>> Skylstadt was put in the job under the present Pope Bene XVI. <<
Again, you are wrong. Skylstadt was appointed in 1990. Or if by you mean "his present job," you refer to his status as Chair of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, that is a position which Benedict has no authority over. The USCCB is a quasi-official organization which independently elects its leadership by majority vote, without the approval of the Pope. If anything, such a vote demonstrates just what a challenge Pope Benedict has.
I misspoke , I should have said Levada who was appointed by Bene XVI, and Levada was involved with shifting these criminal priests during his tenure.
Try this one . Hot off the press.
Article in the National Catholic Reporter.
This is an excerpt.
I believe this story goes back to 1978 or thereabout.
Posted Thursday May 18, 2006 at 9:12 a.m. CDT
Vatican restricts ministry of Legionaries priest founder
Move seen as confirmation of sex abuse allegations against Maciel
By John L. Allen Jr.
Rome
Capping a decade-long on-again, off-again investigation of accusations of sexual abuse, the Vatican has asked Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to observe a series of restrictions on his ministry.
In effect, Vatican sources told NCR this week, the action amounts to a finding that at least some of the accusations against the charismatic 86-year-old Mexican priest are well-founded.
Maciel has not been laicized, but the restrictions issued shortly before Easter by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith limit Maciel's public activity, such as his capacity to celebrate public Masses, to give lectures or other public presentations, and to give interviews for print or broadcast.
The restrictions have been approved by Pope Benedict XVI, and the Vatican is expected to issue a brief statement shortly.
Vatican sources stressed that the action against Maciel should not be read as an indictment of the Legionaries of Christ or its lay branch, Regnum Christi.
A spokesman for the Legionaries, asked to comment on the development, replied in an e-mail, "We have nothing to say. We don't know anything about this."
According to sources who spoke to NCR, the congregation's investigation was closed sometime toward the end of 2005. In the early months of 2006, the cardinal members of the congregation in Rome were invited to review the documentation. The decision to impose restrictions was then reached sometime before Easter.
Sources described the documentation collected by the congregation as involving the testimony of at least 20 accusers. The acts in question, according to these sources, reached into the 1980s.
One cardinal who serves on the congregation told NCR that, in his view, the material left little doubt as to the validity of the charges, though he said he was less clear how Maciel understood what he had done. Under canon law, intent and state of mind are sometimes taken into consideration in meting out punishment.
Within the Vatican, the Maciel case has long been seen as particularly sensitive, in part because it could tarnish the reputation of the late John Paul II, who warmly praised and repeatedly honored Maciel. The case could also call into question the action of Benedict XVI, who as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stopped the case against Maciel in 1999. However, he reactivated the case in 2004 and ultimately approved the disciplining of Maciel.
A senior Vatican official told NCR that the decisive break came only in late 2004, when a number of additional accusers came forward. Prior to that, he said, both John Paul and then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, were operating on the assumption that the charges were not justified.
Maciel becomes perhaps the highest-profile priest in the Catholic church to be disciplined for allegations of sexual abuse.
He has a distinguished Catholic lineage. Two of Maciel's great-uncles were Mexican bishops during the anti-clerical persecutions of the early 20th century. One, Bishop Rafael Guízar Valencia of Veracruz, was beatified by John Paul II in 1995, and a decree recognizing a miracle that clears his path to sainthood was signed by Benedict XVI April 28. Maciel's uncle, Jesús Degollado Guízar, was the last commander-in-chief of the Cristeros army that took up arms in defense of the church