Pope’s Legion delegate warns of ‘shipwreck’

The papal official running the disgraced Legionaries of Christ has warned that the conservative order faces “certain shipwreck” unless its superiors and members work together to change course following revelations that their founder led a double life.
Archbishop Velasio De Paolis also said in a letter to the Legion that it will take three years or more to reform the order, dashing the hopes of Legion superiors who had wanted a quick-fix turnaround. At the same time, though, he made clear that the Legion was still viable as an order and suggested that, once reformed, it could have a role in the pope’s new efforts to revitalize Christianity where it’s on the wane.