Sex Predator Protected by Pope John Paul II, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, has Died

As Whispers in the Loggia reports (http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/01/developing-fr-marcial-maciel-degollado.html), Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the controversial founder of the Legionaries of Christ, died yesterday aged 87. After great efforts by Pope John Paul II to deflect any investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by Dellollado, he was ultimately given less than a resounding reprimanded by Nazi-Pope, Benedict XVI in 2006. Degollado represents perhaps one of the most aggregious cases of high clerics in the Catholic Church acting to protect a sexual predator. The National Catholic Reporter in a lengthy article has details of Degolloado's abuse of minors and the Vatican's efforts to protect him. This case in my opinion shows why the move to canonize John PaulII is not only ridiculous but yet another scandal. Saints do not protect such monsters. Here are some highlights from the NCR's december, 2001, story(http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/120701/120701g.htm):

Without explanation, the Vatican has halted a canon law investigation of one of the most powerful priests in Rome, accused by nine men of sexually abusing them years ago as young seminarians. The allegations focus on the actions of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the 81-year old leader of the Legion of Christ, a wealthy religious order known for its theological conservatism and loyalty to the pope. Maciel has been praised by Pope John Paul II as “an efficacious guide to youth.”

The men say Maciel first abused them when they were young boys or teenagers between the ages of 10 and 16, sometimes telling them he had permission from Pope Pius XII to engage in sexual acts with them in order to gain relief from pain related to an unspecified stomach ailment.

The accusers -- seven Mexicans and two Spaniards -- tried for many years to reach Pope John Paul II with information on Maciel, a Mexican national who founded the Legion in the 1940s. Letters by two of the men, sent to John Paul in 1978, and again in 1989, both by diplomatic pouch, brought no reply.

On Feb. 23, 1997, the group went public with their accusations in The Hartford Courant, a major newspaper in Connecticut, where the Legion has its U.S. headquarters. The men include Fr. Felix Alarcon, a retired priest in good standing in Madrid; Juan Vaca, a psychology professor in New York; Arturo Jurado, a professor at the U.S. Defense Languages School in Monterrey, Calif; and in Mexico, Jose Barba, a Harvard-trained scholar of Latin American studies; Jose Antonio Perez, a lawyer; Alejandro Espinosa, a rancher; Fernando Perez, an engineer; and Saul Barrales, a school teacher. A ninth accuser, Juan Manuel Fernandez Amenabar, a former priest and university president, left a statement of alleged abuse and gave accounts to several witnesses before his death in 1995.

In recent years, the accusers have expressed guilt for not reporting Maciel during the 1950s-era investigation. At that time, however, sexual abuse was a taboo subject, they note. Some also said that Legion of Christ members pledge loyalty to Maciel and the order, so they faced a violation of their oath if they gave a negative report, risking expulsion from the seminary.

The Vatican refused to make any comment at all to the Courant or to the Mexican media when it did follow-up stories in 1997. Although the pope later appointed Maciel to a synod of bishops, the Vatican has never made a formal statement on the allegations or on Maciel’s countercharge of a conspiracy against him.

Fortunately, in 2005, the case was reopened. At the time, then Cardinal Ratzinger said that, "lamentably, the case of Father Maciel could not be opened because he was a person very loved by the pope and had done so much good for the church." Ultimately, the investigation resulted in the Degollado's forced dismissal from the clerical state, and the Holy See -- now with Ratzinger as Pope -- triangulated its response. Issuing its decision in May 2006, the dicastery allowed the once-omnipresent Maciel to remain a priest, albeit one "invited" to "a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing all public ministry." Such is justice within the Roman Catholic Church. Kid gloves and deference for the abuser and indifference for the victioms. What would Jesus say?