A WHILE back – in 2006 – the Vatican was forced to “discipline” the Rev Marcial Maciel Degollado following allegations by nine men who claimed they were abused by cleric while studying under him in Spain and Rome in the 1940s and 1950s.
According to his obituary, Maciel was apparently partial to an occasional “groin massage” administered by young semenarians seminarians.
Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to father Marcial Maciel in 2004
The complainants described how the leader they were taught to think of as the epitome of holiness would say he had an illness in his groin and had been given papal permission to receive help massaging out the pain.
The group, which included respectable academics and former priests, lodged formal charges in Latin at the Vatican in 1998, but were told the following year that the case had been shelved by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
Still the accusations would not go away. With Pope John Paul II nearing his death in December 2004, the alleged victims received a letter from Ratzinger’s office informing them that the case had been reopened.
And in May 2006, over a year after Ratzinger became Pope, the Vatican announced that Maciel would not be tried under canonical law because of his age – he was 85 – but called on him to conduct:
A reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry.
When Maciel – who founded of the ultra-conservative Legionaries of Christ in Mexico in 1941 – turned up his toes at the age of 87 last year, Ratzi imagined that that was the end of the matter.
No chance. It has since come to light that the randy old goat had a relationship with a woman and fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and living in Spain – and Ratzi has now ordered an investigation into the organization.
According to this report, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said investigators would visit all of the institutions run by the Legionaries of Christ. He said the Vatican was stepping in:
So that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties.
Pressure had been building in recent weeks for an external review of the Legion, even among some of the group’s staunchest defenders, to see if any of its current leaders had covered up Maciel’s wrongdoing and to make sure no further misdeeds were taking place.
The Legionaries’ head, the Rev Alvaro Corcuera, said the Legionaries welcomed the Vatican investigation “with deep gratitude”.
The Legionaries of Christ became particularly strong in the US and Ireland as well as Mexico, where their close ties to some of the country’s richest and most powerful families persist today.
The order’s radical anti-communism, unswerving papal loyalty, and success in producing priests made Maciel a favourite of Pope John Paul II, who described him as “a guide to youth”.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
March 31st, 2009 at 8:51 pm
“…Maciel would not be tried under canonical law because of his age – he was 85 – but called on him to conduct:
A reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry.”
I’m sure that will give great comfort to all those abused by the pervert.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Can somebody in a position to do so start a petition to the World Court of Justice to indict Pope Ratzinazi for mass murder and other crimes against humanity?
April 1st, 2009 at 12:08 am
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for daily global verified & vetted reporting on the Roman “La Cosa Nostra” Curia & the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) Pedo Cult.
The Solution? “STOP DONATING LAITY!” as St. Peter Damien correctly asserted.
Fiat Lux & Veritas!
Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE
April 1st, 2009 at 1:16 am
There’s more than just the “Maciel” Fiasco soiling Pope Ratzinger’s soiled history of turning a blind eye to the perversions of the priests, brothers, deacons and (some) bishops of this morally bankrupt corporation that poses itself as a religion (a.k.a: The Roman Catholic Church). As Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cases of sexually abusive catholic clergy went across the desk of then, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger; the one person in the church, other than the Pope, who had the power to stop the deviant behavior of these perverted bottom feeders of Catholicism. If only Ratzinger had disciplined this scum of perverted catholic clergy who raped and sodomized the most innocent of the church…. just think of the thousands of catholic children that could have been saved. But, the “Illusion” of purity, holiness and goodness had to be maintained. Why? To make certain the money kept rolling in.I agree with Dr. Harwood. I too would like to see Ratzinger and others of the Catholic Church prosecuted in the Internationl Courts;but not for “Crimes Against Humanity”. I would like to see them tried for “Crimes Against Children”; and for that, THERE IS NO DEFENSE.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:45 am
You know, all this celibacy stuff was just made up about a thousand years ago. When Christianity was established there was no rule against priests marrying. The Bible is full of praise for good old fashioned hetero bonking. Perhaps if that sensible principle had been adhered to Catholicism wouldn’t be as loopy and self-destructive as it is today.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:27 pm
victoriag,
“…these perverted bottom feeders…”
Very apt description.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Barry can we have a “caption competition.”
This looks a good one!
“While you’re down there could you do an old Nazi a little favour?”
April 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
The pope is actually doing a Nazi salute there but he’s so weak, Maciel is holding his arm up for him.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
There is a great quote in Religulous where Bill Maher says…
‘..it’s not just corrupt, but fucking little kids corrupt, and burning people alive, I mean really evil shit.’
Religion eh…I dunno!
April 5th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
This is not breaking news. All around the globe, if catholic clergy are not kiddy fiddling, they have secret lives with the girlfriends/boyfriends and some of them do have children. The Catholic Church turns a blind eye, otherwise they will have hardly any clergy left to promote its propoganda. It wouldn’t suprise me in the slightest if Ratzy has a secret life – When he is not travelling the globe, speaking from his balcony, giving private audiences and delivering special masses, he is hardly likely to stay cooped up within the confines of the Vatican in quiet contemplation, reflection & prayer.