Pope Benedict’s probe into an influential Roman Catholic priestly order could uncover more cases of sexual abuse similar to those committed by its founder, a victims’ group in Mexico said on Wednesday. Pope Benedict ordered the investigation into the Legion of Christ last month following a string of scandals tied to its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, a Mexican, who died last year at the age of 87.

-Reuters

Way to go Pope Benny, now that the man is dead, you jump on the Holy Horse for a full scale Holy See investigation. What a shame it only took over 50 years to get the ball rolling, but like they say “Better late than never.”

“We have testimonies that there have been other Legionaries who followed Maciel’s example. The ramifications of the problem exist throughout the Legionaries of Christ. What they have to investigate is to what extent the evil, the gangrene was spread through the Legionaries of Christ and didn’t end just because Father Maciel died.”

-Jose Barba, the legal representative and one of eight former Legionaries who started court proceedings against Maciel in 1998.

Maciel denied the charges in a written statement and said the men made them up only after leaving the Legion of Christ.

Maciel was the founder of the little-known but well-connected and well-financed Legionaries of Christ which raised millions of dollars for the Church. Operating with over 800 priests in the United States and more than 20 other countries, the Legion of Christ recruits boys as young as 10 years old to leave their families and follow a rigorous course of study to become priests.

Former Legionary, Juan Vaca, sent the first petition to the Holy See in 1976. He identified himself and 20 others as victims of Maciel’s homosexual pedophile activity. It took 30 years for the case to be resolved. The case was reopened in 2004 by Cardinal Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ratzinger sent Msgr. Charles Scicluna to investigate the matter. According to John L. Allen Jr., the ace Vatican correspondent, Msgr. Scicluna gave the number of accusers as “more than 20, but less than 100″ Wow, more than 20, less than 100; Is that all?

Maciel is alleged to have molested some of the young men under his control, some 50 years ago, at the seminary and headquarters of the Legion of Christ, just a few miles from the Vatican.

He pushed my hand onto his penis. And I didn’t know anything about masturbation. And he says, ‘You don’t know how to do it. Let me show you.’ And he gets my penis himself and starts to masturbate me. I was in shock.
-Juan Vaca, first abused at 11 years old.

Vaca, now almost 70 years old and a psychology professor in N.Y., also explained how he was instructed to bring other boys from their bedrooms to Maciel’s room. Vaca said Macial had different boys visit his rooms on different nights. “In some instances, two were together with him — myself and another one,” he said.

Vaca said Maciel rewarded him with special privileges, such as a private meeting with Pope Pius XII, who served as pope from 1939 to 1958. Maciel always assured Vaca he was doing nothing wrong. When Vaca admitted concerns of committing a sin, Vaca said Macial absolved him from his sin “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
-ABC

In 2006, Pope Benedict told Maciel to retire to a life of “prayer and penitence” after accusations that he had molested boys and men among seminarians decades earlier. This HOLY decision was based on Maciel’s age at the time, apparently at his advanced age and dwindling health, Pope Benny felt a canonical trial was of no need and mass pedophile prayer was more in order; after all, he surely got all of the “boy diddling” out of his system after 50 years and countless victims.

The order had denied the molestation charges for years but the Vatican moved against Maciel after new evidence emerged. At the time, the sanctions against Maciel made him one of the most prominent persons to be disciplined for sexual abuse. Macial chose not to defend himself following his forced 2006 retirement.

“Facing the accusations made against him [Maciel], he declared his innocence and, following the example of Jesus Christ, decided not to defend himself in any way..”If you pray for the Legionaries, don’t pray that this cup be taken away, pray that we be worthy of drinking it to the dregs. This is but “a new cross that God, the Father of Mercy, has allowed him [Maciel] to suffer and that will obtain many graces for the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement.We are not afraid of this cross — on the contrary, we are honored by it. - Fr. Owen Kearns, a Legionary priest and Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the National Catholic Register (controlled by the Legionaries)

Legionaire supporters and spokesman said the men making the accusations against Macial can’t be believed because they didn’t raise the sexual abuse charges in the 1950s when Vatican investigators were looking into other matters relating to Maciel. According to records, the Vatican investigated Marciel on counts of mismanagement of funds, drug and substance abuse and drug trafficking. The Vatican pronounced Maciel innocent of those charges and reinstated him as superior general to the Legion.

“Following the example of Jesus Christ decided not to defend himself in anyway“, please! How could he and his followers possibly compare his acts and the subsequent accusations to Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ was innocent. Jesus Christ wasn’t a drunk junkie pedophile preying on young boys who looked to Him to teach them the Divine Word of God.

What I’d like to know is: Why Now, Benny? Why wait until this monsters death, why did you, the Vatican, and the Church steal almost 50 years of at least eight men’s life before investigating?

The Church owes each and every one of the original eight accusers and any others that should follow a debt of gratitude and appreciation: Maciel has ruined the lives of many boys. Maciel has in effect been found guilty, and true Divine justice I’m sure has been inacted; I only hope that each and everyone of the men of cloth who chose to aid and cover these horrific acts, will in the end, face the wrath of God.

“Whoever causes one of the little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea”
-Mk 9:42