Vatican: Disgraced Legion must rethink identity

The disgraced Legion of Christ religious order needs to rethink its identity before going forward with its internal reform, the papal envoy in charge of the group’s overhaul told priests and lay members in a recently published letter.

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis was appointed in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI to oversee the order’s reform after revelations that its founder, Marcial Maciel, had lived a double life, abusing children and fathering a son. Maciel had enjoyed iconic status in the Legion, despite strong suspicions that its leaders had been at least partly aware of his actions.

De Paolis wrote July 11 that the troubled group’s various branches, which include priests, religious and laypeople, need “a common platform” to “regulate reciprocal relations . . . according to the identity proper to each group.”