Vatican to investigate Religious Order

April 1st, 2009 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags: , ,
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Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to father Marcial Maciel, founder of Legionaries of Christ, during a special audience the pontiff granted to about four thousand participants of the Regnum Christi movement, at the Vatican, Italy, in this Nov. 30, 2004 file photo. Maciel died in 2008 at age 87. Pope Benedict XVI has taken the extraordinary step of ordering an investigation into a conservative Roman Catholic order that recently disclosed that its late founder had fathered a child. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said investigators would visit all of the institutions run by the Legionaries of Christ, one of the fastest-growing orders in the Roman Catholic church. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)

The Associated Press reports that the Vatican has announced it has ordered an investigation the of the Legionaries of Christ religious order. This order is highly influential and religiously consider, but was dealt a massive blow recently after it admitted that its founder had fathered a child and molested seminarians.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 man in the Vatican, said church leaders will visit and evaluate all seminaries, schools and other institutions run by the Legion worldwide.

Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said in a statement made public Tuesday that the Vatican was stepping in “so that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties.”

The Legion revealed in February that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel of Mexico, had fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and lives in Spain. Maciel died in 2008 at age 87.

The disclosure caused turmoil inside the religious order and its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi. The groups teach that Maciel was a hero whose life should be studied and emulated.

The news also raised many questions—from the order’s critics and defenders alike—that the Legion still hasn’t publicly answered, about whether any current leaders covered up Maciel’s misdeeds and whether any donations were used to facilitate the misconduct or pay victims…

“The Vatican is—in an exquisitely cautious way—trying to decide whether to keep the Mexicans who are running the order and to determine whether the Legion is a kind of cult,” said Jason Berry, a New Orleans journalist who has written about the Legion for years and produced the film “Vows of Silence,” about the Holy See’s review of abuse claims against Maciel.

Although there’s no way to predict the outcome of the investigation, the fact that the Vatican has opened an investigation is extraordinary in itself.

It’s worth keeping an eye on this investigation. The Catholic Church doesn’t often investigate possible immoral behavior of its most influential members. Not publicly at least.

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