Head of Legionaries tells pope members completely adhere to pope

Catholic News Service/June 19, 2006

Vatican City (CNS) -- The head of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Alvaro Corcuera Martinez del Rio, met with Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience in the Vatican June 16.

The meeting came about a month after the Vatican asked the founder of the Legionaries, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, to not to exercise his priestly ministry publicly after investigating accusations that the priest sexually abused minors.

Father Corcuera said he told the pope the Legionaries and the associated lay movement Regnum Christi were in "the most complete adherence" to the pope and his ministry.

In a June 16 statement on the congregation's Web site, the Mexican-born priest said that during their meeting, the pope "was especially kind and fatherly and he assured me that he is very close to the Legion and Regnum Christi at this time."

Father Corcuera, who was elected to succeed Father Maciel in January 2005, gave Pope Benedict a written statement which was also published on the congregation's Web site.

Signed by Father Corcuera, the note to the pope said members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi wanted to express their "filial love and to renew" their "unconditional adherence" to the pope and his ministry.

The members' love for and faith in the pope "are the secret and guarantee of our fidelity to Christ and the church. Thus we feel very close to Christ when we are close to his vicar," it said. "We also want to renew our commitment to continue dedicating our time and all that we are to serve the church, and we offer our charism to the bishops as a means of extending Christ's kingdom."

Father Corcuera said the pope asked him to assure the members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi "that he feels close to us all, prays for us and sends his blessing."

The head of the Legionaries urged all members to answer God's love with an evermore intense effort "to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in our journey to holiness."

"Only if we are holy will we carry forward our apostolic mission," he said, adding that "today more than ever, we need to be Christians in name and in fact, bearing in our lives the commandment of love."