Father Maciel is based in Rome and travels frequently to Mexico, where he
founded the Legionaries in 1941. The order's U.S. headquarters is in Orange,
Conn.

The Courant named nine accusers, most of them Mexican or Mexican-American
professionals in their 50s and 60s. They said that Father Maciel molested
them in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, when they were boys training for the
priesthood in Spain and Italy.

Many said they remain Roman Catholics, and at least one still works as a
priest. Others include the former president of the Legionaries in the United
States, two Catholic schoolteachers, two lawyers and a former university
president.

None of the accusers has sought financial compensation or pursued legal
action against the church, The Courant reported. They said they came forward
after first suffering in silence and later getting no response when they
complained through church channels.

A key reason they cited for coming forward: The pope's increasingly visible
support for Father Maciel in the 1990s, including a letter praising him as
"an efficacious guide to youth." John Paul also traveled with Father Maciel
on two North American trips.

The Legionaries maintain that the accusers are disgruntled ex-members of the
order who have joined forces in an effort to disparage a great man.

Four former seminarians told The Courant that the accusers tried to recruit
them into lying about abuse. The accusers denied it.

Father Maciel was suspended as head of the Legionaries in the late 1950s
during a Vatican investigation. According to The Courant , the order's law
firm said he "was reinstated after being cleared of accusations that he
abused drugs, misused money and engaged in other improprieties - which did
not include sexual misconduct."

Father Maciel is popular today among conservative Catholic groups such as
Human Life International, a Virginia-based organization that opposes
abortion rights.

Its leader, the Rev. Paul Marx, praised the Legionaries extensively in a
1996 report, written after he visited Rome for a religious conference hosted
by the order.

"If you ever get discouraged by the state of the church, just visit the
joyful Legionaries!" he wrote. "Wisely, they also have minor seminaries, as
does Opus Dei, which also abounds with new members.

"Recruiters for both told me several years ago that if you don't get the boy
by age 12, you won't get him. And the reasons seem to be the same everywhere
in the Western world: sex ed in `Catholic' schools, poor religious
instruction, violence in schools and communities, and low intellectual
performance."

Father Marx's report also makes reference to Father Maciel 's controversial
past, saying that "the Congregation for Religious once sent him out of Rome
for being a `troublemaker.' We need more `troublemakers' like him!"

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