Papal favour is no guarantee of authenticity

While he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict XVI claimed that in certain cases - and he was referring to the New Movements - only the pope is able to discern the the authenticity of a charism.  The chaos which is currently convulsing the Legionaries of Christ religious order and its lay off-shoots, the male and female branches of Regnum Christi, which are numbered amongst the New Movements, would seem to invalidate this claim.

The Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi were highly favoured by John Paul II, so highly favoured in fact that numerous accusations of child abuse against the founder of these organisations, the late Mexican priest Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, were hushed up by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then headed by Cardinal Ratzinger - until after John Paul's death.  This story - and the compelling evidence provided to the Congregation and Ratzinger - is recounted in detail in the book Vows of Silence by Jason Berry and Garald Renner (Free Press 2010).   It makes sobering reading.  Maciel not only systematically abused seminarians of his order over many decades, but he absolved them from the acts (such as fellatio) he forced them to commit with him; absolution under these circumstances is an offence which, under canon law incurs automatic excommunication for the priest.  He also used these young followers of his to procure the prescription medication he needed to feed his substance addictions.  The order capitalised on the Vatican's silence to issue strenuous denials of the charges against their beloved Father.

Ratzinger pursued the matter as soon as he became Pope.  But this is not greatly to his credit as it only goes to show that he believed the accusations were true but failed to act on them earlier under some misguided belief that disciplining a favourite of the late Pontiff would somehow be disrespectful to the papal office or the person of John Paul.  Surely this reveals what a cockeyed system of values prevails in the Vatican:  a far cry from the teachings of Jesus who reserved his strongest condemnation for those who corrupt the young and innocent, and had no time for puffed-up religious authorities.

Once the facts about Maciel's history of abuse began to come out, it seemed that what had previously emerged was only the tip of the iceberg.  Maciel's voracious sexual appetite not only included young boys but also several women with whom he fathered three children (at least to date - I have also heard the estimate set at six!).  Cases of Maciel's abuse of seminarians have been estimated at between twenty and a hundred.  Although the CDF did investigate Maciel after John Paul's death, its final decision, with the blessing of Pope Benedict, was to close the case without any canonical action due to Maciel's advanced age and frail health.  He was required to renounce every public activity, including his position as the Superior of the Order, and pursue a life of prayer and penance.  Father Marcial Maciel died in 2008.

In 2009 Pope Benedict authorised an Apostolic Visitation to investigate all branches of Maciel's organisation - both  the Legionaries of Christ and the male and female branches of Regnum Christi.  Since then, members have left in droves.  Between 200 and 400 of almost a thousand consecrated women of  Regnum Christi have left the movement since the facts about Father Maciel emerged.  Then, on 17th February 2012, the leader of the women of Regnum Christi, Malen Oriel, announced that she was leaving the organisation with thirty other women.  The Oriols are a wealthy and influential Spanish family who played an important role in the development of Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi.  Four of Malen's brothers who were priest members of  the Legionaries of Christ have already left the order.  On 27th Febraury, it was announced that Oriol has started a new organisation called Totus Tuus (the motto of John Paul II) based in Chile with the thirty women who left with her.  It has been approved by the Vatican and has the blessing of Pope Benedict.  Some observers believe that this could be the start olf the unravelling of the entire organisation.

Orders have survived the disgrace of their founders before.  One of the founders of Capuchin branch of the Franciscans became a Calvinist and married.  It remains to be seen whether Maciel's  can do the same.  One beneficial effect of the Maciel affair is the Vatican's questioning of the excessive power of charismatic founders of new movements and congregations.  A meeting was held on 13th June last year between the heads of the Vatican congregations and Benedict XVI at which the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone read a paper on this question, pointing out that these leaders often demanded greater loyalty to themselves than to the Church..  How seriously this will be taken remains to be seen; Bertone was a great admirer of Chiara Lubich and presided at her funeral mass.   One thing is for sure though, papal approval can no longer be regarded as a guarantee of anything!