Mexican priest, founder of the Legion of Christ, sexual abuser
The Reverend
Marcial Maciel
LC
1st General Director of the Legion of Christ
Church
Latin Church
Installed
January 3, 1941
Term ended
January 20, 2005
Successor
Álvaro Corcuera
Orders
Ordination
November 26, 1944
Personal details
Born
Marcial Maciel Degollado
(1920-03-10)10 March 1920
Cotija, Michoacán, Mexico
Died
30 January 2008(2008-01-30) (aged 87) Jacksonville, Florida, US
Buried
Michoacan
Nationality
Mexican
Denomination
Roman Catholic
Marcial Maciel DegolladoLC (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement. He was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his career, he was respected within the church as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians.[1] Late in his life, Maciel was revealed to have been a longtime drug addict who sexually abused many boys and young men in his care. After his death, it came to light that he had also maintained sexual relationships with at least four women, one of whom was a minor at the time. He fathered as many as six children, two of whom he is alleged to have sexually abused.[2][3]
In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI removed Maciel from active ministry, based on the results of an investigation that he had started in his previous role as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before his election as Pope in April 2005. Maciel was ordered "to conduct a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry".[2][4][5] He died in 2008. On March 25, 2010, a communiqué on the Legion's website acknowledged as factual the "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.[6] In May 2010, the Vatican denounced Maciel's actions and appointed a Papal Delegate to oversee the order and its governance.
^Berry, Jason (April 6, 2010). "Money paved way for Maciel's influence in the Vatican". ncronline.org. National Catholic Reporter. Archived from the original on October 21, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
^ abGodoy, Emilio (May 3, 2010). "Pope Rewrites Epitaph for Legion of Christ Founder". IPS News. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
^Mexico City, Mexico, March 4, 2010 / 06:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News). The Legionaries of Christ released two statements today responding to the dramatic revelations by a woman and her three sons who claim to be the wife and children of Fr. Marcial Maciel.
^Cite error: The named reference telegraph.co.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Catholic order to be overhauled after founder's abuse". BBC News. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
^"COMMUNIQUÉ On the current circumstances of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement". legonariesofchrist.org. Legionaries of Christ. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
MarcialMaciel Degollado LC (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement...
minor seminarians). The Congregation was established by MarcialMaciel in Mexico in 1941. Maciel was also Director General of the congregation for over...
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active action or omission". One of the cases Ratzinger pursued involved MarcialMaciel, a Mexican priest and founder of the Legionaries of Christ who had been...
Bergoglio absolution. Then Benedict confesses he was aware of Father MarcialMaciel's long-term sexual misconduct and regrets staying silent, implying that...
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that John Paul II was naïve in the cases of Theodore McCarrick and MarcialMaciel, both of whom procured large sums of money for the Vatican, like Opus...
motto is "Thy Kingdom Come." It was founded by MarcialMaciel, who led it until 2005. In 2006, Maciel was investigated by the Holy See and suspended from...
the Legion of Christ, an organization founded by the Mexican priest, MarcialMaciel. Originally situated in Cheshire, Connecticut, the academy moved, in...
BBC News. 1 May 2011. "Father MarcialMaciel and the Popes He Stained". Newsweek. 11 March 2013. "Father MarcialMaciel, was my dad, and he sexually abused...
graduate school. The university network was founded in 1964 by the Priest MarcialMaciel LC., and has connections to the Catholic church. The motto of the organization...
leader MarcialMaciel, who in 2005 resigned his leadership and was later requested by the Vatican to withdraw from his ministry. However, Maciel's trial...
investigated serious charges of sexual abuse of minors by Legion founder MarcialMaciel, which were later verified. Garza left the post of Vicar General in...
Manto Púrpura and Prueba de Fe. Aristegui also investigated the life of MarcialMaciel and the many cases of pedophilia in which he was involved, and questioned...
two notorious sex abuse cases," the Hans Hermann Groër case and the MarcialMaciel case. In his address as Dean of the College of Cardinals to Pope Benedict...
highlights the scandal involving the Legionnaires of Christ founder MarcialMaciel, who allegedly had the backing of John Paul II. The film also tackles...
of sexual immorality leveled against Father MarcialMaciel Degollado. This is despite the fact that Maciel was already under investigation by the Vatican...
the paper downplayed allegations of sexual abuse by Legionary founder MarcialMaciel, and defended him against the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...
singer Harvey Weinstein, film producer and convicted sex offender Mexico MarcialMaciel, Catholic priest and founder of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi...
Christ begins to rapidly decline following the disgrace of its founder MarcialMaciel 2006 World Methodist Council votes unanimously to adopt the Joint Declaration...
following disclosures of sexual abuses by the order's late founder, Father MarcialMaciel Degollado. On Monday, May 31, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, in dealing with...
that questions remained about how much other Legion leaders knew about Maciel's abuses and that finding the truth is "not that simple". Plans were made...
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