The Vatican has asked Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and four other prelates to investigate institutions of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose deceased founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, had been accused of sexual improprieties. Chaput is to investigate Legionaries centers in the U.S. and Canada, two of the 22 countries where the order has been active since it was established in 1941.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo said she could not speculate why Chaput was selected for this "significant responsibility."
Although a few of the order's priests are in Colorado, she said, the state is not a center of Legionaries activity.
Maciel, who died Jan. 30, 2008, at age 87, had been accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen seminarians and young priests. Pope Benedict XVI removed the Mexican priest from public ministry in 2006 but did not confirm that sexual abuse had occurred.
It was revealed last year that Maciel had fathered a daughter. The Catholic News Service reported the order also was looking into alleged financial irregularities.
The Legionaries' headquarters in Rome said each prelate will conduct an investigation on his own time frame and program, then submit a report to the Vatican.
The Holy See then will provide directives for the order.
Critics of the Catholic Church's past handling of sexual improprieties by clergy issued a statement saying such internal investigations are not credible.
"We have even less faith in this one because the Legion is so extreme and secretive and because Chaput has shown a stronger commitment to preserving church doctrine from dissenters than protecting church members from predators," said Barbara Blaine, spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
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