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Fr. '''Marcial Maciel Degollado''' (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican-born [[Homosexual]] [[ Roman Catholic]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]] who founded the [[Legion of Christ]] and the [[Regnum Christi]] movement. 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. In 2006 [[Pope Benedict XVI]] removed Maciel from active ministry, ordering him to spend the rest of his days in prayer and penance.<ref name="telegraph.co.uk" /> 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 [[communique|communiqué]] on the Legion's website acknowledged as factual "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.<ref name=communique>{{cite web |url=http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/articulo2.phtml?se=243&ca=703&te=475&id=29158&csearch=703 |title=COMMUNIQUÉ On the current circumstances of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement |author= |date=25 March 2010 |work=legonariesofchrist.org |publisher=Legoinaries of Christ |accessdate=27 March 2010}}</ref>
Fr. '''Marcial Maciel Degollado''' (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican-born [[ Roman Catholic]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]] who founded the [[Legion of Christ]] and the [[Regnum Christi]] movement. 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. In 2006 [[Pope Benedict XVI]] removed Maciel from active ministry, ordering him to spend the rest of his days in prayer and penance.<ref name="telegraph.co.uk" /> 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 [[communique|communiqué]] on the Legion's website acknowledged as factual "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.<ref name=communique>{{cite web |url=http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/articulo2.phtml?se=243&ca=703&te=475&id=29158&csearch=703 |title=COMMUNIQUÉ On the current circumstances of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement |author= |date=25 March 2010 |work=legonariesofchrist.org |publisher=Legoinaries of Christ |accessdate=27 March 2010}}</ref>


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 lived 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 the its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/europe/02legion.html Pope Reins In Catholic Order Tied to Abuse (New York Times, May 2, 2010)]</ref>
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 lived 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 the its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/europe/02legion.html Pope Reins In Catholic Order Tied to Abuse (New York Times, May 2, 2010)]</ref>

Revision as of 18:53, 1 May 2010

This article is about Roman Catholic priest Marcial Maciel Degollado. For the city in Jalisco, Mexico, see Degollado (municipality).
Marcial Maciel Degollado
Founder and General Director
In office
January 3, 1941 – January 20, 2005
Succeeded byFr. Álvaro Corcuera
Personal details
Born(1920-03-10)10 March 1920
Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, Mexico
Died30 January 2008(2008-01-30) (aged 87)
Houston, Texas, United States

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. 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. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI removed Maciel from active ministry, ordering him to spend the rest of his days in prayer and penance.[1] 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.[2]

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 lived 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 the its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.[3]

Biography

Maciel was born in Template:City-state. On January 3, 1941, with the support of Francisco González Arias, Bishop of Cuernavaca, he founded the Legion of Christ and its lay arm Regnum Christi. Maciel was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in Mexico City on November 26, 1944. He also founded the Regnum Christi Movement in 1959.

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.[4] There has been speculation that conduct by Maciel contributed to the death of this great uncle. According to an investigative report:

The day before Bishop Guizar died, he had been heard shouting angrily at Marcial Maciel. He was giving his eighteen-year-old nephew a dressing down after two women had come to the bishop's house to complain about Maciel, who was their neighbor. Father Orozco, who was among the original group of boys to found the Legion of Christ in 1941, said he heard the women had complained about the "noise" Maciel was making with children he had brought into his home to teach religion. He said that the seminary officials blamed Maciel for his uncle's heart attack.[5]

Through the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Fr. Maciel started many schools, a network of Universities and a large number of charitable institutes. In January 2006 he stepped down as head of the Legion of Christ and tendered its leadership to long-time follower Fr. Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río.

During his life, Maciel was the focus of several investigations regarding allegations of drug abuse and 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.[1] 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.[6] A day later, Mexican media reported that an attorney, José Bonilla, will 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.[7][8]

Marcial Maciel died in Houston, Texas, United States, on January 30, 2008, at age 87.[9] He had a private funeral and was buried in his birth place, Cotija, Michoacán, in early February 2008.

History with Vatican

Called to accompany Pope John Paul II on his visits to Mexico in 1979, 1990, and 1993, Maciel was also appointed by the Pope to the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the formation of Candidates for the Priesthood in Actual Circumstances (1991). He has been a member of the Interdicasterial Commission for a Just Distribution of Clergy (1991), the IV General Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) (1992), the Synod of Bishops on Consecrated Life and Their Mission in the Church and the World (1993), the Synod of Bishops' Special Assembly for America (1997) and (since 1994) a permanent consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy. The golden anniversary of his priestly ordination was celebrated on 26 November 1994, with 57 Legionary priests ordained on the anniversary's eve. Maciel served as Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, which is based in Rome. During the pontificate of Pope John Paul II Maciel collaborated extensively with the pope, either in person or through members of his organization, the Legion of Christ.

Maciel wrote extensively on the formation of priests and other matters pertaining to Church governance. In founding the religious order, his main purpose for the Legion of Christ was for the organization to form and motivate enterprising lay members of the Catholic Church to take an active part in the Church's mission. In particular, this initiative focused on the members of the Church Movement Regnum Christi, for example, through spiritual direction. Regnum Christi was founded by Maciel.

Maciel, aged 84, was succeeded by Fr. Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, LC, as General Director of the Legion at the Legion's Third General Chapter in January 2005.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, after a sex-abuse investigation had been re-opened by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican requested that Maciel withdraw from his ministry in lieu of further investigation and prosecution. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked Maciel to live a "a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry.”[10] A canonical trial was ruled out because of his advanced age and poor health.[11]

In Feb 2009 news broke that Maciel had indeed led a double life and [12] Fr. Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río, LC, the General Director took it upon himself to visit each of the Legionary fronts (aka Geographies in Legion speak) and publicly apologize for Maciel's behaviour. Additionally it has been publicly acknowledged by the Legion that Maciel had in fact fathered a daughter. [13] As a result of all these recent acknowledgements Pope Benedict XVI has personally intervened and a formal Vatican visitation of all Legionary houses has been initiated. [14]

Plagiarism

In 1959, Maciel published a book, El salterio de mis días (The psalter of my days), which subsequently was widely read among members of the Legion. Over the years, the book had partially translated into English for the use of the English speaking members. It was a memoir of experiences of persecution. On December 11, 2009, the Lima, Peru based Agencia Católica de Informaciones (ACI, Catholic News Agency), reported, without using the word "plagiarism", that the directors of the Legion has circulated an internal memorandum revealing that the book copied "80 percent in style and content" the posthumously published memoir of a Spanish politician, Luis Lucia Lucia, who died in 1943. The book was written in 1941 (in prison as a political prisoner) and published in 1956 in Valencia, Spain.[15][16]

Formal denunciation by the Vatican

On May 1, 2010 The Vatican said that the pope will name an envoy and appoint a commission to overhaul the Legionaries of Christ following revelations that the conservative order's founder sexually abused numerous underage seminarians and fathered at least three children with two women. In a statement, the Vatican denounced the Rev. Marciel 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 Vatican issued the statement after Pope Benedict XVI met with five bishops who investigated the Legion to determine its future.[17] The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel's crimes and deception.[18]

The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Fr. Marcial Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies" represent "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment," the Vatican said.[19] 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.[20]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Telegraph 2006-02-02
  2. ^ "COMMUNIQUÉ On the current circumstances of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement". legonariesofchrist.org. Legoinaries of Christ. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  3. ^ Pope Reins In Catholic Order Tied to Abuse (New York Times, May 2, 2010)
  4. ^ Associated Press 2006-10-16
  5. ^ Berry and Renner 2004: 155
  6. ^ Periodista Digital 2009-08-09
  7. ^ Milenio 2009-08-11
  8. ^ La Jornada 2009-08-11
  9. ^ Los Angeles Times. 2008 February 1
  10. ^ Catholic News Agency 2009-02-03
  11. ^ Pope to appoint new head of disgraced Legionaries order
  12. ^ "Legionaries of Christ acknowledge founder's 'inappropriate' behavior". Catholic News Agency. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  13. ^ Thompson, Damien. 2009-02-04
  14. ^ Catholic News Agency 2009-03-31
  15. ^ ACI Prensa, 2009-12-11
  16. ^ El Mundo, 2009-12-12
  17. ^ Pope names envoy, commission to reform Legionaries
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ Fr. Maciel guilty, revision of Legion needed, according to Apostolic Visitors
  20. ^ Pope Benedict to Overhaul Legion of Christ

References

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