C., director of the order’s North American territory, in an April 2 letter.

In his message to the Legion and its affiliate Regnum Christi, Fr. Garza announced the sale of the property that had been used for priestly formation since 1996. He noted that the global recession of the past several years had “also affected many of our benefactors.”

“As a consequence of…

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Editorial

Pope Benedict XVI visited Mexico and Cuba between March 23 and March 29 and like the Cardinal Archbishop of New York he seems to have a new strategy towards sexual abuse victims, too.

Beginning with his trip to the United States in 2008, the pontiff has been meeting with survivors of sexual abuse by clergy during his international travels.

But no meetings with survivors were on the agenda for the Mexico or Cuba visits.

The Vatican’s spokesman said no bishops requested meetings with survivors and therefore none were placed on the schedule.

Huh?

Mexico, let’s remember, is the land of the alpha and omega of Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legionnaires of Christ. Maciel was born in Mexico and is buried there – a far place and a far cry from the Roman stage where he held forth with great panoply…

MEXICO
Latin American Herald Tribune

LEON, Mexico – A representative of the victims of sexual abuse committed by late Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, on Monday reproached Pope Benedict XVI “for having ignored” that group of people on his just-concluded visit to Mexico.

“Why, in Mexico, did you not want to be close to the victims of that most ignominious priest Marcial Maciel?” former Legion of Christ member Juan Jose Vaca told MVS radio.

The pontiff met with victims of clerical sexual abuse during visits to the United States, Australia, Portugal, Malta and Germany.

Vaca had asked for a meeting in an email he sent to the papal nuncio Christophe Pierre and on his own in the name of the victims of Maciel (1920-2008) before the pope’s arrival in Mexico last Friday.

MEXIKO
N-TV

Wusste Papst Benedikt XVI. von den Machenschaften Marcial Maciels? Der führende Geistliche soll in Mexiko Kinder missbraucht und mehrere selbst gezeugt haben. Als Mitglied der Glaubenskongregation behinderte er die Aufklärung des Falles, so die Anklage von Opfern und Experten. Und das gemeinsam mit Papst Johannes Paul II.

Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch in Mexiko haben schwere Vorwürfe gegen Papst Benedikt XVI. erhoben. Der 84-Jährige habe in seiner Zeit als Chef der Glaubenskongregation im Vatikan die Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandal um den inzwischen verstorbenen Gründer des Ordens der Legionäre Christi, Marcial Maciel, behindert, heißt es in einem Manifest, das die Opfer aus Anlass des Papstbesuches in Mexiko veröffentlichten. Eines der Opfer, José Barba, beklagt in der Videobotschaft, dass sie über Jahre nicht gehört worden seien.

MEXICO
Observador Global

Quienes fueron abusados sexualmente por el sacerdote mexicano Marcial Maciel aprovecharon la presencia del Papa en León para presentar un manifiesto donde lo acusan de ignorar las denuncias al respecto.

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

MEXICO
Hispanically Speaking News

Mexicans who denounced the sexual abuses committed by Marcial Maciel (1920-2008), founder of the Legion of Christ, asked Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday to acknowledge the church’s responsibility in covering up his case and to announce that “never again” will pederasty be tolerated.

“We don’t plan to boycott the visit, absolutely. What we do want is to ask him from Mexico: Where are you going, Benedict XVI? Do you want to find your charisma once more and the mission of Peter, or is strengthening your papacy and your position as head of state what you want?” former priest Alberto Athie said at a press conference.

He spoke those words in presenting a new book of which he is co-author, “The Voluntad de No Saber” (The Will Not To Know), a 2012 publication of Grijalbo, which offers 212 documents from the secret archives of the Vatican…

MEXICO
SDP Noticias

Por Andrés Beltramo Álvarez. Enviado

León, Gto., 24 Mar (Notimex).- El vocero del Vaticano, Federico Lombardi, consideró injustos los señalamientos hacia Benedicto XVI por el tema de la pederastia y aclaró que una reunión con víctimas no fue prevista con antelación.

En rueda de prensa sostuvo que el Papa es un hombre de transparencia, incluso en el caso de Marcial Maciel, y que la preocupación del líder católico por el problema de los abusos sexuales contra menores y su interés en las víctimas ha sido explicado muchas veces.

?Un punto fundamental es si los Papas fueron encubridores del problema y en ese sentido debo decir que no, según mi conocimiento de estos Papas no es verdad que fueron encubridores?, dijo.

MEXICO
El Mundo (Espana)

Jacobo G. García | León (Guanajuato, México)

Ahí estaba Guadalupe Dávila, llegada de Ciudad Juárez después de que asesinaran a su hijo durante una fiesta. También Josefina Torres, de Durango, esposa de un militar. O María Valencia, madre de un policía secuestrado por el crimen organizado en Michoacán.

Apenas un puñado de historias pero suficientes para que el Papa Benedicto XVI, en su segundo viaje a Latinoamérica, viera de cerca el rostro macabro de la violencia que vive México, que ha dejado 50.000 muertos en la guerra entre y contra los cárteles en los últimos años. El Papa Benedicto XVI se reunió este sábado con víctimas de la violencia durante el encuentro que sostuvo con el presidente Felipe Calderón en Guanajuato. Un encuentro fuera de agenda de los que suele improvisar Benedicto XVI en sus viajes. “Hay que luchar contra este mal”, había dicho días…

MEXICO
Informador

Presentan libro con documentos referentes a abusos sexuales y otras conductas inapropiadas relacionadas con Maciel

GUANAJUATO (25/MAR/2012).- En paralelo con la visita del Papa Benedicto XVI a Guanajuato, ayer fue presentado un libro de denuncia ante los casos de pederastia.

“No pretendemos boicotear la visita, absolutamente. Lo que sí queremos es decirle desde México adonde 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 ex sacerdote Alberto Athié. Esas palabras las pronunció al presentar un nuevo libro del que es coautor, ”La voluntad de no saber” (Grijalbo, 2012), que ofrece 212 documentos procedentes de los archivos secretos del Vaticano que refieren abusos sexuales y otras conductas inapropiadas en torno a Maciel desde 1944.

MEXICO
La Voz

El papa Benedicto XVI ha sido agasajado por multitudes en México, donde tuvo un emotivo encuentro con niños y adolescentes en Guanajuato, horas después de que víctimas de abusos sexuales del sacerdote mexicano Marcial Maciel le reprochasen haberlos ignorado. Benedicto XVI instó a “proteger y cuidar a los niños”, en especial los que “soportan el peso del sufrimiento, el abandono, la violencia”, en un discurso pronunciado desde un balcón de la plaza de la Paz, interrumpido por aplausos y gritos. A punto de cumplir 85 años, el Papa no dio muestras de fatiga. “Deseo elevar mi voz invitando a todos a proteger y cuidar a los niños, para que nunca se apague su sonrisa, puedan vivir en paz y mirar al futuro con confianza”, señaló en Guanajuato, 380 km al noroeste de la capital, la tercera ciudad mexicana que visita en este segundo viaje por América…

MEXICO
Boston Herald

By Tracy Wilkinson and Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Sunday, March 25, 2012

LEON, Mexico — Singing, strumming guitars and trying to shield themselves from a searing sun, tens of thousands of Mexican Catholics came together Saturday nearly 24 hours ahead of an open-air Mass with Pope Benedict XVI.

They walked miles and took up position in Bicentennial Park, a short distance from a hilltop monument that honors the 1920s Cristero War by Catholic counter-revolutionaries.

But as religious fervor was on display here in Silao, in central Mexico’s Guanajuato state, a sexual-abuse scandal involving a notorious Mexican priest threatened to cast a pall on the pope’s first visit to the Spanish-speaking Americas.

At a news conference in nearby Leon to launch a scathing book, sexual-abuse victims and advocates angrily accused the Vatican of protecting the priest, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, for decades….

MEXICO
Reuters

By Mica Rosenberg and Philip Pullella

LEON, Mexico | Sun Mar 25, 2012

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict’s first full day in Mexico was clouded by fresh allegations the Vatican hid evidence of sex abuse by one of the country’s most prominent Roman Catholic leaders for decades.

The authors of a new book say a trove of once-secret Vatican documents prove Church officials ignored complaints of drug use and molestation of seminarians by the late Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Catholic order the Legionaries of Christ.

Adding to the criticism of the Church, victims of abuse by priests in Mexico came forward to seek an audience with Benedict, but said their calls have not been answered.

Church officials acknowledged in 2009, a year after Maciel’s death at the age of 87, that the charismatic Mexican cleric had led a double life, secretly fathering children and lavishly spending…

MEXICO
ABS-CBN (Philippines)

Agence France-Presse

Posted at 03/25/2012

LEON, Mexico – Victims of sexual abuse accused the Vatican on Saturday of protecting a notorious Mexican priest for decades, and expressed frustration that Pope Benedict XVI would not meet them in Mexico.

The pope has met with abuse victims in many foreign countries but has no plans to do so during a three-day visit to Mexico which began on Friday.

A group including alleged victims of abuse by Marcial Maciel, the late founder of the influential Legion of Christ religious order, presented a book that they say proves that Vatican officials ignored crimes committed by Maciel.

“The opportunity to accept this truth passed through your hands,” read a statement presented to journalists by Jose Barba, a former Legionary and alleged victim, during a video transmission from Mexico to the central city of Leon, where the pope is staying.

MEXICO
Latin American Herald Tribune

LEON, Mexico – Mexicans who denounced the sexual abuses committed by Marcial Maciel (1920-2008), founder of the Legion of Christ, asked Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday to acknowledge the church’s responsibility in covering up his case and to announce that “never again” will pederasty be tolerated.

“We don’t plan to boycott the visit, absolutely. What we do want is to ask him from Mexico: Where are you going, Benedict XVI? Do you want to find your charisma once more and the mission of Peter, or is strengthening your papacy and your position as head of state what you want?” former priest Alberto Athie said at a press conference.

He spoke those words in presenting a new book of which he is co-author, “The Voluntad de No Saber” (The Will Not To Know), a 2012 publication of Grijalbo, which offers 212 documents from the secret…

MEXICO
TheDenverChannel

LEON, Mexico (CNN) — On the same day Pope Benedict addressed and blessed a group of 1,800 children in Guanajuato, Mexico, three Mexican authors released a book accusing the Vatican of hiding or ignoring cases of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The book, “La Voluntad de no Saber” (Willing Not to be Aware), chronicles multiple cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by Marcial Maciel, a Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest who was influential at the Vatican.

Maciel, who died in January 2008 at age 87, was the founder and director of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.

The book was authored by Jose Barba, a former seminarian who says he was the victim of sexual abuse by a priest. Historian Fernando M. Gonzalez, a co-author, says the book is based on 212 documents leaked from the Vatican.

MEXICO
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO

Published: March 24, 2012

LEÓN, Mexico — The shadow of the disgraced Mexican founder of a powerful religious order darkened the visit of Pope Benedict XVI here this weekend, as former victims and authors staged news conferences to call attention to the church’s failure to combat what they call a systemic culture of sexual abuse.

In the past week, two books released in Mexico drew new attention to longstanding questions about whether Benedict, when he was the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, acted decisively enough about the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ, once victims began coming forward claiming he had had abused them.

The media attention shows that the Maciel case is far from closed. The Vatican has said that Benedict does not plan to meet with abuse victims while in Mexico,…

MEXICO
La Jornada

Los autores del libro ‘La voluntad de no saber’ aseguran que éste demuestra con documentos que el Vaticano ha mentido de manera sistemática sobre ese delito.

Carolina Gómez, Arturo Cano y Carlos García, enviados y corresponsal
Publicado: 24/03/2012

León, Gto. Para que realmente su visita a México pueda ser considerada histórica, el papa Benedicto XVI debería “reconocer públicamente su responsabilidad” en el ocultamiento de los casos de pederastia clerical, particularmente los relacionados con el fundador de la Legión de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, consideraron los autores del libro La voluntad de no saber, que fue presentado hoy.

En conferencia de prensa, Fernando González, experto del Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales de la UNAM; el exsacerdote Alberto Athié; el experto en asuntos religiosos Bernardo Barranco, y la periodista Carmen Aristegui, expusieron que Joseph Ratzinger debe hacer un mea culpa y comprometerse como la máxima autoridad de la Iglesia…

MEXICO
El Pais (Espana)

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.

“El…

MEXICO
CNN

Por Guillermo Cruz
Sábado, 24 de marzo de 2012 a las 14:41

LEON, Guanajuato (CNNMéxico) — El hecho de que el papa Benedicto XVI no haya hecho referencia durante su visita por México a los casos de abusos y pederastia registrados en el país hasta el mediodía de este sábado, fue cuestionado en la ciudad de León durante la presentación del libro La Voluntad de No Saber.

“Es un error de agenda del Vaticano porque el papa Benedicto XVI ha tenido contactos con víctimas en Estados Unidos, Australia, Irlanda, Malta y Alemania, ¿por qué en México no?, ¿acaso no existen víctimas en México?, ¿por qué el Papa no va a tener contacto con las víctimas de abuso sexual de Marcial Maciel? ¿acaso nació en otro país?”, cuestionó Bernardo Barranco, experto en temas religiosos y autor del prólogo de la publicación de la Editorial Grijalbo.

MEXICO
Los Angeles Times

REPORTING FROM LEON, MEXICO — Sexual abuse victims angrily accused the Vatican on Saturday of protecting a notorious Mexican priest for decades, and said they were dismayed that Pope Benedict XVI will not meet with them on his visit to the country.

Benedict has sat down with abuse victims in almost every country he has visited. But his spokesman said Mexican bishops did not request such an encounter here — an omission that victims’ advocates said was unconscionable.

The pope arrived in Mexico’s central Guanajuato state Friday and continues to Cuba on Monday. He was scheduled to meet with President Felipe Calderon later Saturday and will preside over an open-air Mass on Sunday that organizers say could draw more than 300,000 people.

A group that included abuse victims and experts in the field held a forum here in Leon to release a book that they…

MEXICO
Voice of America

Pope Benedict meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon Saturday, as the Roman Catholic leader embarks on a five-day Latin America trip that will also take him to Cuba.

The pontiff began his day with celebration of a private Mass at Miraflores College in the central Mexican city of Leon. He planned an early evening meeting with the Mexican leader at the state government house in Guanajuato, followed by a gathering with children on the city’s Peace Square. …

The Roman Catholic Church is under pressure in Mexico from the growing rise of Protestant churches, as well as a scandal involving a prominent priest, Marcial Maciel, who was facing allegations of drug addiction and molesting young boys when he died.

MEXICO
La Cronica de Hoy

José Barba Martín, ex miembro de Los Legionarios de Cristo, aseguró que el papa Benedicto XVI y los obispos mexicanos sí conocen la identidad de las víctimas del sacerdote pederasta Marcial Maciel y rechazó tener interés en ser recibido por el pontífice durante su estancia en esta ciudad.

En entrevista con Notimex se mostró indignado por las declaraciones vertidas en las últimas horas por algunos exponentes del Episcopado, quienes negaron conocer a quienes sufrieron los abusos sexuales del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo.

“El tema se ha exacerbado en los últimos días con motivo de la visita del papa Benedicto XVI a México porque el Episcopado, a través de varios voceros, ha declarado que no nos conoce y eso no es verdad”, indicó.

MEXICO
La Voluntad de No Sabor

[con los documentos]

Para que se tenga clara la secuencia de las oportunidades que tuvieron las autoridades de intervenir a la Legión de Cristo describiré lo siguiente: la primera fue en diciembre de 1944 cuando el V obispo de Cuernavaca recibió la denuncia del joven Luís de la Isla y de sus padres, pero no actuó en consecuencia y hasta donde se puede colegir, tampoco envió un informe al Vaticano; la segunda posibilidad se dio en el periodo 1948-50 cuando dos jesuitas de Comillas enviaron informes a la Sagrada Congregación de religiosos; la tercera se dio en 1954 cuando el Arzobispado de México pidió informes al legionario Federico Domínguez, el cual habló por primera vez de la adicción a la Dolantina (Morfina) por parte de MM y el documento si llegó a la SCR; la cuarta se dio en 1956 cuando el Arzobispo…

MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Mar. 22, 2012 All Things Catholic

Pope Benedict XVI arrives today in León, Mexico, to kick off the 23rd foreign trip of his papacy but his first to Spanish-speaking Latin America. (He visited Brazil in 2007.) Benedict will spend the weekend in Mexico, then move Monday to Cuba before returning to Rome late Wednesday.

At one level, this is a tale of two different trips.

The pope’s swing in Mexico will likely amount to a celebration of popular Catholicism, with about 3 million exuberant faithful expected to turn out. It also comes just ahead of national elections in July, raising fears of manipulation of the trip for political ends, especially given perceptions that the Mexican church is aligned in favor of the conservative National Action Party. However, Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, a retired Vatican official who will accompany…

MEXICO
ABS-CBN (Philippines)

Agence France-Presse

LEON, Mexico – Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico this weekend, particularly in the case of the disgraced Legion of Christ order.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel and his victims ahead of the papal visit to Mexico which begins Friday.

Benedict XVI has already met with victims of sexual abuse during foreign visits, but is apparently not planning to do so in Mexico, where many victims are still seeking justice.

ROME
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

NOT FOR the first time, 84-year-old Pope Benedict flies out of Rome this morning for an important overseas visit that could yet be troubled by clerical sex abuse polemics.

When details of the six-day pastoral visit to Mexico and Cuba were first released, most Vatican commentators inevitably focused on the political implications of a second papal visit in 14 years to communist Cuba.

Will the pope meet 85-year-old Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro? Will he issue a blanket condemnation of the USA’s 52-year-old economic embargo on the island? Will the Cuban regime led by Raul Castro, brother of Fidel, attempt to exploit the pope’s visit, using it as some sort of government propaganda tool? Or will this visit improve both church-state relations and the status of the island’s seven million Catholics?

Before he gets to Cuba next Monday, however, the pope…

ROME
7 News

ROME (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI set off from Rome on an arduous journey to Latin America on Friday where he will address key issues including the Mexico drugs war and the evolution of Cuba’s communist regime.

The pontiff arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino airport by helicopter and was greeted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The pope waved goodbye on the airplane steps before the Alitalia Boeing 777 took off at 0845 GMT.

He is expected to land in Mexico at 2230 GMT. …

But he is also likely to face criticism over the clerical abuse scandal.

In particular, he will face questions over the Vatican’s management of Mexico’s most famous offender, Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, who before he died faced accusations that he had molested eight minors.

MEXICO
MSN (New Zealand)

Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel ahead of the papal visit to Mexico, which begins on Friday.

Maciel directed the influential Legion of Christ order, which he founded in 1941, to his death.

Benedict XVI has met victims of sexual abuse during foreign visits, but is apparently not planning to do so in Mexico, where many victims are still seeking justice.

MEXICO
Edmonton Journal

Victims of pedophile priests hope to present a demand for justice to Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Mexico this weekend, particularly in the case of the disgraced Legion of Christ order.

Debate has grown around the Vatican’s handling of the scandal surrounding the influential order of deceased Mexican priest Marcial Maciel and his victims ahead of the papal visit to Mexico, which begins Friday.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

From the Legion of Christ scandal to the meeting with Fidel Castro, from Mexico to Cuba

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Tomorrow the Pope embarks on a trip that is as much religious as it is political. During his visit, the Pope is expected to meet Cuban dissidents and Fidel Castro but not the Mexican victims of the paedophile founder of the Legion of Christ, Maciel. The potential meeting is not formally part of Benedict XVI’s schedule. “Mexican bishops have not asked for this,” said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi. Meanwhile, the climate ahead of the Pope’s arrival in Mexico in heating up on account of the top secret documents published by Mexican magazine Proceso about cover-ups in the Curia. Maciel committed crimes and misdeeds that “Wojtyla could not ignore.”

Benedict XVI will be visiting four cities in Mexico and Cuba. On the occasion of the…

MEXICO
Chicago Tribune

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Leon, Mexico— The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico this year took the unusual step of issuing guidelines on how Mexicans should vote in the upcoming presidential election: Candidates should value marriage as a bond between a man and a woman and should place prime importance on “the right to life, starting at conception.”

Both ideas were clearly aimed at leftist parties and others who have backed same-sex marriage and abortion, legalized in recent years in Mexico City.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives Friday to a Mexico that, officially, is a strictly secular nation. And although the Catholic Church has almost always enjoyed a powerful position, it has taken on a particularly activist role in partisan politics during the last decade. …

And in another controversial move, Benedict is not meeting with victims of sexual abuse by priests, something he…

MEXICO
Times LIVE (South Africa)

A new book says internal Vatican documents show the Holy See knew decades ago of allegations that the Mexican founder of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order was a drug addict and pedophile.

The documentation has been compiled in a book “La voluntad de no saber” (“The will to not know”), which is co-authored by Jose Barba, a former Legion priest who along with other priests in 1998 brought a church trial against the Legion’s founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, for having sexually abused them while they were seminarians.

While details of the abuse were made public years ago in Mexico and the Spanish-speaking world, the authors aim for a larger international audience, saying they will post key documents on the Internet as part of the book release Saturday. Excerpts of the book published by Proceso magazine on Sunday received little attention in…

MEXICO
Washington Post

Pope Mexico trip clouded by documents that show Vatican knew of Legion founder’s abuse

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, March 21

MEXICO CITY — Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Mexico this week to a very public reminder of one of the Catholic Church’s most egregious sex abuse scandals: A new book says internal Vatican documents show the Holy See knew decades ago of allegations that the Mexican founder of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order was a drug addict and pedophile.

The documentation has been compiled in a book “La voluntad de no saber” (”The will to not know”), which is co-authored by Jose Barba, a former Legion priest who along with other priests in 1998 brought a church trial against the Legion’s founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, for having sexually abused them while they were seminarians.

While details of the abuse were made public…

MEXICO
Courier Mail (Australia)

FROM the war on drug cartels in Mexico to reviving faith in Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI will address a series of burning issues in Latin America this week.

On his 23rd visit abroad and his first to Latin America, the pontiff will tackle the declining number of Catholics in the region, the rise of rival religious movements such as Pentecostalists and what the Church sees as the threat to family values.

The six-day program, starting in Mexico on Friday, takes into account the frailty of the aged pope, who will conduct both political meetings and religious rites focusing on the marian figures of Mexico’s Our Lady of Guadalupe and Cuba’s Our lady of Charity.

Benedict, 84, is likely to face criticism over the clerical abuse scandal and the Vatican’s management of Mexico’s most famous offender, Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, who…

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

March 18, 2012
The issue of religious freedom, raised by all four Republican candidates but identified most strongly with Rick Santorum, finds an interested audience as the contest reaches Illinois. …

And Santorum’s conservative Catholic positions have not sat well with Catholics who are less traditional. Studies show that the vast majority of Catholic women have used birth control, and Santorum’s stance against contraceptives has alienated some Catholic women.

He also faced criticism in 2003 when he delivered the keynote address at a Youth and Family Encounter in Chicago sponsored by Legions of Christ, a conservative Catholic order of priests. The group was founded by the Rev. Marcial Maciel, who at the time of the Chicago rally faced sexual abuse allegations. Maciel died in 2008.

“Santorum is a Catholic who is very aligned with church teachings and positions…

UNITED STATES
Open Salon

Steve Klingaman

March is Rick Santorum’s moment to strut the stage like a minor Shakespearean buffoon, who mortifies but entertains the crowd before he is yanked behind the curtain. Much of his message is old news, but he also represents a movement to insert the most conservative brand of Catholic theology into secular political discourse. But Catholic voters reject this guy. Why? Despite the church’s rightward drift under Pope Benedict, the church has had an at times uneasy relationship with Opus Dei and Regnum Christi, two branches of Catholic lay practice that Santorum endorses and that have been highly suspect to many within the church.

Of the two groups, Regnum Christi is the more virulent. It is the lay branch of the Legion of Christ order founded by child rapist and bigamist Father Marcial Maciel. According to the New York Times, Santorum has long been…

ROME
Chiesa

A new man at the top of the congregation: the German Heereman. Meanwhile, however, many consecrated women are leaving. The torment of their leader, Malén Oriol. The silent revolution of Cardinal De Paolis

by Sandro Magister

ROME, February 23, 2012 – For one week, a new man has been at the head of the Legionaries of Christ. He is young, only 36 years old. He is German, from Bavaria. He belongs to the noble lineage of the van Zuydtwyck. He has a brother who is a religious, and a sister who is a consecrated virgin. His parents testified for him in St. Peter’s Square, in the pope’s presence, on the eve of the closing of the Year for Priests, on June 10, 2010.

His name is Sylvester Heereman. He is the new vicar general of the Legion, in the role that previously belonged to Father Luis Garza…

IRELAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 20, 2012

Archbishop Brown’s comments about his boss are an insult to Catholics and victims. It’s probably good for Brown’s career to publicly praise Pope Benedict for his alleged work on the church’s on-going heinous child sex abuse and cover up crisis. But it’s just not accurate.

If Pope Benedict has been, as Brown claims, “relentless and consistent” in ousting pedophile priests, where’s the evidence? We can think of one such child molesting cleric against whom Benedict has belated and begrudgingly taken some action: Fr. Marcial Maciel. Despite decades of widely-documented crimes and corruption, the Pope told Maciel to live “a life of prayer and penance.” That’s it.

And how about those thousands of other church employees who have ignored or concealed suspicions or knowledge of dreadful child sex crimes? What has Benedict done about…

ROME
The Christian Post

By Clara Morris , Christian Post Contributor

February 20, 2012

The women of the Legion of Christ are taking action which may devastate the Legion. The female leader of the Legionaries of Christ has resigned, sparking 30 members to leave the movement.

The Washington Post reported that Malen Oriol asked to resign as the assistant to the general director of the Legion.

Though her title was just assistant to the general director, Orial lead the Legionaries of Christ’s consecrated woman. Her oversight consisted of about 600 women. These women recruited and fundraised for the Legion, and they also worked in Legion of Christ schools.

The Legionaries have been riddled with scandal for many years. In 2009 it was revealed that their founder Reverend Marciel Maciel, was guilty of many abuses.

VATICAN CITY
WSLS

By: NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press
Published: February 17, 2012

VATICAN CITY (AP) The pope’s envoy to the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order is scrambling to contain fallout from the resignation of the head of the Legion’s women’s branch and the decision of 30 members to split from the movement.

In a letter released Friday, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis urged those leaving not to “try to persuade or proselytize” others to come along with them, and confirmed that the exodus wasn’t just of rank and file members but included senior directors as well.

Pope Benedict XVI tapped De Paolis to take over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that its founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, was a pedophile and fraud who had created a cult-like movement where members endured emotional, spiritual and psychological abuse. The revelations were particularly scandalous given that…

UNITED STATES
NewsHounds

Posted by Priscilla -1.80pc on January 30, 2012

Fr. Jonathan Morris’ upward mobility shows that he’s quite the mover. While he seems like your average parish priest, he is hardly that. In 2002 he was ordained as a priest in the wealthy and secretive Legionaries of Christ which was founded by the disgraced Fr. Marcel Maciel. By 2005, in addition to a cushy assignment as the rector of the Legionaries’ seminary in Rome, Morris had joined Fox News. He subsequently left the Legion and ended up at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the theater district of NYC and not in some poor church in the outer boroughs. So he’s got a daytime job and he’s doing all right. I joked, in an earlier post, about how his friendship with NY Archbishop Dolan shows how he has friends in high places. It seems that that he has…

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sophia Deboick
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 January 2012

Last week it emerged that Gabino Zavala, the auxiliary bishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles for nearly 18 years, has a secret family. The existence of his two teenage children has been deemed a sufficiently “grave cause”, as defined by Canon 401 of the code of canon law, that he has been obliged to resign. Memories of other notable cases resurface: the Eamon Casey scandal of the early 90s, when revelations that he fathered a child two years before his episcopal appointment led to his resignation as Bishop of Galway; the more recent case of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel, who had as many as six children (although accusations of paedophilia and incest make this alleged offence pale into insignificance). Zavala is hardly the first priest to break his vow…