The Legion of Christ was founded in Mexico in 1941 by the Vatican’s favourite fundraiser, Father Marcial Maciel. A friend of Pope John Paul II,
in his time he made millions of dollars for the Roman Catholic church
and recruited thousands of young men into the priesthood. He was feted
by wealthy Mexican widows and the neocon right.
But that was before he was outed as a serial abuser of children and young men and discovered to have fathered at least three children with two women, whom he kept in luxury apartments in different countries. He embezzled funds. He was a drug addict. He was even accused of abusing his own children. As he was considered too old for a trial, the Vatican quietly retired him to Florida in 2006. He died two years later. But the order he founded struggled on, under new leadership.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/sep/09/mary-magdalene-and-the-search-for-redemption-on-the-sea-of-galilee
But that was before he was outed as a serial abuser of children and young men and discovered to have fathered at least three children with two women, whom he kept in luxury apartments in different countries. He embezzled funds. He was a drug addict. He was even accused of abusing his own children. As he was considered too old for a trial, the Vatican quietly retired him to Florida in 2006. He died two years later. But the order he founded struggled on, under new leadership.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/sep/09/mary-magdalene-and-the-search-for-redemption-on-the-sea-of-galilee
