Benedict XVI dies: the sexual harassment scandal that the retired pope had to deal with in Latin America

Retired Pope Pope XVI, who died at the age of 95 on Saturday, 31/12. Benedict shook the Catholic Church in 2013 by becoming the first pope to step down since the Middle Ages.

But beyond this historical fact, his papacy was also marked by scandals related to thousands of cases of pedophilia within the Catholic Church.

Many date back decades, but it was during his will from 2005 to 2013 when the Vatican had to face and take responsibility for serious allegations of sexual misconduct erupting in different parts of the planet.

The proceedings were the same: stories of priests harassing minors and whose allegations were covered up by the Church with the help of lawyers, politicians and people close to power.

Among these scandals was that of Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, the founder of the controversial Legionnaires of Christ congregation, who was part of Benedict’s pontificate from day one.

Maciel created it in the 1940s to bring the Church’s service closer to younger people, but the congregation became the site of the sexual abuse of about 175 minors over the course of forty years, according to criminal reports of their recognition. by the religious authorities themselves.

When Ratzinger became Benedict XVI in 2005, the institution was present in approximately 10 countries and approximately 65,000 members, particularly in Latin America. Maciel, his predecessor, Pope II. He was seen as the protector of John Paul.

And XVI.

Bernardo Barranco, a Mexican sociologist and ecclesiastical expert, said, “Pederasti and XVI.

According to Barranco, supporters of the retired pope point to him as the enforcer of so-called “zero tolerance”: He strengthened sanctions, changed laws, and passed new laws punishing abuses within the Church.

But his critics don’t think he’s done enough.

“He was not serious, after all. In the dramatic situation where Marcial Maciel of Mexico, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, had all the evidence of his unbridled behavior, he simply imposed retirement, leading a ‘life of prayer and penance.’ Of course he did not. Benedict XVI there should have continued with canonical judgments”, adds Barranco.

Maciel died in 2008 after years of scandals over pedophilia accusations, in addition to fathering at least 4 children by different women.

The truth, according to Barranco and other experts in religious matters, is that it was the most serious and most progressive scandal the Pope had to face in Latin America.

‘I did, I did and I did and I couldn’t go any further’

In 1941 Maciel was a theology student and decided to found a new congregation in Mexico called the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Sorrows, translated into Portuguese.

In 1965 he decided to change his name to the Legionnaires of Christ.

This congregation would become one of the most powerful congregations in Latin America, and Maciel would become an important figure within the Mexican Catholic Church.

In fact, he was part of the entourage that received John Paul II on his visits to Mexico in 1979 and 1993 (John Paul II visited Mexico five times).

The Legionnaires of Christ are also present in Brazil in cities such as Porto Alegre, Joinville, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília.

Future XVI.

That year, the first official accusations against Maciel and his congregation were issued (rumors of abuse came from the 1950s), when Ratzinger would play an important role, especially when it came to defining the actions the Church would take in those actions. cases.

However, neither Maciel nor the congregation was subjected to any sanction.

“16. There are many repeated accusations that Benedict before he became pope knew these accusations very well and did nothing. And he is lying when he says I don’t know.” he is writing.

Ratzinger’s successor, Pope Francis, for his part, several times defended the work of Benedict XVI against the Legionnaires of Christ, and Father Maciel in particular.

“Cardinal Ratzinger – cheers for him – is a man with all the papers. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, everything was in his hands, he conducted the investigations and did, did, did and could not go further in execution”, Francis in a speech in 2016.

For the current pope, in addition to special “protection” for Maciel, the lack of laws to respond to the then proliferating allegations of harassment prevented Ratzinger from going any further at the time.

Because the first actions against the Mexican nun and her congregation came in Ratzinger’s early days as the new pope.

175 child abuse

One fact that might justify Francis is that in May 2006, just a year after his election, Benedict XVI ordered Maciel to retire from the priesthood to lead a life of “pray and penance.”

However, this will not be the only concrete action.

As early as 2004, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith succeeded in removing the obstacle to the investigation against Maciel, and as such Maciel resigned as director of the Legionnaires of Christ a year later.

In 2010, two years after Father Maciel’s death and as a result of investigations, Benedict XVI sent an apostolic mission to take control of the congregation and investigate the allegations.

Finally, in 2012, it was the Vatican itself that confirmed that Maciel and several priests of his congregation had committed serious crimes of sexual abuse against minors.

A spokesperson for the Congregational Doctrine said, “In recent years, in several countries, prominent chiefs of the Jesus Legion have received some reports of serious acts of immorality and more serious crimes committed by certain legionnaires.” Faith is charged with conducting the investigation.

In December 2019, a report by the Legionnaires of Christ learned the scale of reported abuses: at least 175 minors would be sexually assaulted by members of the congregation.

Among the abuses, 60 were committed by Father Maciel himself.

“We apologize to the victims, their families, the Church and the community for the serious harm caused by members of our congregation,” the document said.

“We honestly and shamefully acknowledge the reality of crimes of sexual abuse of minors in our history, with a sincere desire for continued personal and institutional transformation.”

Cases of ill-treatment by priests have also occurred in Brazil, but not as common as in other countries such as Chile, Mexico and France.

A 2006 BBC documentary, Sex, Crimes and the Vatican, revealed the story of Father Tarcício Tadeu Sprícigo, who was sentenced to 15 years in 2005 after 10 years of abuse.

more complaints

In February 2013, Benedict XVI stunned the world by announcing his resignation from the papacy for the first time since the 15th century.

Shocked by the “Vatileaks” scandal, the XVI. Benedict found himself “powerless” to face the challenges the papacy presented him.

He then announced that he would retire to devote himself to prayer and meditation at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican until the moment of his death.

But he has been stubborn so far, with claims that Jesus knew of his Legionnaires long before 1997 and did little to stop them.

Earlier this year, German filmmaker Christoph Röhl reported that two Chilean priests had given the then Cardinal Ratzinger documents proving the criminal activities of the congregation and its founder.

Added to these accusations are those of Mexican academic Juan Barba, who claimed in 1998 that he managed to collect testimonies from eight former members of Maciel’s congregation that made serious allegations of abuse and mismanagement.

Speaking to Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui, Barba said: “We were victims of not only Maciel, but also of Ratzinger and the Vatican system, which preferred eight innocent people to suffer rather than losing the faith of thousands of Catholics.”

The defense against these charges, however, has always been to point out that it was Benedict XVI who suffered the abuses of Christ by Maciel and his Legionnaires.

“These accusations are absolutely untrue,” Father Georg Gänswein, the Pope’s honorary private secretary, told the German newspaper Die Zeit.

And many supporters point to what the Vatican insisted on in 2010 when the same accusations were made.

Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican at the time, said: “It is paradoxical and ludicrous for knowledgeable people to blame Cardinal Ratzinger for any kind of cover-up or cover-up.”

“All knowledgeable people know that it is meritorious to advance the legal investigation into the charges against Marcial Maciel until Cardinal Ratzinger’s guilt is conclusively established,” he added.

Currently, the congregation continues to report on harassment cases.

Announcing the names of the 33 priests who will be involved in the abuses in 2021, Pope Francis said the congregation still has “a long period of renewal”.

– This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-64137265.