Vatican Plans Overhaul of Secretive Order

(May 2) -- The Vatican has blasted one of the Catholic Church's richest, most secretive and ultra-conservative orders, calling for an "overhaul" of the Legion of Christ and describing its founder as an unscrupulous man who acted without "genuine religious sentiment."

The Vatican also said it would take control of the troubled order by appointing an interim leader, a move that was considered stunning in its swiftness and indicative of Pope Benedict XVI's increasing willingness to root out corruption in the church.

In a sharply worded statement, the Vatican decried Mexican-born Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the once-powerful founder of the Legion of Christ whose ability to raise millions for his order and ingratiate himself with Pope John Paul II hid a sordid double life in which he fathered at least one child and sexually molested boys and seminarians.

Saturday's announcement that the order will be restructured as part of a "purification" came one day after Benedict met with advisers in Vatican City for a briefing on the results of a nine-month probe, called an apostolic visitation, into the Legion by five bishops. The news reportedly took Legion of Christ leaders by surprise.

Maciel, who died in 2008 at 87, founded the Legion of Christ order in Mexico in 1941. Today, the Legionaries are in nearly 40 countries with 800 priests and 2,600 seminarians, schools and universities. Its lay branch, Regnum Christi, has more than 75,000 members.

"The very serious and objectively immoral behavior of Father Maciel, as incontrovertible evidence has confirmed, sometimes resulted in actual crimes, and manifests a life devoid of scruples and of genuine religious sentiment," the Vatican said.

"The great majority of Legionaries were unaware of this life, above all because of the system of relationships built by Father Maciel, who had skillfully managed to build up alibis, to gain the trust, the confidence and the silence of those around him, and to strengthen his role as a charismatic founder."

Genevieve Kineke, an orthodox Catholic who was a member of Regnum Christi, the legion's lay movement, from 1992 to 2000, told AOL News on Saturday that she was pleased with the Vatican's decision to take control of the order.

"Legion spin may or may not continue (but) all the elements necessary to carry on an elite cult of personality have been effectively dismantled," said Kineke, who has been an outspoken critic of the order. "People are free to stay and rebuild and they have a safe haven for as long as they need it before stepping back into the world should they so choose."

Kineke called Benedict's actions "firm and pastoral," although others said the Vatican did not address long-stated concerns that the Catholic Church's highest-ranking clergy were aware of the allegations against Maciel and also covered them up.

The US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said it was "disappointed that the Vatican refuses to admit its own complicity in concealing Maciel's crimes."

"The Vatican's lengthy cover-up and foot-dragging, and now its disingenuous denunciation of Maciel, is every bit as 'immoral' as the horrific child sex crimes by Maciel himself," the group said in a statement.

In 1997, nine former high-ranking seminarians accused Maciel, who died in 2008, of sexually abusing them when they were boys training for the priesthood. Last year, it was discovered Maciel had an illegitimate daughter born in 1986 in Spain. Two Mexican men who say they are Maciel's sons claim he also sexually abused them as children.

But when the former seminarians went public in 1997 about Maciel's sexual abuse and filed a formal complaint with the Vatican, the church at first did nothing while the Legion and other high-profile conservative Catholics called them liars. Later it was discovered that allegations of abuse involving Maciel had been known to some in the church as far back as the 1950s.

A book, "Vows of Silence," written by New Orleans investigative reporter Jason Berry and Hartford Courant reporter Gerald Renner, was published in 2004 with what one reviewer called "horror stories ... of brainwashing, manipulation, pederast seduction rituals, character assassination, bribes, drug abuse, gulag-type threats -- you name it."

Shortly after that, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would succeed John Paul, ordered an investigation that ended with Maciel being consigned to a life of "prayer and penitence" after John Paul's death in 2005. But the Legion itself was not condemned nor the victims acknowledged.

It wasn't until the discovery that Maciel had a daughter living in Spain that the Vatican ordered the worldwide investigation, reportedly to find out who in the Legion knew about Maciel's behavior and how it was covered up.

The Legion defended Maciel for years until last month when the church officially repudiated Maciel and apologized to his victims.

"The Legionaries thank the Holy Father and embrace his provisions with faith and obedience," the Legion said in a statement posted on its Web site Saturday.

Jose Barba, one of Maciel's first victims, told the Los Angeles Times on Saturday that the Vatican decision was important but inadequate because it did not address the church hierarchy's role in facilitating Maciel.

Although the Vatican acknowledged the "hardships" faced by Maciel's accusers who were often shunned and mocked, it did not go far enough, said Barba.

"They never say that all of these crimes were possible because of a lack of supervision," Barba told The Times. "We were demanding truth, and justice."