NYT confirms Maciel story: "Founder Led a Double Life"

The story I highlighted this morning has been picked up by the New York Times:

The Legionaries of Christ, an influential Roman Catholic religious order, has been shaken by new revelations that its founder, who died a year ago, had an affair with a woman and fathered a daughter just as he and his thriving conservative order were winning the acclaim of Pope John Paul II.

.... Now the order’s general director, the Rev. Álvaro Corcuera, is quietly visiting its religious communities and seminaries in the United States and informing members that their founder led a double life, current and former Legionaries said.

I've alluded to allegations that Maciel mispent Legionary monies to fund his double life:

Father Fichter, once the chief financial officer for the order, said he had informed the Vatican three years ago that every time Father Maciel left Rome, “I always had to give him $10,000 in cash — $5,000 in American dollars and $5,000 in the currency of wherever he was going.”

Father Fichter added: “As Legionaries, we were taught a very strict poverty; if I went out of town and bought a Bic pen and a chocolate bar, I would have to turn in the receipts. And yet for Father Maciel there was never any accounting. It was always cash, never any paper trail. And because he was this incredible hero to us, we never even questioned it for a second.”

Statistics:

The Legionaries, founded in 1941, have grown as the church in many countries has shrunk. It has 800 priests in 22 countries, and 70,000 members worldwide, many of whom are lay people in its affiliate, Regnum Christi.

AmP published this story at 9AM EST today, confirming rumors that had been circulating privately for many days, and online the evening previous. I will continue to provide comprehensive coverage, as we await the official response of the Legion, public fall-out, and possible Vatican intervention.