Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday took control of the Legionaries of Christ, a powerful and wealthy Roman Catholic religious order whose founder, a close friend of Pope John Paul II, was found to have molested seminarians and fathered several children. The moves constituted the most direct action on sexual abuse since the most recent scandals have engulfed the church and prompted criticisms of the pope’s own handling of such cases as an archbishop in Munich and as a cardinal who led the body reviewing many sexual abuse charges.
In a statement on Saturday, the Vatican said that Benedict would appoint a special delegate to govern the Legionaries, an influential worldwide order that has been an important source of new ordinations in a church that has struggled with a shrinking priesthood in much of the developed world.
It was founded in 1941 by a Mexican priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado. Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a special commission to examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open an investigation into the its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi.
The measures mean that this powerful order would be ruled directly from the Vatican. But the pope decided, at least for now, against dissolving the order or forcing out much of its leadership, steps urged by many critics and victims’ advocates, who believe that the leaders must have, or should have known of the abuses.
The fate of the Legionaries is the most closely watched case in the Catholic Church as it grapples with a sexual abuse crisis that has increased pressure on Benedict to demonstrate his commitment to confronting the issue.
But some observers said that the measures did not go far enough, and that appointing a delegate seemed like a compromise solution that did not address the fundamental problems in the current leadership.
“I don’t see how the good work that the Legion and Regnum Christi do can continue without a definitive and unambiguous break with the past,” said George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul who had defended the Legionaries before learning of the scope of Father Maciel’s crimes.
But Sandro Magister, a veteran Vatican reporter who has written extensively on the Legionaries, said he was struck by the “tough” tone of the statement. “It’s a sign that they want to act decisively,” he said.
“This statement is also very hard on the current leaders of the legionaries,” he added.
Vatican experts said it would be difficult to find a delegate who could command the respect of the Legionaries, whose current top leadership was put in place by Father Maciel.
Such a delegate “will have to be obeyed by the current heads of the congregation, who are the real obstacle to any movement toward renewal, no matter how slight,” Mr. Magister, who was among the first to report on Father Maciel’s misdeeds, wrote recently.
The Maciel case has become a touchstone for how Benedict has confronted sexual abuse. Benedict’s defenders cite it as an example that he took sexual abuse more seriously than his peers in the Vatican leadership. But victim’s advocates say that he waited far too long to address it and that penalties were insufficient.
In 1998, eight Legionaries seminarians filed a complaint with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The pope, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the head of the body, quashed an investigation in 1999, according to accounts from a Mexican bishop who tried to press the case with him.
In 2004, a few months before John Paul died, Benedict reopened the investigation. It eventually found that Father Maciel had abused seminarians, fathered several children and misappropriated funds.
In 2006, Pope Benedict removed him from priestly duties and restricted him to a life of prayer and penance — a punishment that his victims say was not commensurate to his crimes. He died two years later, still a priest. The measures the pope announced Saturday came after an exhaustive investigation of the order and Father Maciel’s crimes.
The Vatican has said it wants to be transparent in sexual abuse cases, but the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the report’s findings would not be made public.
Jim Fair, a spokesman in the United States for the order, said that he had no immediate comment.
He added that “the wording of the statement certainly leaves open the possibility of removing the current leadership, and many of us await that and expect that to happen.” Vatican experts said it would be difficult to find a delegate who could command the respect of the Legionaries, whose current top leadership was put in place by Father Maciel.
The Maciel case has become a touchstone for how Benedict has confronted sexual abuse. Benedict’s defenders cite it as an example that he took sexual abuse more seriously than his peers in the Vatican leadership did.
But victim’s advocates say that he waited far too long to address it and that penalties were insufficient.
In 1998, eight Legionaries seminarians filed a complaint with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The pope, who was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the head of the body, quashed an investigation in 1999, according to accounts from a Mexican bishop who tried to press the case with him.
In 2004, a few months before John Paul died, the future pope reopened the investigation. It eventually found that Father Maciel had abused seminarians, fathered several children and misappropriated funds.
In 2006, Benedict removed him from priestly duties and restricted him to a life of prayer and penance — a punishment that his victims say was not commensurate to his crimes. He died two years later, still a priest.
The measures the pope announced Saturday came after an exhaustive investigation of the order and Father Maciel’s crimes by five bishops who formed what is called an Apostolic Visitation, who submitted their report on March 15.
The Vatican has said it wants to be transparent in sexual abuse cases, but the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the report’s findings would not be made public.
Jim Fair, a spokesman for the Legion in North America, said: “We thank the Holy Father and embrace the provisions with faith and obedience. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the apostolic visitators, and we’re grateful for the prayers of so many people who have supported us at this time.”
The Vatican statement said that Father Maciel had kept his double life hidden from most Legionaries by creating a system of power that allowed him to silence his critics.
The Vatican also assailed “the most serious and objectively immoral behavior of Father Maciel, confirmed by incontrovertible witnesses, which amount to true crimes and show a life deprived of scruples and authentic religious feeling.”
The announcement came a day after Benedict made a brief appearance at a meeting at the Vatican with five experts whom he had charged with determining the fate of the Legionaries, as well as with the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and members of other Vatican departments.
Critics have said the order’s current leaders must have known about Father Maciel’s misdeeds.
But the Rev. Luis Garza Medina, the order’s No. 2, or vicar general, said in an interview last week with La Repubblica that he was not aware of the abuse until after Father Maciel was punished in 2006.
“It was difficult to understand that there might be such immoral and aberrant actions on his part,” he said.
In the statement, the Vatican said that the experts of the Apostolic Visitation had determined the need to preserve the Legionaries’ “apostolic and missionary action,” as well as to “re-examine the exercise of authority.”
“The Holy Father intends to reassure all the Legionaries and the members of the Regnum Christi movement that they will not be left alone: that the church has the firm commitment to accompany them and help them in the path toward purification that awaits them,” the statement said.
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