Monday, December 06, 2004
THE LEGIONNAIRES OF CHRIST
After listing recent honors bestowed on the Legionnaires, John Allen addresses the questions these honors bring up in the light of Berry and Renner's charges in their book _Vows of Silence_. He writes:
What should one make of all this, readers have asked, in light of charges from several former members of the Legionaries of Christ that they were sexually abused by Maciel, charges documented in the book Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II by American journalists Jason Berry and Gerry Renner?
I think the only honest answer is that the pope and his senior aides obviously do not believe the charges.
I've discussed the case with people in the Holy See, and not everyone is prepared to dismiss out of hand the claims documented in the Berry and Renner book. Most Vatican officials, however, believe the evidence is old and ambiguous, and in any event they say it would not surpass the burden of reasonable doubt in a court of law. Absent a "smoking gun," and given what they regard as the fruits of Maciel's priestly career and the community he founded, they don't see a basis for action.
