Advertisement

Updated February 29th, 2020 at 19:14 IST

Pope tells scandal-marred Legion they still haven't reformed

Pope Francis has told the Legion of Christ religious order it still has a long road of reform ahead, making clear that 10 years of Vatican-mandated rehabilitation didn’t purge it of the toxic influences of its pedophile founder.

| Image:self
Advertisement

Pope Francis has told the Legion of Christ religious order it still has a long road of reform ahead, making clear that 10 years of Vatican-mandated rehabilitation didn’t purge it of the toxic influences of its pedophile founder.

In a prepared speech Saturday, Francis told the Legion’s new superiors that there was a “very vast field” of work that still needed be done to correct the Legion's problems and create a healthy order. He encouraged them to work “energetically in substance, and softly in the means."

“A change of mentality requires a lot of time to assimilate in individuals and in an institution, so it’s a continual conversion,” Francis said. “A return to the past would be dangerous and senseless.”

The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 after revelations that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, sexually abused dozens of his seminarians, fathered at least three children and built a secretive, cult-like order to hide his double life.

Even though the Vatican envoy tasked to run and reform the Legion declared the order cleansed and reconciled with its past in 2014, new scandals have recently emerged calling into question whether his mission was really accomplished. Victims of other Legion priests have come forward, indicating that the order's culture of abuse extended far beyond Maciel’s crimes and involved a high-level cover-up of superiors who are still in power.

Francis had been scheduled to meet with the leadership of the Mexican order and its Regnum Christi consecrated branches, who have been meeting in Rome this month to elect new superiors and set policy decisions. Francis skipped the audience because he is sick. But the text of his prepared remarks was given to the Legion and released publicly by the Vatican press office.

Advertisement

Published February 29th, 2020 at 19:14 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Sanjeev Sanyal on UPSC exam preparation
a few seconds ago
Shahjahan Sheikh in CBI Custody: First Visual Emerges | WATCH
4 minutes ago
Mumbai: Fire Breaks Out at Multi-Storey Building In Malad
8 minutes ago
Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project
8 minutes ago
M Jagadesh Kumar
12 minutes ago
Exam Results
14 minutes ago
Prithviraj Sukumaran in The Goat Life
14 minutes ago
Hardik Pandya faces flak over his captaincy
20 minutes ago
Coal India's capital spending rises
23 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo