Vatican investigates Legionaries of Christ

[JPUSC]

Vatican investigates Legionaries of Christ
The Catholic Church looks into cult allegations — and $1,000 hams.

By Jason Berry — Special to GlobalPost

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI recently appointed five bishops from as many countries to investigate the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order founded in 1941 by the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a Mexican priest who is accused of sexually abusing young seminarians, and who left a grown daughter who was born out-of-wedlock.

Even after death, Maciel wields power through the influence he secured.

While the American Catholic Church has been publicly battered by two decades of priest sexual abuse scandals that erupted in the press and devastated church finances with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on compensating victims and legal fees, the Maciel scandal has gone largely unnoticed by most of the American press.

There’s a reason: For decades, the Legion shunned the media while Maciel cultivated relationships with some of the most powerful, conservative Catholics in the world. He also forced his priests and seminarians to take vows never to criticize him, or any superior. The legion built a network of prep schools and an astonishing database of donors. In Maciel’s militant spirituality, Legionaries — and their wing of lay supporters, Regnum Christi — see themselves as saving the church from a corrupted world. Behind the silence he imposed, Maciel was corrupt — abusing seminarians and using money in ways that several past and present seminarians liken to bribery, in forging ties with church officials.

The silence Maciel imposed on his followers allowed Maciel to pursue a double life.

…

Christmas gifts were divided into category by declining levels of importance, the Legionary continued. For weeks, “eight or 10 brothers prepared the baskets in the basement. Fine Spanish hams cost quite a lot — 30 euros per kilo. You can spend $1,000 for a large one,” said one of the Legion priests who spoke on condition that his name not be used.

Another priest here who left the Legion years ago recounted how Maciel in 1946 arrived in war-ravaged Rome and presented Cardinal Clemente Micara, then the vicar of Rome, with $10,000 cash.

“That was an enormous amount in those days,” the former Legion preist said.

Micara would return the favor at a pivotal moment in Maciel’s life.

In 1956 the Legionary founder was suspended by Pope Pius XII while hospitalized for morphine painkiller addiction, amidst abuse allegations in the seminary.

Barba and others have stated that as boys he abused they lied to protect Maciel in questioning by Vatican officials. “We obeyed our vows to the Legion,” he said. “You must realize, it was the only world we knew.”

globalpost.com/dispatch/italy/090717/vatican-investigates-legionaries-christ?page=0,4

Upon seeing the nickname of the Legionaries, I thought of Mark 5:9

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”

“The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops…The demon will be especially implacable against the souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them”.
Our Lady of Akita

God Bless Pope Benedict XVI for uncovering Maciel.

 

[Eucharisted]

I don’t see the connection between Legion of Christ and the demon Legion. There are many Catholic assoaciations with the name Legion, like the Legion of Mary.

Let’s pray for the priestly founder and the Legionaries, that they might be forgiven and given eternal peace.

 

[JPUSC]

I don’t see the connection between Legion of Christ and the demon Legion. There are many Catholic assoaciations with the name Legion, like the Legion of Mary.

Let’s pray for the priestly founder and the Legionaries, that they might be forgiven and given eternal peace.

There may not be a connection, but when the demon said “My name is Legion,” he meant that there were many of them. Just a reminder of demonic influence infiltrating souls.

 

[Eucharisted]

There may not be a connection, but when the demon said “My name is Legion,” he meant that there were many of them. Just a reminder of demonic influence infiltrating souls.

Oh ok. That reminds me of this article: catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0607fea5.asp

 

[infoguy]

The Vatican investigation of the Legionaries is a good move for both the Church and the order.

However, I would strongly caution that any article written by Jason Berry be taken with a big grain of salt. He is a long-time critic of the Church, and his factual claims are not always aligned with the truth.