Father Maciel was one of the most notorious influential pedophiles in the Catholic hierarchy — he led an order, the Legion of Christ, which seems to have consisted of likely catamites for his pleasures. Predatory sexual habits don't seem to be his only legacy, though: follow the money.
Maciel left a trail of wreckage among his followers. Moreover, in a gilded irony for Benedict -- who prosecuted him despite pressure from Maciel's chief supporter, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state from 1990 to 2006 -- Maciel left an ecclesiastical empire with which the church must now contend. The Italian newsweekly L'espresso estimates the Legion's assets at 25 billion euros, with a $650 million annual budget, according to The Wall Street Journal .The order numbered 700 priests and 1,300 seminarians in 2008. On March 15 of this year, five bishops, called visitators, from as many countries, delivered their reports to the pope after a seven-month investigation. A final report is expected by the end of April.
Read the whole article. The twisted sexual politics of Catholicism are just a small part of the corrupt whole: the accounts of the kickbacks and bribes — $5000 here, $10000 there, all adding up to a giant pot of cash — make the organization sound like just a gilded Mafia.
For some reason, this video came to mind after reading it.
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Oh shit that is the best video ever.
PZ was right to highlight the financial scams as well as the pedophilia. From the article:
Money, influence, power, sex, evil. And the church didn't put Maciel in jail. Oh, no, they just retired him to a live of contemplation.
The National Catholic Reporter deserves a Pulitzer for this!
This rank corruption at the highest levels of the Vatican is astounding!
Am I the only one that smells the start of a New Reformation?
Wow, the comments on that site are mind-numbing.
The willing submission and mental slavery of some of these Catholic minions reminds me of nothing else like Sauron's orks. In my mind, Ratz has just upgraded from Palpatine to Sauron level.
This reminds me of 'The Shoes of the Fisherman' a 1963 novel by Morris West, and a movie starring Anthony Quinn as a Pope who actually cared (!?).
NAMBLA just never had the money thing down. They should have been a religion, then they'd still be in business.
Sarah Silverman will burn in hell forever!
What can I do to get thrown into the same pit with her?
I'm a bit ill after reading the revelations of Maciel's connections to the super-rich, like Carlos Slim. Maciel was a friend of Mel Gibson's as well. All the crazies with money orbited around the Legion. Governor Jeb Bush, and Senator Rick Santorum were counted among Maciel's friends. (Maybe we should look for a connection to The Family and C Street?)
Excerpt from the article:
The problem with selling the Vatican is that the cost of sanitizing the place would eat up all the profits.
Here in Canada, extortion paid to churches, (the govt. lists 1211 charities with catholic in the title, with some having a "revoked" status), generates a tax credit. So my taxes go to credits that allow catholics to spread their poison. This is in addition to the property tax exemptions they also enjoy.
That this article comes from a Catholic source makes it that much more brutal.
Great reporting on some nasty characters. I wonder if he's watching his back..?
Holy jebus, this is starting to sound like the plot from another of Dan Brown's horrible novels.
I know this quote was about the Legion, but to me it sure sounds it could equally well be applied to the Catholic Church as a whole.
Here's a llink to the youtube video of an ABC News segment on Marcial Maciel and Legion of Christ (dated april1st, 2010):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CN4apqN0Vo
You could still sell all its assets to the highest bidders and let go of the organisation that runs them.
There's a lot of this 'Ratzinger prosecuted Marcial' story going around. Firstly, he was not prosecuted. That would involve a legitimate court. Obviously he was protected from that by Ratzinger and PJ2. He did face an internal investigation (eventually, and after massive external pressure) at which point he was made to retire to 'a life of pennance' in the US.
I don't know but I wonder what that life of pennance involved as there is no record of him having access to his huge personal wealth restricted in any way. He died in 2008 unprosecuted, with no justice for his many victims therefore.
Ratzi is 100% guilty on this one too.
Jimmy Boy @15: I agree completely. Ratzinger was probably looking for the appearance of prosecution, without actually engaging in prosecution or punishment of Maciel. Maciel was not defrocked, nor in any way punished. In his old age, his work load was reduced, and that's about it.
In the ABC coverage, it was noted that one of Maciel's sons accused Maciel of sexual abuse -- that is, the son claims that Maciel sexually abused him.
Hum… Haven't read it in detail (yet), but Vatican tells bishops to report abuse cases to police:
Hum… Haven't read it in detail (yet), but Vatican tells bishops to report abuse cases to police:
Not all hyperlinks preserved in the above: My original attempt to post this got stuffed into moderation for unstated reasons, which I am assuming was due to the number of links.
This part of story is particularly chilling because it includes protection for doing wrong, plus a sanctioned spy network:
Are there still people who don't know where the Mafia learnt their methods?
Just that the Mafia is slightly less dishonest than their tutors.
Christopher Hitchens has a new article in Slate that offers more details regarding the Pope being, possibly, held legally responsible:
http://www.slate.com/id/2250557/
Christopher Hitchens predicted the Maciel affair would be the next item on the "grisly docket" in a March 15th article. Excerpt:
The CatholicTM stench of evil continues to spread. It is now popping-up in Africa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/renato-kizito-sesana-abus_n_53…
I have occasionally wondered about that silly prophecy that says this is the second-to-last pope. It might be right for the wrong reasons.
Of course, the description of the second-to-last pope in that prophecy is not similar to the meatspace one at all...
Now the Vatican says that rape must be reported IF REQUIRED BY THE LAW. Nice weasel. Of course that brings up an ethical question. Like Hubbard's scientology, the catholic church requires confessions (though I don't know how long it has been since the church has used them for blackmail). The official claim is that a confession should only be known to the person who confesses, the confessor, and god (haha). Come up, say "hey, I killed a hundred people last night, want a new cathedral?" and you might be given the grueling ordeal of reciting the rosary twice to atone for mass murder, but none of this should be reported to the enforcers of human laws. Of course if you don't offer a new cathedral or a sacrifice of twoscore virgin children there is no guarantee that god will protect you. So: should religions have the authority to forgive crimes just like that and not pass information on to law enforcement officials? Technically, if I did such a thing it would be considered a crime on my part (even if in reality prosecutions are extremely rare).
@#22 I lived in Rwanda in 2000. The story running around was that nuns were 'complaining' that the priests were sexually abusing them because they believed that nuns would be virgins and therefore not give them aids. It was a common story... No ideas if it was true - but I heard it enough times.
I wish the Silverman video had been posted standalone, and not tainted by being associated with the typical RCC perversion.
Because her skit is genius.
Every now and then you come across something that is wonderful, and that's what this skit is.
That's kindof the point of the video, you know.And it is actually not new, and was done way before the worst of these scandals came to light.
Point taken.
It was the first time I saw the skit, and didn't check to see when it was originally made.
Revised version of #26:
Her skit is genius.
Every now and then you come across something that is wonderful, and that's what this skit is.