This article may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. The specific problem is: The article, and lead in particular, gives undue weight to the abuse of children and seminarians by the organization's founder Marcial Maciel and other priests, and not enough to its work and other history Please help improve it by rewriting it in a balanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view.(November 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this message )
On January 3, 1941, the “Apostolic Missionary Mission of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”[3] was founded in Mexico City as a separate section of the Diocesan Seminary of Cuernavaca. This initiative was promoted by seminarian Marcial Maciel, marking the beginning of what would later become the Legion of Christ. The creation of this new entity had the approval of Bishop Francisco González Arias, Bishop of Cuernavaca, and Archbishop Luis María Martínez, Archbishop of Mexico City. The “missionary work”, as it was called at the beginning, was composed of a group of seminarians with the purpose of forming a new religious congregation. This objective was recorded in the diary of the founding community, where the seminarians referred to themselves as “future congregated”.
On March 25, 1946, a significant step was taken with the establishment of the first novitiate house, in what is called a “foundation in fact”, since the congregation did not yet have formal recognition by the Catholic Church in Rome.
Affiliated groups
The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men that forms part of the Regnum Christi Federation, founded by Maciel in 1959, which includes the Legionaries of Christ, the Society of Apostolic Life of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, the Society of Apostolic Life of the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi, and other Catholics who associate individually.[4] Its members add the nominal letters (LC) after their names to indicate their membership in the Congregation. The "larger culture" is often referred to as "the movement" within the Regnum Christi Federation.[5]
Members of the Legion take vows of humility, poverty, chastity, and obedience. The vow of humility, which is not one of the 3 vows taken by all major Catholic religious institutes, obligates Legionaries not to seek positions of power within the Legion or the Church as a whole. In addition, until 2007, all Legionaries were compelled to take "private vows", never to "speak ill of Maciel or any superiors, and to report to their superiors anyone who did", a policy that impeded the discovery of wrongdoing by Maciel and other Legionary leaders, according to investigative journalist Jason Berry.[6] This vow was lifted by the pope, and has not been taken by new Legionaries.[7]
Love for Christ is, for Legionaries, a personal experience. Through the Gospel, the cross, and the Eucharist, Legionary spirituality teaches that the Legionary should seek to know Christ intimately, and love him in a passionate way by embracing him as their model of holiness.[8] Their spirituality is Christ-centered with a particular emphasis on the Sacred Heart, which is the patron of the Legion, in their vocation as religious and priests.[9]
Love for Mary is seen as arising from the imitation of Christ. In the Legion, Our Lady is venerated as both Mother of the Church and of the individual Legionary's vocation. Legionaries consecrate their spiritual and apostolic lives to her care, and seek to take on her virtues of faith, hope, charity, obedience to God, humility, and cooperation with Christ's plan of redemption and justice.[8]
Love for Souls is defined in the Legion as an ardent desire to spread Christ's kingdom in this world. Legionaries focus on helping the greatest number of souls know and love Christ. In Legionary theology, time is a gift given by God which he wants to maximize to spread the Gospel and help bring the love of God to many souls.[8]
According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Legion or Legionaries of Christ was founded so early in the career of Marcial Maciel, he was ordained as a priest after he was leading the order.[10]
The Legion has been described as "conservative" and focusing on "ministering to the wealthy and powerful in the belief that by evangelizing society's leaders, the beneficial impact on society is multiplied". Today the Legion purports its priests "are the confessors and chaplains to some of the most powerful businessmen in Latin America".[11]
Legionaries have been described as "easy to spot in Rome, young men with close-cropped hair in traditional cassocks or double-breasted blazers, walking two by two like a spiritual army."[5] Legion culture has been described as "insular" and "cultlike".[5]
The Legion began in Mexico where its largest base remains. It is said to have created "a vast network" of private schools and universities for the children of the elite in that country, which provided funding for his movement’s worldwide expansion.[12] Houses of formation were established in Spain and Italy within its first decade. In the 1960s, chapters of the organization were founded in Ireland and then in the United States. In the 1970s and 80s the congregation expanded throughout Latin America. In the 90s it expanded to France and Central Europe.[13]
The Legion presents itself as dedicated to advancing the Church's mission in the world, and to this end claims to submit candidates to a rigorous formation of four dimensions: human, spiritual, intellectual, and apostolic. Critics accused the Legion of producing priests and religious who all spoke and behaved in the same way. The Legion's defenders argued that, just as members of a family receive similar upbringing, so the members of the Legion were formed in like ways, but still respected the freedom of the individual. The new constitutions approved by Pope Francis present a more balanced approach to the formation of members.[14]
As is the practice in many religious congregations of the Roman Catholic Church, Legionaries may visit their family according to their superiors' discretion and the norms of the Congregation, the average being for about 4–7 days a year not counting special occasions. Regular contact with their families is encouraged with respect to written, verbal, and video communication.
Apostolates
The front of a Legionary School in Valencia, Spain.Logo of the Universidad Anáhuac México Norte.
The apostolate of the Legionaries (i.e. organizations "directed to serving and evangelizing the world") has many aspects, but focuses on the following:[15]
Education and teaching at all levels.
Pastoral attention to youth and families.
Catechesis and preaching of retreats and spiritual exercises.
Attention to the underprivileged, especially those groups that undergo the greatest spiritual, moral or material privation.
Works of Christian charity and mercy.
Supporting bishops in the formation of diocesan seminarians and in the ongoing formation of their priests.
Spiritual attention to Regnum Christi members and accompanying them in their formation.
In the US, the congregation runs four schools. In 2012, all three of its high schools (Everest Collegiate High School, The Highlands School and Pinecrest Academy) were named in the list of top 50 Catholic High Schools developed by the Cardinal Newman Society.[16]
In 2006, the Legion launched a test phase of Mission Network in the United States. Catholic Mission Network, Inc., is the umbrella organization that oversees and approves Legionary-endorsed apostolates that are not stand-alone like a school or retreat center. Its purpose is to provide both structure and supervision of the apostolates, and an overview as to what the Legion/Regnum Christi does as a whole, with brand-name-type recognition.[17]
The youth wing of Regnum Christi, offering spirituality for youth 11 to 16, is called ECYD. The commitments in ECYD vary over time, adapting to the ages of the members.[18] Many ECYD members are involved in clubs run or overseen by Legionaries or consecrated members of Regnum Christi.
Marcial Maciel was born in Cotija, Michoacán on March 10, 1920, into a devout Catholic family—four of his uncles were bishops—during a time in which the Mexican government was fiercely anticlerical. He became a priest after a troubled youth.[19]
Maciel was expelled from two seminaries for reasons that have never been explained, and became a priest only after one of his bishop uncles ordained him after private studies.[20]
Maciel was ordained a priest on November 26, 1944, in Mexico City, but had already founded the congregation [6] in 1941, with the support of Francisco González Arias, Bishop of Cuernavaca. Two years later in 1946, he presented a donation to the Vatican for $10,000, “a huge sum in a city reeling from the war.”[6]
Pope John Paul II praised him in lavish ceremonies and called him an "efficacious guide to youth".[21] In general, the Holy See held Maciel "up as a model of sainthood for the faithful" in large part "because he brought in money and vocations to the priesthood."[22]
In the Legion of Christ, Maciel was called "nuestro padre". Members of the congregation were taught "the Legion message"—that Maciel "had his enemies, but that he was a living saint for his leadership as an evangelist, drawing the church back from liberal abuses of the Second Vatican Council and attracting young men to a strict religious life."[23]
After Maciel's abuses came to light, Pope Benedict XVI sentenced him to a life of "prayer and penance" in 2006.[24] Maciel died in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 30, 2008, aged 87, and was buried in his hometown of Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, Mexico. Immediately following Maciel's death, the Legion's leaders proclaimed "his ascent to heaven".[6]
According to the BBC, the 2019 report by the order found that Marcial Maciel had abused at least 60 children, and that another 33 priests of the order abused minors, bringing the total number of children abused by the order since its founding in 1941 to at least 175.[25][26]
One of the first English language public reports of abuse came in 1997 exposing abused that happened in the 1950s. Juan Vaca and seven other early victims of Maciel "gave graphic accounts" in the Hartford Courant of how they watched Maciel inject himself with a morphine painkiller in Spain and Rome in the 1950s and finally had to be hospitalized. Cardinal Valerio Valeri received reports "from an older seminarian in Mexico City" and the head of the one Legion high school at the time (Cumbres Institute), who were concerned about Maciel's drug use and "overly affectionate behavior with boys".[6] Valeri suspended Maciel but in 1959 he was reinstated by Clemente Micara, the interim vicar of Rome.[6]
For a long time, the Vatican dismissed accusations by seminarians that Father Maciel had abused them sexually, some when they were as young as 12.[27] After years of denial by the Congregation and the Regnum Christi movement and dismissal of accusations made by many former members, an investigation prompted by the Vatican concluded that allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Maciel were true. On 1 May 2010, the Holy See issued a communique on its year-long investigation of the Legionaries, condemning "system of power" created by Marcial Maciel, that hid "true crimes" and a private life "without scruples or authentic religious sentiment." The communique called for the Legionaries to follow a "path of purification," including a "sincere encounter" with Maciel's abuse victims.[28]
The superiors of the congregation did not officially inform the rest of the congregation until a year after his death, during which time, they continued to permit an internal culture of revering him as a saint. The Legionaries of Christ eventually acknowledged their founder's "reprehensible and objectively immoral behavior" as head of the congregation.[27] As a result of the scandal, Pope Benedict XVI also removed the vow of charity, which required members to maintain secrecy, impermeability, and refrain from criticism of superiors.[7] The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies", represented "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment", the Vatican said.[29]
After the scandals of Maciel came to light, some priests and seminarians left the congregation. Several schools and centers of formation closed.
In 2019, the organization admitted that Father Fernando Martínez Suarez had abused eight minors between 1990 and 1993.[30] A month later, they admitted that members of the organization had sexually abused 175 children between 1941 and 2019. 60 of those were abused by its founder, some of whom were his own children from several relations. Six of the priests have died, eight have left the priesthood, one left the Congregation, and 18 continue in their posts but have been removed from tasks where they interact with the public or with children.[31] The 2019 report by the Legion noted that 14 of the 33 priests who abused minors had been victims themselves when they were young, thus highlighting what it called "chains of abuse", where "a victim of a Legionnaire, over time, becomes in turn an aggressor".[25] The Legion of Christ also singled out former Secretariat of State Angelo Sodano for leading efforts to cover up the reports of abuse.[32][33][34]
In 1998, nine men lodged formal charges at the Vatican that Maciel had abused them as youths and young men while studying under him;[35] Maciel was initially investigated by the Holy See and suspended from his ministry in 2006.[36] In 2009, an apostolic visitation was ordered by Pope Benedict XVI and shortly after Cardinal Velasio De Paolis was delegated[37] to impose "structural changes.” [38]
In 2014, the five-year renewal process was completed with the approval of amended constitutions;[39] five years later, Pope Francis referred to the new Constitutions approvingly.[40]
On December 21, 2019, the Legionaries of Christ released the “Report 1941-2019 on the Phenomenon of Sexual Abuse of Minors in the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ from its Founding to the Present Day.”
According to the report, “the report was the result of an extensive study carried out by an internal commission that, within the limits of a study of this nature, verified the various accusations of sexual abuse of minors throughout the history of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. It collected the global statistics of cases of abuse by its priests between 1941 and 2019 and included an appendix with the steps taken to prevent future abuse and guarantee safe environments.
On the same day, Father John Connor, LC, then North American territorial director and currently the general director of the Congregation worldwide, released a communication compiling the previously released names of Legionaries of Christ who were active in ministry with substantiated sexual abuse allegations in the United States into a list.
One month later, Father John again addressed the territory in a letter saying, “We must pray that these victims receive the healing they need and that those who are still trying to find the courage to come forward are able to find it. This is an important part of the healing process for victims and it’s important for the Congregation to listen to the experiences of victims so that we can make reparation and be further purified.”
In his letter, Father John also affirmed that facing our history with determination and helping victims heal is an important part of our mission as a Congregation, not a distraction from it. It is what God is calling us to at this point in our history. We are committed to transparency about the abuse that has been perpetrated by Legionaries of Christ, to working towards a culture in which all our priests deeply understand the effects of sexual abuse and their role as spiritual fathers dedicated to nourishing God’s people, and to helping those who have been harmed to heal from their wounds.” [41]
Apostolic visitation
In early 2009, the Vatican ordered an apostolic visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ following disclosures of sexual impropriety by Maciel.[42] Vatican authorities named five bishops from five different countries, each one in charge of investigating the Legionaries in a particular part of the world:
Ricardo Watty Urquidi, Bishop of Tepic, Mexico, in charge of Mexico and Central America, where the Legion has 44 houses, 250 priests and 115-120 religious seminarians;[43][44]
Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, in charge of the United States and Canada, where the Legion has 24 houses, 130 priests and 260 religious seminarians;[44]
Giuseppe Versaldi, Bishop of Alessandria, in charge of Italy, Israel, the Philippines, and South Korea, where the Legion has 16 houses, 200 priests and 420 religious seminarians (in Italy 13, 168 and 418 respectively);[44]
Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Concepción, Chile, in charge of Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, where the Legion has 20 houses, 122 priests and 122 religious seminarians;[44]
Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Bishop of Bilbao, Spain, in charge of Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Holland, Poland, Austria and Hungary, where the Legion has 20 houses, 105 priests, and 160 religious seminarians.[44]
They met with the pope to report on the visitation in April 2010, and the Vatican issued a statement on 1 May 2010.
Renewal
The Legion underwent a visitation by the Vatican and a process of renewal through a series of discussions revolving around the charism of the movement, the relationship of the congregation to the lay movement, and the place of both within the Church.
In 2006, Maciel was investigated by the Holy See and suspended from his ministry, initially over breaches of celibacy. This followed public revelations that he had sexually abused minors, which were later confirmed.[36] The Legion's additional vow of "charity" had been used to induce secrecy, promising not to criticize superiors. This was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI in December 2007.[7]
Cardinal Velasio De Paolis was delegated to examine the Legionaries' constitutions and conduct a visitation of its lay affiliate Regnum Christi in 2012. On October 19, 2012, De Paolis published a cover letter for a summary of the Regnum Christi's charism which he had approved as a working document.[37]
Under the guidance of Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the congregation announced the congregation's Extraordinary General Chapter in Rome in January 2014, for a "total restructuring". Apologies to the victims were issued and a compensation commission established.[45] In 2019, new statutes were adopted introducing collegial leadership and more transparent community life to prevent possible abuses in the future.[46]
The Legion completed a five-year renewal process that included a revision of its constitutions, which were approved during an extraordinary general chapter. The entire congregation revised the Constitutional document under the direction of a central committee and presented a final version to the new Pope Francis. On 4 November 2014, after an extensive process of the reform of the Legionaries of Christ, the Vatican approved the congregation's amended constitutions.[39]
In December 2019, the organization accepted responsibility for 175 cases of child sexual abuse by 33 priests, including 60 minors who were abused by Marcial Maciel.[47] However, Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López, head of the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, said on December 22, 2019, that the report is "late and incomplete": "How is it possible that the founder committed crimes for 70 years and no one ever said anything?"[48]
10 years after the Holy See took over the Legion, in an address directed to Legionaries during their General Chapter of 2020 and to the General Assemblies of Regnum Christi held during the same period, Pope Francis recognized the progress made in their renewal saying: "The new Constitutions and the new Statutes are truly 'new,' be it because they reflect a new spirit and a new vision of religious life, consistent with Vatican Council II and the directions of the Holy See, be it because they are the product of a three-year endeavor, in which all your communities were involved and which has led to a change in mentality."[40]
However, a report emerged around January 2020 alleging that the papal envoy in charge (the by then deceased Cardinal Velasio De Paolis) "refused to punish or even investigate" a case where a Legion priest, who had direct links to the founder, raped "little girls aged 6 to 8 or 9" in front of their classmates at an elite Catholic school in Cancun, Mexico, and noted a "high-level cover-up by superiors who are still in power". According to a former Legion priest, Rev. Christian Borgogno, "De Paolis' decision to leave in place Legion superiors, many of whom were close to Maciel, 'made reform' of the Legion 'impossible'".[38] In response, a month later the Legion promised "accountability and transparency" and "vowed to investigate the confirmed cases of past abuse by 33 priests and 71 seminarians".[49]
Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC was an Italian Catholic prelate and from 1991 onward a cardinal. He was the Dean of the College of Cardinals from 2005 to 2019 and Cardinal Secretary of State from 1991 to 2006; Sodano was the first person since 1828 to serve simultaneously as Dean and Secretary of State.
Stanisław Jan Dziwisz is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków from 2005 until 2016. He was created a cardinal in 2006. He was a long-time and influential aide to Pope John Paul II, a friend of Pope Benedict XVI, and an ardent supporter of John Paul II's beatification.
Giuseppe Pizzardi was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as prefect of the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities from 1939 to 1968, and secretary of the Holy Office from 1951 to 1959. Pizzardo was elevated to the cardinalate in 1937.
Marcial Maciel Degollado was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his career, he was respected within the church as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians. Late in his life, Maciel was revealed to have been a longtime drug addict who sexually abused many boys and young men in his care. After his death, it came to light that he had also maintained sexual relationships with at least four women, one of whom was a minor at the time. He fathered as many as six children, two of whom he is alleged to have sexually abused.
Regnum Christi, officially the Regnum Christi Federation is an international Catholic Federation. It is made up of lay Catholics, as well as the religious congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, and the Societies of Apostolic Life of the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, and the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi. The statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation were approved by the Holy See on May 31, 2019, after an extensive investigation and discernment on the part of the Holy See who led Regnum Christi and all of its federated institutions through a deep reformation and renewal process that began in 2009. Regnum Christi is dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith and evangelization. Their motto is "Thy Kingdom Come."
Pope John Paul II was criticised for, amongst other things, an alleged lack of response to child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Edwin Frederick O'Brien is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been a cardinal since 2012 and headed the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from 2011 to 2019.
In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to carry out such a visitation is called a visitor. When, in exceptional circumstances, the Holy See delegates an apostolic visitor "to evaluate an ecclesiastical institute such as a seminary, diocese, or religious institute [...] to assist the institute in question to improve the way in which it carries out its function in the life of the Church," this is known as an apostolic visitation.
Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río LC was a Mexican Roman Catholic priest. He was the former General Director of the Catholic Order of the Legion of Christ, serving since January 2005. On October 15, 2012, he went on sabbatical until the convocation of a general chapter; he had an advanced incurable brain tumor, which was undiagnosed at the time.
Eduardo Martínez Somalo was a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who spent most of his career in the Roman Curia, first in the Secretariat of State from 1956 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1988, and then leading two of its principal dicasteries: the Congregation for Divine Worship from 1988 to 1992 and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life from 1992 to 2004.
Brian Farrell LC is an Irish Roman Catholic prelate who served as secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity from 2002 until 2024.
As distinct from abuse by some parish priests, who are subject to diocesan control, there has also been abuse by members of Roman Catholic orders, which often care for the sick or teach at school. Just as diocesan clergy have arranged parish transfers of abusive priests, abusive brothers in Catholic orders are sometimes transferred.
Velasio de Paolis, C.S., JCD, STL, was an Italian member of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians) and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and Pontifical Delegate for the religious institute of the Legionaries of Christ.
Marcial Maciel was the founding leader of the Legion of Christ, then based in Mexico, and its general director from 1941 to January 2005. Since the 1970s the prominent Mexican Roman Catholic priest had sexually abused at least 60 minors. and fathered six children by three women. Described as a charismatic leader and the "greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church", he was successful in recruiting seminarians at a time of declining priestly vocations. Maciel was the "highest ranking priest ever disciplined because of sexual abuse allegations."
There were several controversies surrounding the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, including its recruiting practices, perceived elitist theology, Sexual abuse cases of Marcial Maciel sexual abuse by its founder and his confidants, and the founder’s multi-million dollar offshore holdings in tax havens.
The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Latin America is a significant part of the series of Catholic sex abuse cases.
Ricardo Ezzati Andrello is an Italian-born Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of Santiago from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served as Archbishop of Concepción. He headed the Episcopal Conference of Chile from 2010 to 2016.
ECyD is an international Catholic youth organization affiliated with the movement Regnum Christi and in close contact with one of the branches of its federation, the congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. ECYD membership is open to youth ages 11 to 16.
Luis Garza Medina is a Roman Catholic priest of the Legion of Christ who previously served as its Vicar General, Territorial Director of North America, and Spiritual Director in Manila, Philippines. Medina currently resides in Monterrey, Mexico.
Sylvester Heereman van Zuydtwyck is the former Vicar General of the Catholic congregation, the Legion of Christ.
Berry, Jason and Renner, Gerald. 2004. Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II. Free Press. ISBN0-7432-4441-9
Conde, Angeles and David Murray: The Legion of Christ: A History Circle Press, 2004. ISBN0-9743661-2-9
Maciel, Marcial. Christ Is My Life (Sophia Institute Press: 2003) ISBN1-928832-97-0
Maciel, Marcial. Integral Formation of Catholic Priests (Alba House, 1992) ISBN0-8189-0629-4
Further viewing
Films
Erffa, Zita: "The Best Thing You Can Do with Your Life", Documentary, 93 min, Germany/ Mexiko 2018, Director: Zita Erffa, DOP: Bruno Santamaría, Production: Petruvski Films in Coproduction with Ojo de Vaca und HFF München, supported by the CCC Mexiko. Premiere: Berlinale 2018. In Mexican cinemas from: 9.th of November 2019: Cineteca Nacional.
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