Sexual abuse cases of Marcial Maciel

Last updated
Fr. Marcial Maciel LC (late 2004) Fr. Marcial Maciel LC Late 2004.jpg
Fr. Marcial Maciel LC (late 2004)

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." [1] and fathered six children by three women. [2] 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. [2] Maciel was the "highest ranking priest ever disciplined because of sexual abuse allegations." [1]

Contents

Formal charges against Maciel were filed by nine men with the Vatican in 1998. The scandal related to Maciel was linked with the wider series of international Catholic sex abuse cases being reported in the Catholic Church. Church authorities were criticized for the slow pace of investigations, with conjecture that it was because Maciel was close to Pope John Paul II and had well-placed connections among senior clergy. [1] Putting forward his age, John Paul II's Vatican chose not to prosecute Maciel, but in 2006 Pope Benedict XVI forced him to retire from active ministry. [2] Maciel died in 2008.

In March 2010, the Legion of Christ in a communique [3] acknowledged that Maciel had committed "reprehensible actions", including sexual abuse. The communique stated that "given the gravity of his faults, we cannot take his person as a model of Christian or priestly life." The Legion had long denied the allegations against the priest and, since Maciel's forced retirement in 2006 had not made any official statement one way or the other. [2] On May 1, 2010, the Vatican denounced Maciel's actions and said that the Legion needed reform; a Papal Delegate was designated to oversee the organization and its governance.

In 2019, the Legion of Christ released a report on abuse committed by Maciel and other priests. Notably, the Legion pointed to Cardinal Sodano, an influential Vatican prelate, as being responsible for hiding the accusations against Maciel from others in the cura. Sodano retired the same day that the Legion made its report. [4]

History of investigations

1956 investigation

Maciel, a Mexican priest who was the general director of the Legion of Christ, which he founded in 1941, was investigated several times for his behavior. In 1956, the Vatican had him removed as superior and investigated allegations of drug (morphine) abuse. After interviewing members of the then-small congregation, the Vatican cleared him. Maciel was reinstated in February 1959. [5] There are no records of any members reporting sexual abuse at that time. However, since then two seminarians reported that they had lied to investigators in 1956; they did not report having been abused because Maciel had earlier had them take a vow never to speak ill of him. [6]

Accusations since the 1970s

Since the 1970s, Maciel has been twice accused of having repeatedly sexually abused other congregation members, including young children. His accusers include a priest, a guidance counselor, a professor, an engineer, a lawyer, and a former priest who became a university professor. [7] These two Spaniards and seven Mexicans described themselves as former members of a favored group, known as the "apostolic schoolboys". They said that the abuse allegedly occurred over three decades, beginning in the 1940s in Spain and Italy. As promising boys and young men, the Mexicans had been taken there to be educated. [8] They said the abuse involved some 30 boys and young men, and extended over at least three decades.

Nine accusers

In 1998, the nine men above filed formal charges against Maciel at the Vatican. One man subsequently retracted his story, claiming it had been a fabrication intended to damage the Legion; the other eight continue to maintain their allegations. The accusers described how Maciel would feign having an illness in his groin and falsely claim to have been given papal permission to receive help massaging away the pain. Maciel and the Legion originally denied the accusations. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI), examined the allegations. The CDF told the plaintiffs the following year that Maciel would not be prosecuted because of his age. [1]

Reopening the case

In 2004, the plaintiffs were informed by letter that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had decided to reopen the investigation against Maciel. Shortly after, Maciel stepped down as General Director of the Legion at the Ordinary General Chapter held in January 2005. [7] Fr Alvaro Corcuera was elected by the same General Chapter as the new General Director.[ citation needed ]

Retirement

On 19 May 2006, the Vatican published a communique for the press, instructing Maciel to retire from active ministry to a life of "prayer and penitence", [9] The Legion's vows of obedience which required members to maintain secrecy, impermeability, and refrain from giving any in the Legion possible humility was also lifted by Pope Benedict XVI in December 2007. [10] Despite all this, Maciel was never laicized. [11] He moved to a house for priests in Jacksonville, Florida, where he died in 2008. Maciel and the Legion continued to deny all accusations until his death.[ citation needed ]

On 3 September 2009, Fr. Julio Marti and Fr. Scott Reilly (the territorial directors of the Legion in the US and Canada) made a formal apology on behalf of the Legion. They said:

We are deeply saddened and sorry, and we sincerely ask for forgiveness from God and from those who have been hurt through this. We also regret that our inability to detect, and thus accept and remedy, Father Maciel's failings has caused even more suffering. [12]

In 2014 the General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ made a more formal and extensive apology.[ citation needed ]

Further revelations

On 3 February 2009 The New York Times reported:

The Legionaries of Christ, an influential Roman Catholic religious order, have been shaken by new revelations that their founder, who died a year ago, had an affair with a woman and fathered a daughter just as he and his thriving conservative order were winning the acclaim of Pope John Paul II. [13]

This has been confirmed by the Legion of Christ. The BBC reported that Maciel had six children by three women, two of whom lived in Mexico and one in Switzerland. [14]

The Rev. Thomas V. Berg LC, Executive Director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, formally apologized to the victims of Maciel, "In shock, sorrow, and with a humbled spirit, I want to express my deepest sorrow for anyone who, in any way, has been hurt by the moral failings of Fr. Maciel." [15] A few weeks after the scandal broke, Berg left the Legion of Christ to become a diocesan priest, transferring the Westchester Institute to the Archdiocese of New York. [16]

Civil suit on behalf of six Maciel children

In July 2009, attorney José Bonilla was appointed to represent three of a possible total of six of Maciel's children in a civil suit to recover Maciel's estate. The lawyer claimed that Maciel owned several properties in Mexico and around the world in his own name. [17] [18]

Media in Spain had reported an interview with a woman who had a child with Maciel more than 20 years ago; she lived in a luxury apartment in Madrid which Maciel had purchased for her. Norma Hilda Baños said that she was abused as a minor by Maciel and later became pregnant by him. She bore and raised his daughter. [19]

Reaction of Archbishop O'Brien

In the wake of these revelations, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore told his archdiocesan newspaper that the order must offer "full disclosure of [Maciel's] activities and those who are complicit in them, or knew of them, and of those who are still refusing to offer disclosure." He said that the order's finances should also be subject to "objective scrutiny". He described Maciel "a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends." He criticized the "good deal of secrecy in [Maciel's] own life ... [and] in the structures he created." The archbishop welcomed the Vatican's decision in the following March to conduct an apostolic visitation of the Legionaries, and said that the order's abolition "should be on the table". [20] [21]

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. [22] Vatican authorities named five bishops from five different countries, each one in charge of investigating the Legionaries in a particular part of the world:

They met with the pope to report on the visitation in April 2010, and the Vatican issued a statement on 1 May 2010.[ citation needed ]

In December 2019, the organization accepted responsibility for 175 cases of child sexual abuse by 33 priests, including 60 minors who were abused by Maciel. [25] The organization also stated that former Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano led efforts to cover up the abuse committed by Maciel and other clergy. [26] [27]

Formal denunciation by the Vatican

On 1 May 2010, the Vatican named a delegate and appointed a commission to review the Legionaries of Christ. In a statement, the Vatican denounced Maciel for creating a "system of power" that enabled him to lead an "immoral" double life "devoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment" and allowed him to abuse young boys for decades unchecked. [28]

The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Marcial Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies", represent "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment," the Vatican said. The Vatican said the Legion created a "mechanism of defense" around Maciel to shield him from accusations and suppress damaging witnesses from reporting abuse. "It made him untouchable," the Vatican said. The statement decried the "lamentable disgracing and expulsion of those who doubted" Maciel's virtue. The Vatican statement did not address whether the Legion's current leadership will face any sanctions. Actions taken by the current Legion leadership will be scrutinized; but no specific sanctions were mentioned. The Vatican acknowledged the "hardships" faced by Maciel's accusers through the years when they were ostracized or ridiculed, and commended their "courage and perseverance to demand the truth". [28]

As a result of the visitation, Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop (later Cardinal) Velasio De Paolis on 9 July 2010 as the Papal Delegate to oversee the Legion and its governance. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Benedict XVI</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013

Pope Benedict XVI was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation, and he retained this title until his death in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church sexual abuse cases</span>

There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgement and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Sodano</span> Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (1927–2022)

Angelo Raffaele Sodano, GCC was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and from 1991 on 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legionaries of Christ</span> Catholic religious congregation

The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic clerical religious order made up of priests and candidates for the priesthood established by Marcial Maciel in Mexico in 1941. Maciel was also Director General of the congregation for over 60 years until forced to step down in January 2005 as a result of a child sexual abuse scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcial Maciel</span> Mexican priest, founder of the Legion of Christ, sexual abuser

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 long time 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regnum Christi</span>

Regnum Christi, officially the Regnum Christi Federation is an international Catholic Federation. It is open to all lay Catholics and in addition has three consecrated branches, the Legion of Christ, consecrated women, and consecrated men. Regnum Christi is dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith. Their motto is "Love Christ, Serve People, Build the Church."

Pope John Paul II was criticised for, amongst other things, an alleged lack of response to child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy M. Dolan</span> American cardinal of the Catholic Church

Timothy Michael Dolan is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current Archbishop of New York, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Frederick O'Brien</span> US cardinal

Edwin Frederick O'Brien is an American prelate of the Roman 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Álvaro Corcuera</span> Mexican Roman Catholic priest

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduardo Martínez Somalo</span> Spanish cardinal of the Catholic Church (1927–2021)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual abuse scandals in Catholic orders and societies</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velasio de Paolis</span> Catholic cardinal

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.

There are several controversies surrounding the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, including aggressive recruiting practices, elitism, rampant sexual abuse scandals of minors, and having 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.

The apostolic visitation to Ireland was announced on 20 March 2010 in the pastoral letter written by Pope Benedict XVI to Irish Catholics after the publication of the Ryan and Murphy Reports on Catholic Church sexual abuse of children in Ireland in 2009. The visitation to the dioceses was carried out in the four metropolitan sees during the first few months of 2011. In addition, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was appointed to conduct visits to four seminaries to review their formation programs. Members of religious institutes were appointed to visit various congregations. The visitation was essentially pastoral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricardo Ezzati</span> Archbishop and cardinal

Ricardo Ezzati Andrello is an Italian-Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Santiago de Chile 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.

Luis Garza Medina is a Roman Catholic priest of the Legion of Christ who previously served as its Vicar General and Territorial Director of North America. Garza is accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the early 1990s, though he was later cleared by the Legion's internal investigation around the same time the civil lawsuit related to the matter was dropped. Garza was the only religious figure named in the Pandora Papers scandal where it was uncovered that he and his family placed $300 Million in secret trusts in New Zealand, an act which the International Consortium of Journalists described as trying to hide money from the Vatican and the Legion's investigation.

Secrets of the Vatican is an American television documentary film. It was first aired on the PBS Channel on 25 February 2014 as an episode of PBS' Frontline TV series.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tuckman, Jo (29 April 2008). "The Rev Marcial Maciel". The Guardian. London.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Berry, Jason. "Money paved way for Maciel's influence in the Vatican", National Catholic Reporter, April 6, 2010
  3. ↑ "Communique", Legion of Christ Archived 2010-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Legion of Christ finds 33 priests, 71 seminarian sex abusers". AP NEWS. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  5. ↑ "Legionary Timeline". Archived from the original on 2009-02-24.Legion of Christ
  6. ↑ Berry, Jason. "Fr. Marcial Maciel leaves behind a flawed legacy", National Catholic Reporter. 22 Feb 2008
  7. 1 2 McKinley Jr, James C. (23 April 2005). "Pope-to-Be Reopened Mexican Sex Abuse Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2010., New York Times (23 April 2005)
  8. ↑ El Legionario, by Alejandro Espinoza, Mexico City: Grijalbo, 2003, p. 22.
  9. ↑ Vatican Communiqué, "Father Marcial Maciel Invited to Renounce All Public Ministry". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02., Zenit News Agency (19 May 2006)
  10. ↑ "La derogación de los votos secretos de los Legionarios - la Jornada".
  11. ↑ Donadio, Rachel (27 March 2010). "Catholic Order Admits Its Founder Abused Boys over Decades". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ "Letter from the North American Territorial Directors", Regnum Christi, September 3, 2009 Archived September 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Goodstein, Laurie (4 February 2009). "Catholic Order Jolted by Reports That Its Founder Led a Double Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  14. ↑ El Mundo, Spanish language website, 4 February 2009, accessed 27 March 2009.
  15. ↑ "A Legionary's Plea: National Catholic Register". Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2009-05-12.North Carolina Register
  16. ↑ "Fr. Berg leaves Legion of Christ to join Archdiocese of New York", Catholic News Agency, May 7, 2009
  17. ↑ "Tres hijos de Maciel pelearán sus bienes | Ediciones Impresas Milenio". Archived from the original on 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  18. ↑ , Jornada
  19. ↑ RD, "La hija del pecador Legionario de Cristo", 9 de agosto 2009, Periodista Digital(in Spanish)
  20. ↑ , Catholic Review Archived April 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ John L. Allen Jr., "Abolition of Legionaries should be 'on the table' ", National Catholic Reporter, 3 April 2009, accessed 28 November 2015
  22. ↑ Thavis, John (31 March 2009). "Vatican orders apostolic visitation of Legionaries of Christ". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009.
  23. ↑ "Ricardo Watti Urquidi", Catholic Hierarchy
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 "Apostolic visit to Legionaries of Christ to begin July 15". Catholic News Agency. 1 July 2009.
  25. ↑ Ana Langner (Dec 21, 2019), "Legionarios de Cristo aceptan abuso sexual de 175 menores de edad" [The Legion of Christ accepts sexual abuse of 175 minors], La Jornada (in Spanish)
  26. ↑ "Legion of Christ finds 33 priests, 71 seminarian sex abusers". Associated Press . 28 April 2021.
  27. ↑ "Cardinal (92) who 'sought deal' to bury sex abuse documents resigns". The Irish Times .
  28. 1 2 "Fr. Maciel guilty, 'profound' revision of Legion needed, report Apostolic Visitors", Catholic News Agency, May 1, 2010
  29. ↑ Pope Benedict XVI Names Delegate for the Legion of Christ Archived 2016-04-07 at the Wayback Machine , Regnum Christi website
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.