Maciel Mishandling Mars John Paul II's Memory

Cardinal DePaolis ordains new LC Priest at St Paul Outside the Wall in December 2010, thus sending mixed messages about his "reform" of the Legion

http://proceso.com.mx/rv/modHome/detalleExclusiva/90804


Secret Vatican Documents - The Stigma of Maciel

Salvador Corro y Rodrigo Vera

The embarrassing case that ignited the Catholic church – the sexual abuse of minors by Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ – Is gathering steam once again. Three Mexicans, among them one of Maciel’s victims, have received a package of documents, secretly kept in the Vatican until now, which show that for almost a half century Catholic officials had full knowledge that the founder of the Legion of Christ was a sexual abuser of children, a corrupt manipulator, and a drug addict. The three are surprised at the speed with which John Paul II has been beatified, considering that the pontiff was fully aware of Maciel’s criminal misconduct.


MEXICO CITY, April 30, 2011 (Proceso). Documents from the Vatican archives, kept in secret until now, show that from 1956 the Catholic hierarchy, headed by the pope, protected Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, in spite of numerous accusations that he was a pedophile, drug addict, and corrupt manipulator of church structures.

Among the officials who knew of the Maciel case were Benedict XVI, the current pope, and the recently beatified John Paul II, who during his final years took in and protected the Legion’s founder. For those familiar with the case – which should be enough to halt the beatification process – it is inconceivable that Wojtyla should be beatified so quickly, apparently without a full review of his record as pope.

The documents – 212 files relating to the Legion of Christ, safeguarded in the archives of the Congregation for Institutes and Societies of Consecrated Life, and covering the years 1944-2002 – were handed over to Fernando M. González, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Alberto Athié, a former priest and academic at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), and José Barba, one of Maciel’s victim, who are including them in a book currently being prepared for publication.

Proceso has reproduced a letter from Marcial Maciel dated October 3, 1956, and addressed to Cardinal Valerio Valeri, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious. In it he responds to the suspension resulting from accusations against him of pedophilia and drug addiction which had come from, among others, prominent Mexican officials of the time, including Sergio Méndez Arceo, bishop of Cuernavaca, and Cardinal Miguel Darío Miranda, primate archbishop of Mexico.

In the document Maciel states that the charges against him “are nothing but a slanderous accusation.” Although he complies with the two-year suspension to seek clinical treatment, he warns that under the circumstances he will not be able “to control the future acquisition of funds, or their management,” which could result in “possible financial imbalances.”