Category: Sexual Abuse

Vatican to Issue Statement on Sex Abuse

May 18, 2006

 

By By NICOLE WINFIELD , Associated Press

 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/
VATICAN_SEX_ABUSE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Thursday it would issue a statement on its investigation into allegations the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ sexually abused seminarians decades ago.

The statement is expected to be issued Friday, Vatican officials said. The National Catholic Reporter said on its Web site Thursday that the Vatican had asked the Rev. Marcial Maciel to limit his public activity by not celebrating public Masses or giving lectures or interviews.

The reported action was taken after the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded its long-running investigation into allegations by former seminarians that the 86-year-old Maciel sexually abused them. Nine former seminarians accused Maciel in the 1990s of having abused them when they were boys or teenagers from the 1940s to 1960s.

The Vatican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the statement had not been issued, declined to say what the Vatican’s findings were or what action, if any, was taken against Maciel.

Maciel and the Legionaries have strongly denied the allegations.

“Before God and with total clarity of conscience I can categorically state that the accusations brought against me are false,” Maciel said in a 2002 statement. “I never engaged in the sort of repulsive behavior these men accuse me of.”

Asked Thursday to comment on the reports of the Vatican action against Maciel, Jay Dunlap, spokesman for the Legionaries in the United States, said in an e-mail: “We have nothing to say. We don’t know anything about this.”

The order is based in Orange, Conn.

The case against Maciel has been followed closely by victims of the clerical sex abuse scandal because Maciel in particular, and the Legionaries in general, curried such favor in the Vatican under Pope John Paul II.

In January 2005, John Paul hailed Maciel for his “paternal affection and his experience.” A few months earlier, the late pope praised Maciel on the 60th anniversary of his ordination, citing his “intense, generous and fruitful” priestly ministry.

Maciel declined last year to be re-elected head of the order, citing his age.

Any Vatican sanctions against Maciel, who founded the Legionaries in 1941 in Mexico City, also would be significant since this represents the first major sex abuse discipline case decided by the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI. The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith until his election as pope last year.

The Rev. James Martin, associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America, said the Legionaries had enormous support in the Vatican because of their loyalty to the church, their conservative views and their success in recruiting candidates for the priesthood.

“So to take action against their founder is absolutely stunning,” Martin said. “Benedict shows his independence by taking on a darling movement of the conservative right.”

Victims groups hailed the reported sanctions.

“It would have been easy to let this case quietly go unresolved, as so many similar cases have,” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Accused by Priests. “We deeply appreciate that, at the highest levels of the church, action has been taken against such an extraordinarily high-ranking Catholic leader.”

Jason Berry, who along with Gerald Renner wrote “Vows of Silence” about the abuse claims against Maciel, said church officials must have felt compelled to take action when the allegations against Maciel spread and prompted additional accusers to come forward after the original nine seminarians unsuccessfully lobbied the Vatican to take action.

Berry said any punishment of Maciel would be “a stain on John Paul’s legacy” because the late pope had praised him so “extravagantly.”

The Vatican investigated Maciel in the 1950s for alleged drug use, trafficking and misuse of funds but not for sexual misconduct. He was suspended from his duties as head of the order then reinstated after being cleared of all allegations.

The status of the sex abuse investigation into Maciel has been particularly confusing. In May 2005, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State informed the Legionaries there was no canonical process underway against Maciel, implying the investigation had been closed.

However, it was the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that was actually responsible for the case and was continuing its investigation at that time, the Vatican officials said Thursday in explaining the discrepancy.

Vatican restricts ministry of Legionaries priest founder; Move seen as confirmation of sex abuse allegations against Maciel

Media Reports growing by the minute

 

Related Articles:
Catholic News Ageny
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=6764

Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/
local/connecticut/articles/2006/05/18/
vatican_to_comment_on_sex_abuse_case_against_legionaries_founder/

Ireland OnLine:
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/
story.asp?j=183141342&p=y83y4zx48

Much more to come

 

Posted Thursday May 18, 2006 at 9:12 a.m. CDT

Vatican restricts ministry of Legionaries priest founder
Move seen as confirmation of sex abuse allegations against Maciel

By John L. Allen Jr.
Rome

Capping a decade-long on-again, off-again investigation of accusations of sexual abuse, the Vatican has asked Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to observe a series of restrictions on his ministry.

In effect, Vatican sources told NCR this week, the action amounts to a finding that at least some of the accusations against the charismatic 86-year-old Mexican priest are well-founded.

Maciel has not been laicized, but the restrictions issued shortly before Easter by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith limit Maciel’s public activity, such as his capacity to celebrate public Masses, to give lectures or other public presentations, and to give interviews for print or broadcast.

The restrictions have been approved by Pope Benedict XVI, and the Vatican is expected to issue a brief statement shortly.

Vatican sources stressed that the action against Maciel should not be read as an indictment of the Legionaries of Christ or its lay branch, Regnum Christi.

A spokesman for the Legionaries, asked to comment on the development, replied in an e-mail, “We have nothing to say. We don’t know anything about this.”

According to sources who spoke to NCR, the congregation’s investigation was closed sometime toward the end of 2005. In the early months of 2006, the cardinal members of the congregation in Rome were invited to review the documentation. The decision to impose restrictions was then reached sometime before Easter.

Sources described the documentation collected by the congregation as involving the testimony of at least 20 accusers. The acts in question, according to these sources, reached into the 1980s.

One cardinal who serves on the congregation told NCR that, in his view, the material left little doubt as to the validity of the charges, though he said he was less clear how Maciel understood what he had done. Under canon law, intent and state of mind are sometimes taken into consideration in meting out punishment.

Within the Vatican, the Maciel case has long been seen as particularly sensitive, in part because it could tarnish the reputation of the late John Paul II, who warmly praised and repeatedly honored Maciel. The case could also call into question the action of Benedict XVI, who as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stopped the case against Maciel in 1999. However, he reactivated the case in 2004 and ultimately approved the disciplining of Maciel.

A senior Vatican official told NCR that the decisive break came only in late 2004, when a number of additional accusers came forward. Prior to that, he said, both John Paul and then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, were operating on the assumption that the charges were not justified.

Maciel becomes perhaps the highest-profile priest in the Catholic church to be disciplined for allegations of sexual abuse.

He has a distinguished Catholic lineage. Two of Maciel’s great-uncles were Mexican bishops during the anti-clerical persecutions of the early 20th century. One, Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia of Veracruz, was beatified by John Paul II in 1995, and a decree recognizing a miracle that clears his path to sainthood was signed by Benedict XVI April 28. Maciel’s uncle, Jesús Degollado Guízar, was the last commander-in-chief of the Cristeros army that took up arms in defense of the church.

Founded by Maciel in 1941, the Legionaries of Christ has become one of the most influential and rapidly growing communities in the church. Today the order numbers some 650 priests and 2,500 seminarians worldwide. The lay branch of the Legionaries, Regnum Christi, reportedly has 50,000 members worldwide.

The case against Maciel has followed a circuitous path.

Rumors of various sorts have long dogged the Legionaries’ founder. In 1956, he was deprived of his faculties to govern the Legionaries and sent into exile in Madrid while a canonical investigation was carried out. Charges at the time did not include sexual abuse but other matters such as excessive control over seminarians, theft and drug abuse. In 1959, the investigation cleared Maciel, and he was restored to his functions as superior general.

Read More
Read nine years of NCR coverage of Fr. Marcial Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ: Archive of NCR stories about Fr. Marcial Maciel.

Maciel later referred to this period of trial as “the Great Blessing.”

Complaints of sexual abuse first surfaced in the late 1990s, when nine former members of the Legionaries filed a canonical complaint against Maciel with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, alleging that they had been abused by Maciel as seminarians and young priests. Those acts, according to the accusers, dated to a period from 1943 to the early 1960s.

The Legionaries, and Maciel personally, strenuously denied the charges.

“Before God and with total clarity of conscience I can categorically state that the accusations brought against me are false,” Maciel wrote in April 2002.

One of the original accusers later recanted; another died.

The accusations became public through 1997 articles in The Hartford (Conn.) Courant by Jason Berry and Gerald Renner and in the National Catholic Reporter, based on the Courant story. The two reporters filed another major piece on the case for NCR in December 2001, noting that canon lawyers in Mexico and the Vatican had found the accusations to be credible but that then-Cardinal Ratzinger had halted the investigation of the charges in 1999.

According to Renner’s and Berry’s earlier reporting, the nine who originally brought accusations claimed that Maciel “first abused them when they were between the ages of 10 and 16, sometimes telling them he had permission from Pope Pius XII to engage in sexual acts with them in order to gain relief from pain related to an unspecified stomach ailment.”

After the case was reopened in 2004, the congregation’s promoter of justice, Maltese Msgr. Charles Scicluna, began to collect additional testimony. Sources told NCR that the eventual number of accusers who came forward against Maciel was “more than 20, but less than 100.”

On Jan. 20, 2005, Maciel declined reelection as the superior of the Legionaries of Christ and was succeeded by Fr. �lvaro Corchera Martinez del Rio. Around the time of the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Scicluna traveled to Mexico to collect testimony from additional accusers. Later, Scicluna prepared a final dossier, which went before the cardinal members of the congregation and eventually Pope Benedict XVI.

Even for those convinced of Maciel’s guilt, the outcome of the case was long in doubt because of his strong track record of papal support.

Maciel accompanied John Paul II on visits to Mexico in 1979, 1990 and 1993. During the 1993 trip, it was John Paul’s public tribute to Maciel as an “efficacious guide to youth” that prompted the original nine accusers to come forward.

As late as 2002, when John Paul visited Mexico City, Maciel was in the front row at a papal Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and was greeted by the pope. In a 2004 letter, John Paul II congratulated Maciel for 60 years of “intense, generous and fruitful priestly ministry.” The pope said he wanted to join in the “canticle of praise and thanksgiving” for the great things he had accomplished.

In a book-length 2003 interview with journalist Jesús Colina of the Zenit news agency published as Christ is My Life, Maciel described dining with John Paul in the Apostolic Palace on several occasions. John Paul also appointed Maciel as a delegate to three synods of bishops, as well as to the 1992 meeting of the Latin American bishops in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 1994, John Paul made Maciel a consultor to the Congregation for Clergy.

Vatican observers suggest that at the time John Paul II regarded the charges against Maciel as malicious, ascribing them largely to hostility to Maciel’s doctrinal conservatism and his tenacious defense of the papacy.

The original accusers, however, earlier told NCR that they tried for many years to reach John Paul II with information about Maciel. Two of them said they sent letters in 1978 and again 1989, both by diplomatic pouch, but received no reply.

Other Vatican officials have also spoken positively of Maciel.

“Dear Father, I’ve seen the great work that you do,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, said to Maciel while embracing him during a November 2003 visit to Regina Apostolorum.

On May 20, 2005, the Secretariat of State under Sodano released a statement indicating there was no canonical case against Maciel, nor was one foreseen. It is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, however, that has responsibility for sex abuse cases, and the congregation continued its inquest.

Now-Cardinal Franc Rodé, a Slovenian and the Vatican’s top official for religious orders, celebrated a Mass marking the conclusion of the Legionaries’ General Chapter at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in January 2005, and used the occasion to praise Maciel.

Rodé called Maciel “the instrument chosen by God to carry out one of the great spiritual designs in the church of the 20th century.”

Speaking on background, Vatican officials explained these comments in much the same way as they did John Paul’s praise for Maciel. At the time, they argued, the evidence against Maciel was not yet complete, and looking at what these officials regarded as the positive works of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi, they assumed “by their fruits you shall know them.”

The Legionaries maintain a Web site defending Maciel, which can be found here: http://www.legionaryfacts.org/FATHERMACIEL.html.

[John L. Allen Jr. is NCR Rome correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org.]

May 18, 2006, National Catholic Reporter

More links:
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/05/18/ap2757286.html

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mershon/060518

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=183141342&p=y83y4zx48

http://www.cathnews.com/news/605/116.php

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/14611994.htm

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/191/story_19166_1.html

 

My Participation in Ongoing Marcial Maciel Sex Abuse Investigation

Christmas 2005: to Men and Women of Good Will and Open Mind
By John Paul Lennon, MA
Friday, April 2, 2005
From approximately 2:45 to 4:15 pm
John Paul Lennon,ex-Legionary of Christ [1961-1984] was interviewed by Mons. Charles J. Scicluna at a Church on Park Avenue in New York City. The Vatican ‘promoter of justice’ was accompanied by an Australian priest who acted as official notary.
DEPOSITION

I gave my personal biographical details which involved my Legion curriculum.

An oath was administered I would tell the truth in my deposition.

The content of the deposition involved my experience of and contacts with Fr Marcial Maciel: first meetings with MM, his interaction with the community; what was my relationship and dealings with MM; how he liked attention, special treatment. Had MM any special relationships with first Irish seminarians? I told him I had never been sexually abused in the Legion by MM or by anyone else.

“Can you give a character portrait of MM? I told about my ‘run-ins’ with MM
Do you feel there is credence to the accusations that MM has sexually abused LCs?
Do you know Juan J. Vaca? Do you trust his story?
Do you know Jose Barba Martin?
Do you know Arturo Jurado?”

The interview, which was sworn, notarized and signed, lasted about 90 minutes.
At one point Mons received a call on his cell phone. When he tried to pick it up he lost it. Later we realized that the call was from the Vatican telling him of the Pope’s death. After the interview we became aware that Pope John Paul II had died; together Monsignor, the notary and I said an Our Father for the repose of his soul

Why was I involved? It seems to me that I was called to be a ‘character witness’ for the three accusers, and to give personal testimony regarding the person and character of MM. I was reminded of the way the Church conducts an annulment, whereby at least one of the parties has to request it [the petitioner?] and then this person must present two witnesses to vouch for the validity of their request. So it was like being a witness for three of the accusers.

PSALTER OF MY DAY IN NEW YORK

In the shadow of one of our country’s greatest natural disasters, the author remembers
GRIEVING FOR ALL Legionaries and Regnum Christi members
THE DAY THE POPE DIED

New York, April Fools Day, 2005

Walking from Penn Station to 3rd and 40th Street

City of smells,
Dogs sniffing each other on corners,
Labrador and Yorkshire;
Taxis chopping your toes,
Citizens fast off the mark at traffic signals,
And tough-looking cops;
Talkative strangers immediately intimate,
Crowded grungy elevators,
Stub-stained carpets,
Newspaper stands,
Flowers, fresh vegetables and fruit,
Tobacconists, boutiques, lobbies and
Little parks among skyscrapers.

I have come to Gotham to make a deposition before a Vatican representative.

INTERVIEW WITH MONSIGNOR CHARLES SCICLUNA,

Promoter of Justice, Congregation for the Faith, at the Church of Our Savior, 59 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Saturday, April 2nd, 2005
From 2:45 until 4:18pm

Deposition was interrupted at 3:37pm by a phone call to Monsignor; someone was trying to get through to him from Rome headquarters to notify him personally that His Holiness John Paul II had died.
LAMENT FOR THE ABUSED

At 9:30pm that night in my hotel room a great wave of pain swept over me,
A tsunami of sorrow for my Legionary brothers and for myself.
I cried unabashedly for them,
For the sexually abused by Father Maciel,
For all those abused in and by the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement in any way, shape or form.
Maybe because I was not allowed to be a brother to them when I was in,
The flood-gates of compassion opened and
Great groans of grief
Broke from my spirit,
From my very soul.

I wept for the men I had vouched for:
“Do you vouch for the integrity and truthfulness of
Juan Jose Vaca? -Yes, I do
Jose de Jesus Barba? -Yes, I do
Arturo Jurado? -Yes, I do�

I had just said good-bye to Juan Jose, his dear wife and his precious daughter;

Suddenly breaking down unexpectedly:

“Dear ex-Legionaries and ex-members of Regnum Christi,
We have been abused in multiple ways.
Let us treat each other with Love and Empathy.
In the name of Christ,
Let us not accuse or
Recriminate each other, or be
Judgmental, or Self-Righteous.
We, the survivors,
Some of whom have not yet been able to grieve properly,
Let us be supportive and gentle towards each other.

I grieve for the LCs and RCs,
Especially for those who do not grieve;
For those in denial,
For those in avoidance,
For those stuck in Reaction Formation –‘Who, me abused?
It was all so wonderful!’-
I grieve for you,
I, the disgruntled old man;
I, who have been able to take care of my mental and emotional health;
I, who have listened as the abused told their stories;
I, who have believed and understood;
I, who have accepted their testimonies…,

I, too, was a victim to some extent,
But I am no longer helpless, or hopeless;
Nor am I bitter.
I am a survivor;
Recovering from multiple wounds
To body, mind and soul.

I feel anger and wrath against
The perpetrator of this abuse.
I feel indignation because my confreres’
Innocence was betrayed and their
Human dignity was trampled on.

We the survivors,
Have been tempted to strike back
Against the Church that has permitted this,
Covered it up, or took no action.
But delving into the spirituality of Jesus
Has led to restraint:
‘…I am calm and quiet
Like a weaned child clinging to its
Mother.’ [Psalm 131, v.2].

We come like the Poor of Yahweh
To the temple of truth of our conscience
To plead for justice;
And our real Father who sees in secret
Will hear our plea [see Matthew 6, 6]

We, the ‘disgruntled old men’,
Will insist like that old widow
Until Justice is done:
‘Then will not God give
Justice to his chosen,
To whom he listens patiently,
While they cry out to him day and night?
I tell you he will give them justice soon enough.’
[Luke 18, 1-7]�.

Letter to the Editor of the New York Times

Papal Midnight Mass

 

From: Rev. Robert M. Hoatson
Re: Papal Midnight Mass
Date: December 24, 2005

 

It was shocking to hear the American Archbishop John Foley, who translated into English the televised Midnight Mass from Rome, announce to the audience that all the altar servers at the Mass were members of the Legionaries of Christ religious order. After all, the founder of the Legionaries, Rev. Maciel Degollado, has been accused of sexually abusing several members of the order, especially young boys. Besides Fr. Maciel, other members of the order have been accused of sexual abuse throughout the world, including Mexico, Spain, and Ireland. It seems that the Papal Mass organizers should have had greater sensitivity to the orders’ victims. The organization ReGain was formed in the United States to assist Fr. Maciel’s victims and to assist others who have left the order to regain their sense of stability and sanity.

107-10 Shore Front Parkway, Apt. 9F
Rockaway Park, NY 11694
(862) 368-2800
rmhoatson1@msn.com

The First Sentence from Prefect Levada Makes the Legion Tremble

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has handed down a stiff sentence against Fr. Gino Burresi. The transgressions? The same ones charged against Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the powerful Legionaries of Christ

by Sandro Magister
ROMA, July 28, 2005 – On July 19, the Catholic newspaper “Avvenire” published the following note from the general secretariat of the Italian bishops’ conference (CEI):

“Following the decree handed down on May 27, 2005, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, notice is hereby given that the following canonical provisions will be applied to Fr. Luigi (Gino) Burresi, of the congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

“1 – revocation of the faculty to hear the confessions of any member of the faithful in any place, as provided in canons 966 and 969 of the code of canon law;

“2 – definitive prohibition against carrying out the ministry of spiritual direction for any of the faithful, whether a layperson, a clergyman, or a consecrated religious;

“3 – revocation of the faculty of preaching, as in canons 764 and 765;

“4 – prohibition against celebrating the sacraments and sacramentals in public;

“5 – prohibition against granting interviews, writing in newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, or on the internet, or participating in radio or television broadcasts on any matter involving Catholic doctrine, morality, or supernatural or mystical phenomena.

“This is made known for the understanding and profit of the faithful.”

Practically speaking, the CEI has made it known that Fr. Gino Burresi, founder the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, must leave the ministry and retire to private life.

Among the reasons for the action taken, the decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cites abuses in confession and spiritual direction. But Vatican sources have confirmed that to these reasons must be added the accusations of sexual abuse made against Fr. Burresi by some men who were his followers and seminarians during the 1970’s and ’80’s.

The Vatican decree has not been made public. But the American weekly “National Catholic Reporter” obtained a copy of it, and their correspondent John L. Allen gave a report of it in his newsletter “The Word from Rome” on July 22.

The decree against Fr. Burresi is the first to have been issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. And it is the first to bear the signature of its new prefect, former San Francisco archbishop William J. Levada (see photo). It was personally approved by the pope on May 27, when he received in an audience the secretary of the dicastery, archbishop Angelo Amato. The pope’s approval “in forma specifica” does not admit appeal.

As a decree issued against the founder of a religious order on the basis of accusations going back decades for sexual abuse carried out against his followers, the decree against Fr. Burresi recalls an analogous case, but one of much greater significance. It, too, is being examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

And it is not out of the question that the severity adopted against Fr. Burresi is the prelude to similarly rigorous actions against Fr. Maciel.

* * *

Fr. Burresi, who is now 73 years old, was until 1992 a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, an order founded in 1816 by Italian priest Bruno Lanteri. A man with a great devotion to the revelations of Fatima, Burresi became a priest at a relatively advanced age, in 1983, but even before this he had gained great fame as a mystic and spiritual director, as well as for the stigmata and visions.

In a small way, his popularity resembled that of Fr. Pio of Pietrelcina. And not really in too small a way: hundreds of persons from Italy and beyond came to him every day seeking comfort, including high-ranking prelates, politicians, and ambassadors. From the faraway Philippines, then-president Corazon Aquino sent one of her messengers to have a rosary blessed by this man in the odor of sanctity.

His headquarters were in the countryside below Tivoli, just outside of Rome, in the area of San Vittorino, where there stands today a Marian shrine in the form of a cone made of glass and cement. It was built with the contributions from devotees. “Brother Gino,” as everyone called him, initially received his visitors in a small structure made of wood and sheetmetal, but the congregation of the Oblates replaced this with an international seminary. Because Fr. Burresi was also a great magnet for vocations to the religious life.

This was until May of 1988, when first two and then five more of his young followers put an end to the enchantment. They told the superiors of the congregation that on a number of occasions the priest had lured them to his room and abused them sexually. When they were set down in writing, their accounts were a mixture of fascination and self-blame. For example:

“Fr. Gino was kissing me, and at the same time he was saying wonderful, holy things: ‘Let yourself be touched by God. Loving is not a sin.’ I was confused and paralyzed. I knew that he was a stigmatist, someone who had direct contact with the Virgin Mary. So I felt that I was wrong, that he could not be like I thought he was, because if he had been that way God would not have chosen him as his minister on earth. I said to myself: Look at how evil and rotten I am, I see malice even in the affectionate embraces of a saint.”

After they assessed the accusations, the superiors of the Oblates took immediate action. On June 6, 1988, they put Fr. Burresi on a flight to Vienna, and transferred him to the monastery of Loretto in Austria. The next day the superior general of the order, Julio Cura of Argentina, sent the dossier of the accusation to the prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious, who at the time was cardinal Jérôme Hamer.

But the secretary of that congregation at the time was Vincenzo Fagiolo, a future cardinal, who sympathized with the accused. “He came to me often for confession,” Fr. Burresi quickly revealed. He, in the meantime, had already left behind the borders of Austria and had come back into Italy, to Montignoso di Gambassi Terme, in the diocese of Volterra in the region of Tuscany. He resides there to this day.

The fact is that the Vatican put under investigation both Fr. Burresi and the superiors of the Oblates, appointing as inspector Marcel Gendrot, a member of the Company of Mary. After an investigation lasting two months, Gendrot concluded in favor of Fr. Burresi’s return to San Vittorino, and wrote a note reprimanding the superiors of the order.

The superiors then appealed to pope John Paul II. Their appeal, dated November 22, 1988, fills three pages. It lists the accusations: consummated homosexual acts with numerous young men, kidnapping for sexual purposes, violation of the seal of the sacrament of confession. It rebukes the inspector, Gendrot, for covering up the investigation. It asks the pope to take the responsibility for the case away from Hamer and Fagiolo, and to give it instead to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, Joseph Ratzinger, or to a special commission.

The reply came on the following January 3: appeal denied. And not just that. Fr. Cura and the other superiors of the Oblates were dismissed from their positions of authority. Gendrot was promoted from inspector to commissioner for the order. The case remained in the hands of Hamer and Fagiolo. The only concession made was a supplementary investigation entrusted to three cardinals who have since died: Giuseppe Caprio, Opilio Rossi, and Luigi Dadaglio. They listened to only one of the seven initial accusing witnesses (in the end there were eleven of these). One year later, in February of 1990, they concluded by permitting Fr. Burresi to stay where he was, in Montignoso, and to continue his work there, with the sole stipulation that he could no longer work with young men pursuing vocations.

But Fr. Burresi took initiative on his own. In 1992 he left the Oblates and founded a new congregation, the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with branches for both men and women. Today the order counts 150 members.

Five years later, however, in 1997, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened another investigation on him. The case was concluded on May 10, 2002, with a decree signed by Ratzinger and by the secretary of the dicastery at the time, Tarcisio Bertone, who today is the cardinal archbishop of Genoa.

The sentence takes into consideration the fact that the accusations were made past the statute of limitations, so it neither condemns nor punishes Fr. Burresi. But the 20-page report accompanying the decree – which is also in the possession of the “National Catholic Reporter” – contains passages worth citing. It was signed by the four prelates charged with carrying out the investigation, headed by Velasio De Paolis, who today is a bishop and the secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Segnatura.

The report lists the accusations against the priest: violation of the seal of the confession, the illegitimate use against the penitent of confidential information revealed during confession, defamation, violation of the right to privacy, incitement to disobedience against superiors, false mysticism, and claims of apparitions, visions, and supernatural messages.

It admits that the statute of limitations has passed on the matters contained in the accusations. But it nonetheless asks the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to provide for administrative sanctions against Fr. Burresi. For this reason:

“It should not be forgotten that during this process some [of Fr. Burresi’s followers] said that the accused ‘would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before’. [They said] ‘that the secretariat of state defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.’ If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual direction.”

* * *

The stated support of the secretariat of state for Fr. Burresi – which is referred to in the report – is another of the elements that link his case to that of Fr. Maciel.

In effect, two of the prelates who work in the secretariat of state belong to these orders. Angelo Tognoni is a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded by Fr. Burresi, and Donal Corry belongs to the Legionaries of Christ, founded by Fr. Maciel.

That’s not all. The Legionaries of Christ have for many years had the support of the secretary of state himself, cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Confirmation of the support of the secretariat of state for the Legionaries’ cause came last May 20, shortly after the release on http://www.chiesa of an article dedicated to the investigation on the Maciel case opened by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Thanks to a fax sent to them without a signature but bearing the stamp of the secretariat of state, the Legionaries of Christ issued a communication that day which stated:

“At this time there is no canonical process underway regarding our founder, Fr Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated”.

In reality, the fax from the secretary of state was less conclusive about the future. In Italian, it literally read:

“Non vi è nessun procedimento canonico in corso né è previsto per il futuro nei confronti di p. Maciel”.

The formula “non è previsto per il futuro” is commonly used in the Vatican to indicate actions that are in the realm of possibility but about which no formal decision has yet been made.

What is certain is that the preliminary investigation in the Maciel case has moved forward since the pseudo-denial of May 20, with the accumulation of more testimonies and documents. And it is on the basis of this investigation that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – not the secretariat of state – will make its decision on the canonical process against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

The Burresi case teaches a lesson. It seemed to have been definitively filed away after the favorable sentence handed down on May 10, 2002. But it was reopened, and a much more severe conclusion was reached – with the presiding judge being Ratzinger, who has since become pope.

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The article on http://www.chiesa on the case of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ:

> The Legionaries of Christ: Fr. Maciel’s Trial Draws Nearer (20.5.2005)

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The newsletter by John L. Allen, Rome correspondent of the “National Catholic Reporter,” with the news on the Burresi case:

> The Word from Rome, July 22, 2005

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English translation by Matthew Sherry: > traduttore@hotmail.com

Go to the English home page of > http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it, to access the latest articles and links to other resources.

Sandro Magister’s e-mail address is s.magister@espressoedit.it

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