This archive report was first published on 22 December 2019.
Published on December 22, 2019, an internal report revealed that at least 175 children were sexually assaulted by priests belonging to an ultra-conservative Mexican branch of the Roman Catholic Church.
The report, written by a commission created in June by the director general of the group, Eduardo Robles-Gil, found that the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel, abused as many as 60 children.
Between 1941 and December 16, 2019, a total of 33 priests or deacons were acknowledged to have committed sexual assaults against minors, with 18 of them still part of the organization but removed from tasks connected to the public or minors.
The report highlighted the existence of 'chains of abuse' where 'a victim of a Legionnaire, over time, becomes in turn an aggressor', with 14 of the 33 individuals who committed abuses having themselves been victims of the Legionaries.
The organization, Ceroabusos, which is supported by the Legionaries of Christ, acknowledged that there are probably more cases of abuse than those in the report and that the statistics will have to be updated regularly.
A process of 'reparation and reconciliation' with 45 victims is taking place, while acknowledging that it has yet to extend it to the others.
Maciel, who died in 2008, was ordered to retire to a life of prayer and penitence by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 after facing years of allegations that he had sexually abused boys and young men.
