President of Mexican Bishops calls on LC to apologize

It's taken some time for me to get up to speed with the Maciel situation in Mexico. There is sadly very little cross-over between English and Spanish language journalism. The results of my search, however, do not disappoint.

To begin with, the President of the Mexican Bishop's Conference (CEM) has called on the Legionaries to apologize to Maciel's victims (underlining mine):

The Legionaries of Christ will have to ask pardon from the sex-abuse victims of Marcial Maciel, because this would be a sign of reconciliation, said Carlos Aguiar Retes, the president of the Mexican Bishops' Conference. In a statement yesterday, he condemned the fact that Maciel, a priest from Michoacan, led a double life. The president of the Bishops' Conference (CEM) said that yes, the Legionaries should ask pardon from those who denounced Maciel, founder of the Legionaries, for having sexually abused them, "because it certainly helps a lot when a person accepts his responsibility, for this is the principle of reconciliation. In this case the priest has already died and the congregation should make the apology as an institution. This is the principle of reconciliation." (All translations by a reliable AmP reader. Original Spanish text here.)

Archbishop Retes continues (underlining again mine):

For Aguiar Retes, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ "was a public person who had his freedom and, lamentably, we now know about this conduct." The Legionaries, the ecclesiastical leader added, have confronted this situation. They were the ones who made the information public. "No other source made this information public," he said, and he clarified that "this revelation was a very great act of courage, which hopefully will help them purify themselves internally." This situation will not affect the works of the religious order which Fr. Marcial Maciel founded, because they have spoken with the truth and "the truth purifies, and since they are doing this with transparency, that will help a lot to heal the wound, since it is undoubtedly a very serious wound."

Sadly, I do not share the Archbishop's view of the matter at present, unless there are LC Spanish-language apologies and acts of transparency which I have missed.

Nonetheless, I completely agree with Abp. Retes that accepting responsibility, apologizing and speaking the truth in full transparency are the appropriate actions in this situation - actions that will heal this "very serious wound." I think the Legionary leadership has a long way to go still.

Here is more from Archbishop Retes, as well as a quick overview of what is being talked about south of the border. This from the Spanish-language magazine Proceso {my comments in brackets}:

The Catholic Church "did not hide" the sexual affairs of the priest Marcial Maciel, according to astatement made today by Carlos Aguiar Retes, president of the Mexican Bishops' Conference (CEM). {I believe there have been charges in Mexican media that this was a Church cover-up}

In this way, the highest authority of the Mexican Catholic hierarchy – which brings together more than 100bishops from the country – distanced itself from the signs which were indicating that the Church always covered up for the controversial founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

In the press conference, Aguiar Retes made this clarification because the Legionaries themselves last week made public the news that Macielhad "at least" one daughter. In last week's edition of the magazine"Proceso," Javier Bravo, the spokesman for the Legionaries in Mexico, did not wish to clarify how many children Marcial Maciel had, nor how many mistresses. {See the incredible lack of transparency at work here? If Maciel had only one mistress, the LC spokesperson should deny multiple affairs. If Maciel had more, the LC spokesperson's silence on the question probably evens out to the same thing in the end.}

The most widely spread version of the story is that he had a daughter who currently lives in Spain, although also it has come to light that over the course of decades he maintained sexual relations with various devoted women. {There is not a source given for this claim. Again, I am unable to definitively dismiss this rumor because the Legion remains silent on these typs of follow-up questions.}

A third article in Proceso drops a bomb:

Javier Bravo, spokesman for the Legionaries in Mexico ... revealed that, even before the death of Marcial Maciel last January 2008, the Vatican already had in its possession an ample documentation about the amorous affairs of Maciel. [He also said that] the Vatican was planning on making this information public, and indicated this to Father Alvaro Corcuera, successor of Maciel at the head of the Legionaries. {note plural "amorous affairs", again.}

This is simply stunning news if it is true. It contradicts what the Legion has been saying that they found out first and went to the Vatican. It also contradicts the claim that the Legion spontaneously brought this information to its rank-and-file members.

For if the Legion's hand was indeed "forced" by an understanding that the Vatican was going to make this known anyway, then the Legion was actually granted permission by the Vatican to spread the news in their own way first (and we are witnesses to how that has worked out).

Most of these above-cited stories have only been out a day or so.

And I must say, once again, these confusions will continue to exist as long as the Legion maintains its silence.

{update: it's probably best to take this post with a couple more grains of salt than usual. I'm operating in a language that I don't speak natively and I don't have as sure a grasp on the reliability of sources.}