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Since
the 1990s at least fifteen Catholic bishops
and one cardinal left their posts on
being exposed for sexually abusing youths.
None left the priesthood. Meanwhile,
dozens of priests have been defrocked
for moral crimes. Based on the book by
Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows
of Silence is an anatomy of the
Vatican’s justice system -- a system
that shields the powerful, unaccountable
to victims and lay people.
With
support from the Fund for Investigative
Journalism, the documentary follows the
haunting saga of Father Marcial Maciel,
who won the favor of Pope John Paul II
despite a long trail of pedophilia accusations.
The greatest fundraiser of the modern
church, Maciel founded the Legionaries
of Christ, a religious order with a $650
million budget and history of controversial
tactics. In 1998 eight former Legion
seminarians filed a canon law case in
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s office,
seeking Maciel’s expulsion from
the church for abusing them. The film
trains a lens on then-Vatican Secretary
of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, in
his efforts to abort the Maciel case.
In
late 2004, with Pope John Paul II dying,
Ratzinger reopened the proceeding. The
film follows the investigation by a Vatican
canon lawyer, Msgr. Charles Scicluna,
as Mexican, Irish and American witnesses
testify about Maciel’s sexual abuse,
psychological tyranny, and the secret
vows he imposed to secure Legionaries’ silence.
With
location shoots in Rome, Mexico City,
New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Milwaukee and New Orleans, the film tracks
Maciel’s rise from war-torn Mexico
as he gained the support of Spanish dictator
Francisco Franco, and later cemented
ties with Vatican officials. Despite
a suspension from his position in the
1950s for morphine addiction, Maciel
went on to build an international movement
of schools and universities. A key figure
in the film, former Vatican official
Christopher Kunze, a native of Wisconsin
and graduate of Marquette University,
breaks his silence since leaving the
priesthood, criticizing a cult-like atmosphere
inside the Legion. Another
ex-Legionary discusses secret files that
the Legion kept in Rome on other seminarians,
including a son of Supreme Court Justice
Scalia.
In
May 2006 under Pope Benedict XVI, the
Vatican “invited” Maciel
to retire from public ministry to “a
life of prayer and penitence.” Vows
of Silence probes issues the Vatican
left unanswered. Maciel
died in January. The Legionaries consider
him a saint who was falsely accused.
Vows
of Silence premiers at the New
Orleans International Human Rights
Film Festival on April 14, the day
before Benedict XVI makes his first
papal visit to America.
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