The Mexico based Legionaries of Christ used the trusts in a complex financial arrangement that held assets in four continents, according to an analysis by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

At the same time, the order is facing lawsuits by victims of alleged sexual abuse by priests.

The collaboration, codenamed the Pandora Papers, has revealed the hidden offshore financial dealings of an array of wealthy and powerful figures, including 35 country leaders, hundreds of politicians, 133 billionaires, celebrities, and sports stars.

The ICIJ identified three New Zealand-registered trusts connected to the Legionaries of Christ in documents from Asiaciti Trust. Asiaciti is a Singapore-based corporate services provider that was one of 14 professional firms whose confidential internal records were exposed in the Pandora Papers.

The first trust, known as The Retirement and Medical Charitable Trust (RMCT), was established in New Zealand July 6, 2010. This was just three days before Pope Benedict XVI asked Italian Cardinal Velasio de Paolis to oversee a reorganisation of the Legionaries of Christ and its lay, branch Regnum Christi.

The use of foreign trusts is not illegal or necessarily tied to tax avoidance or money laundering, and the Legionaries of Christ deny any wrongdoing.

However, when the Legionaries of Christ trusts were established, New Zealand was a popular destination for people seeking to hide money offshore using trusts.

New Zealand foreign trusts were promoted to international clients to hold assets confidentially without paying tax in a jurisdiction that did not carry the stigma of a tax haven.

The disclosure rules were tightened in 2017 following the 2016 release of the Panama Papers, another global financial investigation. This investigation raised questions about whether New Zealand had been too loose in policing overseas money flowing through its legal structures.

A spokesperson for the Legionaries of Christ denies the religious order controlled the trusts that made the investments. They only admit to having control over the RMCT, which received all the profits. They assert that it is incorrect to describe them as responsible for the movement of funds.

However, under an elaborate structure, they hid companies under other companies to hide that the beneficiary of all of those businesses was their own religious order.

The network of trusts and subsidiaries set up by priests and businessmen close to the congregation moved as much as $295 million across four continents.

Two companies based in the United Kingdom were in charge of commercial operations. Their cash flow came from interest-free loans made by AlfaOmega Trust and Salus Trust.

These two trusts were opened in New Zealand by the longtime financial planner of the Legion, Luis Garza Medina, and two of his brothers. The end beneficiary of the scheme, and which received the profits, was a third trust created by the religious order.

A review of leaked documents by ICIJ shows deep connections to the Legion in all three trusts, which share the same New Zealand address and have the same trustees managing them.

The Legionaries of Christ was founded in 1941 by a charismatic Mexican priest named Marcial Maciel. Over the next several decades, the order expanded internationally and established influential connections in the Vatican and elsewhere.

In 1997, reports emerged in the American press of allegations that Maciel had abused boys and young men training to be priests.

In 2006, the Vatican investigated nearly 100 abuse allegations against Maciel. As a result, it removed Maciel from ministry, ordering him to adopt a "life of prayer and penitence".

Maciel died in 2008, and in 2010 the legion's website acknowledged as factual the "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.

Sources

NZ Herald

National Catholic Reporter

El País

Business Desk

BBC

She argues her aunt, a devout Catholic, was manipulated into donating tens of millions of dollars during her lifetime and leaving tens of millions more in her will.

However, Rhode Island Supreme Court justices on Tuesday raised questions about the conduct of a disgraced Roman Catholic order, but they also expressed doubts about whether lawsuits can move forward over the money a widow gave to the group. Continue reading

The booklet, promoting a pilgrimage centre in the Holy Land, was written by Legionary priest Fr Juan Solana.

When the level of offense taken at the comparison between the saint and Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado was pointed out to him, Fr Solana issued an apology.

"The passages in question suggest a comparison between Mary Magdalene and Legion founder Marcial Maciel, which clearly is inappropriate and poorly chosen," he wrote.

"I was trying to make a point about compassion and forgiveness in light of the Legion's history, but realise now that my words were awkward and suggest a reverence for our founder that we clearly reject. Again, I'm sorry for any hurt this has caused," he said.

Fr Solana added that the Legion will cease distributing the booklet containing the reflection in question.

Continue reading

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the pontifical delegate supervising the reform, said it is not possible to consider the government, apostolate and administration of the Legion "without also taking the broader reality of Regnum Christi into account".

The cardinal was appointed to oversee the reform after revelations that the Legion's founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, had lived a double life, abusing children and fathering a son.

The pontifical delegate's letter follows external criticism of the slow pace of reform of the Legion.

Cardinal De Paolis indicated that both the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi should establish a clear understanding of their respective identities as they prepare to draft new rules of the Legion.

"One could say that we are seeking to elaborate a 'general statute' or a 'fundamental norm', or a 'rule' common to all the members of Regnum Christi, including Legionaries," he wrote.

A central commission in charge of revising the Legion's constitutions will prepare a draft text to "guide the reflection" by members of Regnum Christi and the Legionaries.

This period of reflection will also involve "a historical investigation regarding the origins of the Regnum Christi movement."

While members of the Legion remain committed to the revision of their constitutions, some of their communities want additional time to reflect on "the nature and purpose of the congregation", Cardinal De Paolis said.

The order's particular gift, or "charism", has been called into question due to revelations about the founder's double life.

Meanwhile, as work continues on the revised constitutions, "the life of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi movement continues on", Cardinal De Paolis wrote.

Catholic News Agency

Religion News Service

Image: Whispers in the Loggia

The six foreign language news editors, Karna Swanson, English; Gisele Plantec, French; Inma Alvarez, Spanish; Mirko Testa, Italian; Alexandre Ribeiro, Portuguese; Tony Assaf, Arabic, announced "… with deep regret our decision to leave the agency after many years of service to the Church and to all the agency's readers."

"After years of fruitful collaboration with the Legionaries of Christ, we disagree with the decision of the congregation to underline the institutional dependence of the agency on the Legion. The initial vision of Zenit was never to make it a service of a particular congregation, but rather of the universal Church. This has been the spirit with which we have worked throughout the years, and we could not betray this spirit now. We warmly thank all our readers for their loyalty and support throughout the years, and we hope to be able to continue to work for the Church and for all those who seek the truth, in another manner, but always with the same spirit."

Last week, Zenit's founder, Jesús Colina resigned citing the disagreement on "administrative transparency" with the Legion of Christ and the affair involving the founder of the Legion of Christ, the late Mexican priest, Marcial Maciel - who the Vatican established to be a paedophile, a drug addict and who had fathered a number of children with various women.

"Father Marcial Maciel's conduct and the way in which the congregation informed us of this, concealing important facts, has often led to us not carrying out our duty of providing information that is in line with the Pope and the Holy See's vision, fully."

The lawsuit by Jose Raul Gonzalez Lara claims Legionaries of Christ failed to protect him from their founder and known pedophile Fr Marcial Maciel.

It also accuses Legionaries of Christ officials of covering up for decades known sexual abuse by Maciel and other Legionaries priests.

While dismissing some parts of the lawsuit, Hartford Superior Court Judge, Grant Miller allowed others, making it easier for Gonzalez to press for more evidence.

"It allows the floodgates to open up in terms of access to documents of the Legionaries of Christ and our ability to use international treaties to subpoena people within the Vatican, including very high-ranking officials," attorney for the plaintiff, Joel Faxon said.

A spokesman for the Legionaries of Christ said the Legionaries were pleased with the ruling but in light of the circumstances did not want to comment further.

In a twist emerging form the story, Gonzalez claims he is also Maciel's son.

Gonzalez's mother, Blanca Lara Gutierrez, has said Maciel led a double life, had two children with her, adopted another, then sexually abused two of the three, Associated Press reports.

Lara Gutierrez said she was 19 when she met the priest, then 56, who passed himself off as "Jose Rivas," an employee of an international oil company, a private investigator and a CIA agent. She said she didn't discover his real identity until 1997, through a magazine article.

Maciel enjoyed the favour at the Vatican under former Pope, now Blessed John Paul II, who admired the order's conservative profile, ability to fundraise and attract vocations at a difficult time in the Church's history.

A later Vatican investigation concluded Maciel had committed grave and "objectively immoral actions" that constituted true crimes in some cases, and showed a "life devoid of scruples and authentic religious meaning."

Sources

• Hartford Courant
• Associated Press
• Image: RMF 24