Bilgrimage: More End-of-Week News: Maciel and John Paul II, Bayard Rustin, and Crisis o... - 0 views
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isabella R on 22 Jun 12In a paragraph I find chilling when I remember Maciel's serial abuse of seminarians for many years, his drug addiction, his fathering of children by several women whom he secretly supported through Legionary funds, Berry suggests why Vatican officials including John Paul II refused to listen to anyone trying to blow the whistle on Maciel: From 1998, when a group of ex-Legionaries filed a canonical process with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's tribunal, seeking Maciel's ouster for abusing them in seminary, until 2006, when Ratzinger-as-Benedict dismissed him from ministry, Maciel was a gilded force, raising millions of dollars, thanks to the support of John Paul and the video images of the pope and Maciel that the Legion gave to donors. By 2004 the Legion had a $650 million budget, and fewer than 650 priests.