Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the recently released report on the founder of the Legionaries of Christ:
We have known for some time that Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, was one of the most notorious sexual abusers in the history of the Catholic Church. Now a report by his order has determined that he abused at least 60 boys; most were between 11 and 16. That means he was, like almost all the other predator priests, a homosexual. Yet almost every media story on the report falsely calls him a pedophile.
On a more positive note, some media outlets that continue to cover up for homosexual priests are at least acknowledging that it was Pope Benedict XVI who removed Maciel from public ministry in 2006. These outlets include the National Catholic Reporter, the BBC, the Irish Times, the Guardian, Commonweal, and Vanity Fair.
This matters because the trendy movie, “The Two Popes,” unfairly maligns Pope Benedict XVI by suggesting that he covered up for Maciel. He did not—he got him kicked out of the priesthood. Commonweal and Vanity Fair explicitly criticized the movie on this issue.
Due to the influence of this movie and the propaganda it spews—demonizing Pope Benedict XVI (while lauding Pope Francis)—the report on the Legionaries of Christ is timely. It allows for a more just, and accurate, consideration of Benedict’s legacy.
