Vatican to Investigate Legion of Christ Founder

The Vatican has long refused to seriously investigate the credible allegations that Marcial Maciel, founder of the militant, right-wing Legionaries of Christ, repeatedly abused young boys and seminarians over the course of decades. That's about to change.

The Boston Globe explains:

In December, the Vatican ordered a full investigation into charges by the former members of the Legion of Christ against the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the order's 85-year-old Mexican founder. And last month, Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna, the Catholic Church's promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, traveled to the United States and Mexico to collect testimony about Maciel from dozens of former Legionaries, according to four of the coaccusers.

The case, which dates to the 1940s, was reopened late last year by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who had shelved it five years earlier. Last month, Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding John Paul II.

The priest faces charges of sexual abuse and of violating the sacrament of confession, an even more serious crime under church law that carries a mandatory sentence of excommunication. If church prosecutors determine there is strong evidence against Maciel, the case will go before the Vatican's Apostolic Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has exclusive jurisdiction to try ''crimes against morality."

This is the first pedophilia and sexual abuse case to involve the leader of a priestly order and could take the scandal to some of the highest levels of the Catholic church. This case could also pit those who focus on the church as an institution and those who focus instead on the leadership of a few charismatic individuals.

Some have tried to defend Maciel by arguing that anything which damages his reputation would hurt the Legion of Christ — thus interests of one man are identified with those of an entire organization. If that means that some must suffer injustice, so be it. Will this be the sort of Catholic church that comes out of the investigation?

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