38 Facts About Marcial Maciel

Marcial Maciel Degollado was a Mexican Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.

Marcial Maciel was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005.

Marcial Maciel was ordered "to conduct a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry".

Marcial Maciel was born in Cotija, Michoacan, Mexico, the youngest boy of nine children, to a family with strong connections within the Catholic Church in Mexico.

Marcial Maciel had a troubled youth: his father ridiculed him and encouraged his brothers to whip him.

Marcial Maciel was the grand-nephew of Bishop Rafael Guizar y Valencia, who was canonized in 2007.

Marcial Maciel was giving his eighteen-year-old nephew a dressing down after two women had come to the bishop's house to complain about Maciel, who was their neighbor.

Father Orozco, who was among the original group of boys to found the Legion of Christ in 1941, said he heard the women had complained about the "noise" Marcial Maciel was making with children he had brought into his home to teach religion.

Marcial Maciel said that the seminary officials blamed Maciel for his uncle's heart attack.

Marcial Maciel was expelled from two seminaries for reasons that have never been revealed, and became a priest only after one of his bishop uncles ordained him after private studies, on November 26,1944, in Mexico City.

In 1941, Marcial Maciel founded the Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious congregation of pontifical right, with the support of Francisco Gonzalez Arias, Bishop of Cuernavaca.

Marcial Maciel wrote extensively on the formation of priests and other matters pertaining to Church governance.

Marcial Maciel's main stated purpose for the Legion of Christ was to form and motivate enterprising lay members of the Catholic Church to take an active part in the Church's mission, in particular the members of Regnum Christi.

Until his misdeeds became public, Marcial Maciel was well-regarded by the Papal See.

Marcial Maciel accompanied Pope John Paul II on his visits to Mexico in 1979,1990, and 1993, and was appointed by the Pope to the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Formation of Priests in Circumstances of the Present Day.

Marcial Maciel was a member of the Interdicasterial Commission for a Just Distribution of Clergy, the Fourth General Conference of Latin American Bishops, the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World, the Synod of Bishops' Special Assembly for America and as a permanent consultant to the Congregation for the Clergy.

Marcial Maciel served as Chancellor of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, which is based in Rome.

Marcial Maciel collaborated extensively with Pope John Paul II, in person and through his subordinates in the Legion of Christ.

Marcial Maciel received many donations from Mexico's richest families, much of which Marcial Maciel and the Legion passed on to the Vatican over many years.

When Pope Pius XII's archives were opened to the public in 2024, documents were found showing Marcial Maciel was protected by Giuseppe Pizzardo, the then No 2 of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from a judgement proposed by Giovanni Battista Scapinelli.

Jason Berry reports that early in his career, only two years into being a priest, Marcial Maciel visited the Vatican in 1946 to donate $10,000 from "several of Mexico's wealthiest families and its president, Miguel Aleman Valdes", appealing for support for scholarships for seminarians to study in Spain.

Marcial Maciel sought and received large donations from the wives of wealthy men such as Flora Barragan, "the widow of an industrialist" from Monterrey.

Marcial Maciel targeted women in Mexico of a certain class who were not allowed to work.

For cultured women who were bored, Marcial Maciel offered a sense of purpose.

Marcial Maciel asked for release from his vows of ordination arguing "that because of the abuse, he never should have been ordained".

On February 23,1997, a report in The Hartford Courant "exposed a history of pedophilia" by Marcial Maciel involving nine victims who came forward to go on the record.

The victims alleged that they had been abused as youths and young men by Marcial Maciel while studying under him in Spain and Rome in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Vatican refused to comment on the American report, while Marcial Maciel claimed innocence but refused to be interviewed.

The lawyer claimed that Marcial Maciel owned several properties in Mexico and around the world in his own name.

In February 2009, news broke that Marcial Maciel had led a double life.

Additionally, the Legion has publicly acknowledged that Marcial Maciel had fathered a daughter.

Marcial Maciel completed it in 1941 while a political prisoner of the Francoist Spanish State; it was published posthumously in Spain in 1956; that edition is believed to have been used by Maciel as the basis of his own book.

In January 2005, Marcial Maciel was required to step down as head of the order.

In January 2006, Marcial Maciel stepped down as head of the Legion of Christ and tendered its leadership to long-time follower Alvaro Corcuera.

Marcial Maciel moved from Rome to a house he shared with other priests in Jacksonville, Florida, where he died on January 30,2008, at age 87.

Marcial Maciel had a private funeral and was buried in his birthplace, Cotija, Michoacan.

Marcial Maciel never made any apologies, and continued to deny the allegations.

Marcial Maciel was buying support for his group and defence for himself, should his secret life become known.