Both Ian Fisher of the NY Times and Marion Lloyd of the Boston Globe have reported that las Friday, May 20, a Vatican spokesman, Rev. Ciro Benedettini, informed the Legion of Christ that the investigation surrounding Fr. Marcial Maciel has been dropped and no church trial will be brought to bear against the founder of the congregation.
Unfortunately, I'm not so sure anything other than a guilty verdict will satisfy the men on crusade against Fr. Maciel. This is about vindication. Their vindication.
Juan Vaca, one of the accusers, responded to the news by saying that the dismissal of the case would damage the Vatican's credibility. Interesting. If an accusation is consistently dismissed for lack of substance, by different judges, who's credibility is really to be questioned, the accused's or the accuser's?
Hopefully the cloud has been lifted from over Fr. Maciel and the Legion permanently.
