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Legion of Christ to respond to scandal on Tuesday

Vatican officials confirmed to CNA on Monday that the leadership of the Legion of Christ will release a major statement in response to the controversy surrounding the double life of its founder and the future of the order. The statement will be released on Tuesday “or Wednesday at the latest,” reports Catholic News Agency.

Highly anticipated by members, sympathizers and critics of the Legionaries, as well as its lay organization, Regnum Christi, the statement was completed a “few days ago,” but has been submitted for review by “several Cardinals” of the Roman Curia, a Vatican source told CNA, without specifying which Cardinals or which dicasteries are reviewing the document.

The Legion of Christ, as a priestly congregation of Pontifical right, is overseen by the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, whose head is Cardinal Franc Rodé. Regnum Christi, being a lay apostolic movement, is overseen by the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

According to the Vatican source, the forthcoming document will address “the difficult circumstances created by the recent discovery of the double life led by Fr. Maciel and the need to restore peace, trust and apostolic vitality within the spiritual family he founded.”

The document “will also sketch the concrete future steps the leadership of the Legion of Christ will take to achieve these goals.”

Asked if the document will be “final,” the source told CNA that it will be a foundational document that will be decisive in determining future action. “I would say it is a definitive document... it is too soon to tell if it will be, indeed, final,” the source said.

The Vatican contact also added that, despite the fact that he has read the document, “I prefer not to anticipate any of its content, I think it will speak for itself.”

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TAGS: Vatican Legion of Christ scandal double life Regnum Christi

[02/24/2009]

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