Paus beveelt onderzoek naar Legionairs van Christus
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op woensdag 1 april 2009 om 00:05u (Bron: CNS/ Corelio)
VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Paus Benedictus heeft een onderzoek bevolen naar de priestercongregatie Legionairs van Christus. Dat heeft het Vaticaan dinsdag bekendgemaakt. De namen van de prelaten die het onderzoek zullen voeren zijn niet vrij gegeven.
Aanleiding voor het onderzoek is de recente onthulling door de conservatieve katholieke congregatie dat de oprichter van de Legionairs, de in 2008 op 87-jarige leeftijd overleden Marcial Maciel (foto), er een minnares op nahield en een kind had.
De Vaticaanse staatssecretaris kardinaal Tarcisio Bertone, de nummer twee van het Vaticaan, kondigde het onderzoek dinsdag aan in een brief aan Alvaro Corcuera, de leider van de Legionairs. De brief werd inmiddels gepubliceerd op de website van de priestercongregatie.
Kardinaal Bertone zegt in de brief dat het Vaticaan te hulp schiet om de orde uit ’de huidige problemen’ te helpen.
De orde werd zeer bewonderd door de vorige paus, Johannes Paulus II, al gingen er altijd al geruchten dat Maciel seminaristen seksueel misbruikte.
In 2006 werd Maciel bestraft door het Vaticaan en kreeg hij de opdracht de rest van zijn leven biddend en boetend door te brengen.
De congregatie Legionairs van Christus (Latijn: Congregatio Legionariorum Christi; afgekort: LC) werd opgericht in 1941. De Legionairs houden zich bezig met het vormen en motiveren van leken om actief deel te nemen aan de zending van de katholieke kerk. De congregatie gaat door als gezagsgetrouw en conservatief en is actief in Mexico, Canada, de Verenigde Staten, Brazilië, Chili, Colombia, Frankrijk, Duitsland en Italië. Er is ook een lekenbeweging van de legionairs: Regnum Christi. (tb)
By Sanjuana Martinez
Primera derrota legal de Legionarios de Cristo
15 de noviembre de 2008
December 3, 2008 (ReGain)
After two years of litigation a civil court judge, Maricela Cruz Sanchez, has found the Colegio Oxford, located in Mexico City, liable for monetary damages due to the moral hazard caused to a boy who was sexually abuse at age three by his physical education teacher, Joaquin Francisco Mondragon Rebollo, who remains at-large.
"This amounts to the first successful lawsuit against the Legionaries of Christ," says attorney Jose Bonilla Sada in an interview with La Jornada. "With this verdict people who commit crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors within the Legion, founded by Marcial Maciel, are at last beginning to be punished."
The verdict is based on an employer/employee relationship linking the sexual perpetrator and the Centro de Educacion y Cultura Ajusco, SC, controlling arm of the Colegio Oxford, whose director, Maria del Pilar Adelina Soto Maza, was found to be "guilty and negligent" due to the boy being sexually abused on the grounds of an educational institution operated by the Legionaries of Christ.
Judge Maricela Cruz Sanchez stated in her opinion that the school had "the moral obligation to educate, a duty to protect and care for those for whom they are responsible, given that parents place in educational institutions all the confidence that their children will develop physically, mentally and spiritually."
The 34 page document does not specify the amount of damages the legionary school must pay to the victim and his parents, but Bonilla Sada has stated no amount of money can make up for the immense harm caused to the boy and his family. "We have not even considered the amount of money. Our objective was not to get a lot of money. We never even thought about it. The important thing is that they be punished for causing moral harm, something which we have always alleged."
The verdict also states that "having committed an assault and sexual abuse against a minor, it remains manifestly clear that the responsible parties failed to do their job, and have not submitted any evidence that would justify, explain or exempt them from a failure to fulfill their obligation, and by extension their responsibility."
Bonilla Sada began the search for justice in his son's case more than two years ago. But he soon became an attorney for other victims of sexual abuse. "The verdict is a setback for the Legionaries of Christ because it exposes them to Mexican society as people who act unscrupulously in defense of criminals who commit sexual assault against minors, against those who were abused in their schools," he says.
In reference to the verdict against the director, Maria del Pilar Adelina Soto Maza, he stated that he felt it was a very serious matter that from the beginning she provided protection to the perpetrator rather than the victim. "It's awful that a woman of her status would be involved in these sorts of allegations. It's impossible to imagine that, instead of protecting the children at her school, she has set about to protect the perpetrating teacher and the supposed good name of the Legionaries of Christ and the Colegio Oxford. This goes against any educational principle or human virtue."
The attorney maintains that the Mondragon Rebollo, currently still at-large due to aggravated assault and sexual abuse charges, was and is still being harbored by the Legionaries of Christ. "We have shown all the evidence of the protections they have provided him. This the way the Legionaries have of blocking out the light with one hand in order to prevent the truth from coming out. But in this case they failed.
Now the public knows how the Legionaries of Christ are institutionally linked to pedophilia."
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