Maciel documentary provokes emotional healing, affirms Legionaries leader
The Legionaries of Christ, a Roman Catholic congregation, is preparing to open its historical archive to internal and external historians, in a move that aims to shed light on the dark past of the congregation. The exact release date for the archive has yet to be set, due to the complexity of transcribing and digitizing its contents.
At the heart of this historical archive lies the disturbing past of Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. A documentary delves into Maciel's past, revealing his abuse of minor seminarians, addiction to pain medication, and sexual abuse of a young woman with whom he fathered children. It also uncovers that Maciel's crimes were known by the Vatican as far back as the 1950s.
The documentary, titled "Marcial Maciel: The Wolf of God," has been a cathartic experience for the current general director of the Legionaries of Christ, Father John Connor. He believes that the documentary offers a divine pedagogy that preserves the congregation from boasting about their works. Father Connor, in his role as the custodian of the historical archive, has not set a specific date for its release.
In response to the documentary, a group of 27 priests and former members of the Legionaries of Christ released a statement, stating that the congregation's attempts to confront its founder's past and participation in the documentary omits the existence of those who asked for and sought the complete, unvarnished truth and clear justice for the victims of Maciel and the system of government he created.
The Legionaries of Christ have worked with the Vatican and independent agencies to reach out to victims and reform unhealthy structures and norms that facilitated past abuses. However, the Vatican's 2010 statement only acknowledged a deplorable discrediting and distancing of those who expressed doubts about Maciel's conduct, but no proceedings were opened for criminal concealment.
Pope Pius XII's archives, opened in 2020, show that the Vatican was poised to take action against Maciel in 1956 and planned to remove him from the priesthood, but upon Pius XII's death in 1958, Maciel's allies cleared his name. This line of continuity in the group of older superiors has been a point of contention for critics.
In an effort to better understand Maciel's complex personality and behaviour, the Legionaries of Christ commissioned an unnamed internationally renowned psychiatrist to conduct a posthumous psychological study of Maciel. However, it's important to note that no internationally known psychiatrist has been publicly documented as commissioned by the Legionaries of Christ for this task.
Despite the revelations of Maciel's abuses, no one in the Legionaries of Christ resigned following the revelations. The congregation cooperated with HBO producers in the production of the documentary as an act of responsibility.
As the Legionaries of Christ continues to confront its past, it remains to be seen how the release of the historical archive will impact the congregation and its relationship with the wider Catholic Church.
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