Conservative Babylon

Claims to fame: Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest; revered founder, Legion of Christ (La Legión de Cristo) and Regnum Christi; boy-rapist; fornicator; bastard sire; crook, monkey junkie

Moral apex: Gosh, where to start?

Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican-born Roman Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was found guilty of raping underaged males and he also fathered a least one child. Reports confirmed that Maciel maintained relationships with at least two women and fathered up to six children, two of whom he allegedly abused as well. From 1956 to the end of his life he was engulfed in scandals after accusations of a lifetime of financial and sexual misconduct and drug abuse. The late Pope John Paul II supported Maciel, but on becoming pope, Pope Benedict XVI removed Maciel from active ministry, ordering him to spend the rest of his days in prayer and penance. Late in 2009, the year following his death, the Legion announced in an internal memorandum that Maciel had plagiarized a book, El salterio de mis días, which had acquired great importance in the tradition of the Legion. On March 25, 2010, a communiqué on the Legion’s website acknowledged as factual “reprehensible actions” by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.

On May 1, 2010 the Vatican issued a statement condemning Maciel as “immoral” and acknowledging that Maciel had committed “true crimes” and that he had led a “life deprived of scruples and authentic religious feeling”. Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a special commission to examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open an investigation into its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.

. . .

Maciel is the grand-nephew of a Mexican saint canonized in 2007, Rafael Guízar Valencia, who also was an integral part of the founding of the Legion of Christ. There has been speculation that conduct by Maciel contributed to the death of this great uncle.

. . .

During his life, Maciel was the focus of several investigations regarding allegations of drug abuse, (he was hospitalised for morphine addiction) and he was also investigated for sexually abusing children. First in 1956, he was investigated for drug abuse, after which he was exonerated and returned as head of the Congregation. In 2005 Maciel stepped down as head of the order and, a few days before John Paul II died, Cardinal Ratzinger announced his intention of removing “filth” from the Church; many believed he was referring specifically to Maciel. In May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI disciplined him, inviting him to “a reserved life of prayer and penitence”; no explanation was given to the public or to the Legionaries of Christ.

In July 2009, a Spanish daily published an interview with a woman who had a child with Maciel in 1986 and now lives in a luxury apartment in Madrid which Maciel purchased for her. A day later, Mexican media reported that an attorney, José Bonilla, would represent three of a possible total of six of Maciel’s children in a civil suit to recover Maciel’s estate. The lawyer claimed that there are several properties in Mexico and around the world which Maciel owned in his own name.

. . .

On May 1, 2010 the Vatican said that the pope would name an envoy and appoint a commission to overhaul the Legionaries of Christ following revelations that the order’s founder sexually abused numerous underage seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. In a statement, the Vatican denounced Maciel for creating a “system of power” built on silence and obedience that enabled him to lead an “immoral” double life “devoid of scruples and authentic religious sentiment” and allowed him to abuse young boys for decades unchecked.

. . .

The “very serious and objectively immoral acts” of Maciel, which were “confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies” represent “true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment,” the Vatican said. The Vatican said the Legion created a “mechanism of defense” around Maciel to shield him from accusations and suppress damaging witnesses from reporting abuse. “It made him untouchable,” the Vatican said. The statement decried “the lamentable disgracing and expulsion of those who doubted” Maciel’s virtue. The Vatican statement did not address whether the Legion’s current leadership will face any sanctions. Actions taken by the current Legion leadership will be scrutinized; but no specific sanctions were mentioned, amid widespread suspicion that at least some of the current leaders must have been aware of Maciel’s sins. The Vatican acknowledged the “hardships” faced by Maciel’s accusers through the years when they were ostracized or ridiculed, and commended their “courage and perseverance to demand the truth.”

— More: Wikipedia

What’s the “Legion of Christ,” exactly? A “religious congregation of pontifical right, founded in 1941. Its mission is to extend the Kingdom of Christ in society according to the demands of justice and charity.” It claims a membership of some 800 priests and 2,500 lay members, and “operates 21 prep schools, a start-up university in Sacramento and the U.S.’s only three seminaries for teenage boys.”

What’s “Regnum Christi”? The lay movement of the Legion of Christ.

Why we’re telling you about Maciel now: Because, as of December 10, 2010, the “Legionaries of Christ and its lay movement Regnum Christi will no longer refer to their founder as ‘Nuestro Padre,’ celebrate his birthday, or hang photos of him in their centers.” [Zenit.org]

A short article on the Regnum Christi website spells out the changes:

• In institutional writings, the way of referring to Fr Maciel will be as “founder of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi” or simply “Fr Maciel.”

• It is confirmed that photographs of the founder alone or with the Holy Father cannot be placed in Legionary or Regnum Christi centers.

• Dates having to do with his person (birthday, baptismal day, name day, and priestly ordination anniversary) are not to be celebrated. The anniversary of his death, January 30, will be a day dedicated especially to prayer.

• The founder’s personal writings and talks will not be for sale in the congregation’s publishing houses, centers, and works of apostolate.

• The crypt of the Cotija cemetery with the mortal remains of the Maciel Degollado family, Fr Maciel and other Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi consecrated members will be given the value that pertains to any Christian burial place. It will be treated as a place of prayer for the eternal repose of the deceased.

• The retreat centers in Cotija will continue offering the same services, but a place for prayer, reparation, and expiation will be created there.

Memorable observation:

This is a tiny, belated, and begrudging step that should have been taken at least four years ago, when Vatican officials finally slapped Maciel’s hand for molesting dozens of children.

Legion officials and defenders will no doubt try to depict this as some significant reform. It is not. It’s a paltry and long-delayed reaction to horrific revelations of massive misdeeds by a corrupt man.

— SNAP
December 13, 2010

Suggested Bible reading for Mr. Maciel:

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

— Isaiah 14:11-15

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