Maciel: Not another Padre Pio

Priest speaks on Maciel, Legion of Christ

Aside from what the founder did and did not do, there are real problems that the Legionaries do need to fix. First of all, they need to stop claiming that the founder is totally innocent and that he is another Padre Pio. The present members of the Congregation should be asking questions. There should be a self-analysis of what they are doing and where they are going as a religious order. Just to claim that the founder is another Padre Pio and continue business as usual, in my opinion, is a real mistake.

I have experienced this form of proseltyization on the virtues of Fr. Maciel and have found it offensive. If Maciel was another Pio, he should have been vindicated before now.

"I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." - Pius XI

Some have said now that the founder is dead, the investigation into his cause for beatification can begin. Rather, I think, not until the investigation into the accusations has been closed.

Abbey Roads2 has a good post on the statement by the current General Director of the order.

Fr. Maciel is Dead

Fr. Marcial Maciel Passed Away 1/30/08

Associated Press - January 31, 2008 1:23 PM ET

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The founder of 1 of the fastest-growing Catholic religious orders, who was disciplined because of sex abuse allegations, has died.

Mexican priest Marcial Maciel (mahrs-YAHL' mahs-YEL') died yesterday of natural causes in the U.S., according to his order, the conservative Legionaries of Christ.

Maciel was 87 years old.

He founded his order in 1941 in Mexico City, and it became a favorite of Pope John Paul II. It now has more than 600 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 20 countries.

But in 2006, the Vatican ordered Maciel to remove himself from public ministry, following allegations that he abused young boys and teenagers in seminaries between the 1940s and 1960s.

Maciel was the most prominent Catholic Church official to be disciplined for alleged child sexual abuse. The Vatican never said whether it determined the allegations to be true.

See previous post. The rumor is confirmed.

Breaking Rumor: Fr Marcial Maciel Suffers a Cerebral Hemorrhage

(First published 1/16/08 still not confirmed)
The validity of this has not been confirmed, but comes from a trusted source via other trusted sources. Could be balderdash, but it feels unlikely to me.

...an immediate member of the Garza Medina family reports that MM has suffered a cerebral hemorrhage...