How do I response to JPII protecting Marciel Degollado?

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CruzPaolo

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Hi! I’m new to this page. I have a old account but I forgot the password. Someone claimed that Marciel Degollado is a pedophile? And I don’t even know him. And he also claimed that JPII protected the pedophile. I only know the basic history of JPII (fall of communism and why he is a saint, etc.) But I’ve never heard of this. Might need some help! Thanks and Pax Christi.
 
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Marcial Maciel as he’s better known was indeed a pedophile, drug addict, serial sexual abuser and father of about six children. He was the founder of the Legionaries of Christ which is/was known for its very rigorous priestly formation and staunch orthodoxy. Described as and the “greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church,” He was also a charismatic leader and very successful in recruiting seminarians at a time of declining vocations. Understandably, he found favour with JPII. How much was known about Marciel, by whom and when is debatable - certainly there were a number of accusations which were ignored and Marciel’s reputation (and his order’s wealth) no doubt contributed to this. That said, accusation of sexual abuse were widely mishandled around that time (1970’s/80’s) for a whole range of reasons.

An investigation by the then-Cardinal Razinger was undertaken in 1998 but it wasn’t until 2004 that Marciel stepped down as head of the order and formal penalties were imposed on him. Again, it’s difficult to say who knew what and when but JPII’s health was declining from about the late 90’s. The Legion itself also continued to deny the accusations which no doubt made the investigation more difficult. I would say that a lot was probably kept from JPII for good reasons and bad. It’s been generally alleged that Marciel had high placed “protectors” in the Vatican (thanks to his financial gifts) but again, how much any of them knew (or didn’t want to know) remains an open question.
 
This is a new information to me. I was Born Catholic but I studied in a Baptist school turn to a bible christian and then turn atheist and for one year I studied the Catholic faith and became a practicing Catholic. Until now, I’m still learning, I was questioned by my atheist friends and this JPII protecting Marciel Degollado is new to me.
 
He did not believe Maciel was up to anything bad… if I recall, he thought it was all lies.

Being overly loyal seems to be a common pitfall for popes. But you can still be a saint, even with a blind spot like that.
 
Marcel Maciel was a bad egg. There have been other bad eggs in the Church. In hindsight, Pope JPII probably should have taken steps against him (and some of the other prominent bad eggs). However, we need to remember that

a) Saints are human, and they make mistakes. In the case of a Pope, God would protect the Church against the Pope making errors in his doctrinal teachings, but Popes can and do make mistakes or wrong judgments about other people. Often a future Pope will set this right.

b) It is highly likely that Pope JPII didn’t have all the complete information about the bad things that Fr. Marcel Maciel was doing.

c) It is also highly likely that Pope JPII was focused on the issues involving Communism and trying to bring it down, and consequently he may have had less focus on, or been distracted from addressing, some of the other problems in the Church.

d) People who hate the Church will say bad things about its great saints. Usually as 1ke said, they don’t have good sources (a good source is a scholarly book written by a fairly neutral scholar, not some anti-Catholic Youtube or web blog).
Don’t let yourself be swayed by this, and don’t waste a lot of time arguing with people whose minds are closed.
 
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