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Secretive Catholic Order, Pope knew priest was paedophile, Dutch Catholic

Church

Secretive Catholic Order Founded by Accused Pedophile Under Fire 3/14/10

- As sex abuse scandals rock the Vatican, the results of an investigation

into a rich, ultra-conservative and secretive Roman Catholic order founded

by a priest accused of pedophilia and incest are due to be filed in Rome

tomorrow.

The sordid story of the Legion of Christ, whose late founder, the Rev.

Marcial Maciel Degollado, was a close ally of Pope John Paul II before being

forcibly retired by the Vatican in 2006, is a microcosm of the crisis

currently enveloping the church....

The controversy over the Legion, which is now barred or severely

restricted from operating in six U.S. dioceses, is especially awkward for Benedict

because he wants to have John Paul, a staunch defender of the order,

canonized.

"Maciel was a sexual criminal of epic proportions who gained the trust of

John Paul II and created a movement that is as close to a cult as anything

we've seen in the church," said author Jason Berry, one of two reporters

who broke the Maciel story in 1997 and who directed a 2008 documentary about

the priest called "Vows of Silence."... .

In 1997, nine former high-ranking seminarians accused Maciel, who died in

2008, of sexually abusing them when they were boys training for the

priesthood. Last year, it was discovered Maciel had an illegitimate daughter born

in 1986 in Spain. Two Mexican men who say they are Maciel's sons claim he

also sexually abused them as children.

"But he got away with it for years and still in a sense he's getting away

with it."

Though the Vatican knew of improprieties involving Maciel as far back as

1956, he was praised and protected by John Paul II, who became pope in 1978

and once called Maciel "an efficacious guide to youth."

Even when the former seminarians went public in 1997 about Maciel's sexual

abuse and filed a formal complaint with the Vatican, the church at first

did nothing while the Legion and other high-profile conservative Catholics

called them liars.

A book, Vows of Silence, written by Hartford Courant reporter Gerald

Renner and writer Jason Berry, was published in 2004 with what one reviewer

called "horror stories... of brainwashing, manipulation, pederast seduction

rituals, character assassination, bribes, drug abuse, gulag-type threats --

you name it."

_http://www.aolnews. com/world/ article/secretiv e-catholic- order-founded- by-ac

cused-pedophile- under-fire/ 19398262_

(http://www.aolnews. com/world/ article/secretiv e-catholic- order-founded- by-accused- pedophile- under-fire/ 19398262)

Catholic child abuse - nuns also accused 9 March 2010 By Britta Wielaard

Following recent reports about sexual abuse of children by Dutch priests, it

now appears that some nuns also took advantage of their charges. Tuesday's

edition of newspaper De Telegraaf contains the story of Herman Harends, who

says he was abused by nuns at a Roman Catholic boarding school he attended

in the 1950s.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide and newspaper NRC Handelsblad published their

report on sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic church two weeks ago.

Since then, more and people have come forward, saying they, too, were childhood

victims.

_http://www.rnw. nl/english/ article/catholic -child-abuse- nuns-also- accused_

(http://www.rnw. nl/english/ article/catholic -child-abuse- nuns-also- accused)

Dutch Catholic Church faces child sex abuse scandal 26 February 2010 By

Robert Chesal

Large-scale abuse - At the boarding school in 's-Heerenberg, 80 to 100

boys between the ages of 12 and 18 slept in four large dormitories. "Sometimes

you knew for sure: there's something going on between that boy and that

priest. And that other priest has a number of boys up in his room. It

happened on a large scale. Several of the priests were involved.".. ..

Since it was set up in 1995, the hotline has received almost 300 reports

of sexual abuse. "It has taken too long for the Church to apologise and take

action. (.) The Dutch bishops adopted the same `wait and see' approach. I

didn't get the impression that dealing with sexual abuse was a priority for

them."

Committee resigns - Two years ago, dissatisfied with the attitude taken by

the Dutch bishops, Yvo van Kuijck, now vice-president of the District

Court in Arnhem, resigned along with the entire Assessment and Advisory

Committee. Priests guilty of abuse in one parish were simply transferred to

another parish where they were free to find new victims. "Not only is that

unprofessional, it's inconceivable. "

_http://www.rnw. nl/english/ article/dutch- catholic- church-faces- child-sex- abu

se-scandal_

(http://www.rnw. nl/english/ article/dutch- catholic- church-faces- child-sex- abuse-scandal)

Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry

3/13/10 Richard Owen, Rome

The Pope was drawn directly into the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal last

night as news emerged of his part in a decision to send a paedophile

priest for therapy. The cleric went on to reoffend and was convicted of child

abuse but continues to work as a priest in Upper Bavaria. The priest was sent

from Essen to Munich for therapy in 1980 when he was accused of forcing an

11-year-old boy to perform oral sex. The archdiocese confirmed that the

Pope, who was then a cardinal, had approved a decision to accommodate the

priest in a rectory while the therapy took place.

The priest, identified only as H, was subsequently convicted of sexually

abusing minors after he was moved to pastoral work in nearby Grafing. In

1986 he was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and fined DM 4,000

(£1,800 today). There have been no formal charges against him since. The church

has been accused of a cover-up after at least 170 allegations of child

abuse by German Catholic priests.

_http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/comment/ faith/article706 0406.ece_

(http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/comment/ faith/article706 0406.ece)

Vatican to Drop Statute of Limitations for Pedophile Priests March 13,

2010 By Flavia Krause-Jackson (Bloomberg) - The Vatican's chief prosecutor

will remove the statute of limitations for priests accused of child

molestation and said today it was "false and calumnious" to accuse Pope Benedict XVI

of a cover-up.... Benedict has struggled to contain damage to the Church's

reputation by allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Bringing the scandal a step closer to the papacy, a German Church report

said yesterday that when he was archbishop of Munich he took part in the

1980 decision to move a priest accused of molestation to his diocese to

undergo therapy....Asked whether the Church has been too lenient, Scicluna says

"it may be that in the past, perhaps also out of a misdirected desire to

protect the good name of the institution, some bishops were, in practice, too

indulgent towards this sad

phenomenon." _http://www.business week.com/ news/2010- 03-13/vatican- to-drop-statute- of-limitations- for-pedophile- priests.html_

(http://www.business week.com/ news/2010- 03-13/vatican- to-drop-statute- of-limita

tions-for-pedophile -priests. html)

Child abuse claims sweep Catholic Church in Europe By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

(AP) - 3/13/10 DUBLIN - It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can

swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany,

Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally

breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy....Floodgate s opened for

Irish complaints that have topped 15,000 in this country of 4 million.

Three government-ordered investigations have shocked and disgusted the nation,

which has footed most of the bill to settle legal claims topping euro1

billion (nearly $1.5 billion)....

In January, an elite Jesuit school in Berlin declared it was aware of

seven child-abuse cases in its past and appointed an outside investigator,

Ursula Raue, to seek testimony. Within weeks, she had gathered stories of

long-suppressed woe from more than 100 ex-students abused by their Jesuit

masters, and from 60 molested by parish

priests._http://www.google. com/hostednews/ ap/article/ ALeqM5h_cfU5Tnim DgvhfygQBB2Nlzik uQD9EDRVS00_

(http://www.google. com/hostednews/ ap/article/ ALeqM5h_cfU5Tnim DgvhfygQBB2Nlzik uQD9EDRVS00)

Pope will struggle to survive abuse scandal By John Cooney 3/13/10

A depressing week for Pope Benedict dramatically escalated last night

into an unprecedented papal crisis when he was directly implicated in a

cover-up of a German paedophile priest when he was Cardinal Archbishop of Munich

30 years ago. The latest revelations are so potentially damaging to the

reputation of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger that speculation was mounting

last night that they could severely, perhaps even irreparably, damage his

moral authority as Pope Benedict XVI. It was being speculated that the German

Pope could conceivably have to recognise that his position as supreme

pontiff could become untenable -- and do what was until now considered

impossible, resign from the Petrine throne....

The Dutch church has climbed to 350 complaints just a week after the

Salesians first admitted they were investigating claims that three pupils in a

school were abused in the 1960s. In Austria, the Benedictine arch-abbot of

St Peter's in Salzburg has resigned after admitting he abused a 12-year-old

boy 40 years ago.

_http://www.independ ent.ie/national- news/pope- will-struggle- to-survive- abuse-scandal- 2098357.html_

(http://www.independ ent.ie/national- news/pope- will-struggle- to-survive- abuse-scandal- 2098357.html)

Benedict's involvement 'shows extent of cover-ups' By Breda Heffernan

3/13/10 Irish victims of clerical sex abuse said the involvement of Pope

Benedict XVI in covering up for paedophile priests showed that the practice was

endemic within the Catholic Church and said he should now consider his own

position. Andrew Madden, who was abused by a priest in the Dublin

Archdiocese, said it appeared the Pope was doing the same thing as the archbishops of

Dublin going back to John Charles McQuaid by not reporting clerics to the

civil authorities. ...

Another victim, Marie Collins, said the implication of the Pope in

clerical sex scandals in Germany showed the practice of covering up for offenders

and moving them on to different dioceses was

"church-wide" ._http://www.independ ent.ie/national- news/benedicts- involvement- shows-extent- of-coverups- 2098

356.html_

(http://www.independ ent.ie/national- news/benedicts- involvement- shows-extent- of-coverups- 2098356.html)