ROMA, May 20, 2005 – Last April 2, just as John Paul II was dying in Rome, in New York the promoter of justice for the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Charles J. Scicluna, from Malta, was interviewing Paul Lennon, the former headmaster of a "School of Faith" run by the Legionaries of Christ. Mr. Lennon, who is Irish, is now a psychotherapist in Alexandria, Virginia, and a witness against one of the most revered and powerful men of the Catholic Church worldwide: Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, 85, from Mexico, the founder of the Legionaries and the apple of pope Karol Wojtyla's eye.
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But meanwhile, in another Vatican building, that of the former Holy Office, the then cardinal prefect Joseph Ratzinger had just told Scicluna, his promoter of justice, to pull from the congregation's shelves all of the trials still on the waiting list and in danger of never being processed. The order was: "Every case must take its proper course."
Among the folders was one six years old and marked, in Latin: "Absolutionis complicis. Arturo Jurado et alii – Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado." The first phrase describes the charge, the second gives the name of the first of the accusers, and the third is the name of the accused. The alleged crime, the absolution of an accomplice in confession, is one of the most terrible for the Church, so much so that it has no statute of limitations.
In the run-up or immediately after the Conclave, I read about a letter that has been circulating before the Conclave and how then-Cardinal Ratzinger was encountered near St. Peter's and was lamenting the state of the clergy, exclaiming, "We priests..." in abhorrence and disgust. Magister points out Ratzinger's thoughts on the subject as well:
On March 25, Good Friday, in the meditations for the Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum, Ratzinger lamented "how much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]” and offered a glimpse of an energetic re-purification.
And again here:
Two days before the conclave, on April 16, Ratzinger met Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, a great proponent of his election and an even more decisive supporter of a rigorous approach to purifying the Church of this scourge. Ratzinger assured him of his support.
As George was kissing the newly elected pope’s ring, Benedict XVI told him he would keep that promise.
It's going to be quiet at first perhaps. It may not be noticed amid the larger issues of stem cell research, abortion, contraception and the battle against secularization, but Benedict XVI is going to undertake a major rooting out of corruption of the priesthood that has not been seen in quite awhile.
Whether or not the charges against Father Maciel prove true or not, he will be one of the first to be subjected to the purifying fire. For his own immortal soul and that of the Church, this is definitely a good thing.
Read the complete article at The Legionaries of Christ: Fr. Maciel's Trial Draws Nearer from www.chiesa.
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