Marcial Maciel | Priest under cloud, 87
The Rev. Marcial Maciel, 87, a Mexican priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ religious order and was the most prominent Catholic official to be disciplined by the Vatican over sexual abuse accusations, has died. He died Wednesday of natural causes in Houston, Texas, where he lived in a group home with other Legionaries priests, said Javier Bravo, spokesman for the order's Mexico office. Founded more than six decades ago, Rev. Maciel's Legionaries became one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church, winning him the unfailing loyalty of Pope John Paul II. But his final years were spent fending off accusations by former seminarians that he sexually abused them. Church officials have not said whether the accusations were determined to be true. But in 2006, a year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said it had decided against a full-fledged church trial because of Rev. Maciel's age and ill health. Instead he was asked to conduct "a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry." - AP
The Rev. Marcial Maciel, 87, a Mexican priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ religious order and was the most prominent Catholic official to be disciplined by the Vatican over sexual abuse accusations, has died.
He died Wednesday of natural causes in Houston, Texas, where he lived in a group home with other Legionaries priests, said Javier Bravo, spokesman for the order's Mexico office.
Founded more than six decades ago, Rev. Maciel's Legionaries became one of the fastest-growing religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church, winning him the unfailing loyalty of Pope John Paul II. But his final years were spent fending off accusations by former seminarians that he sexually abused them.
Church officials have not said whether the accusations were determined to be true. But in 2006, a year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said it had decided against a full-fledged church trial because of Rev. Maciel's age and ill health. Instead he was asked to conduct "a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry."
- AP