Saturday, September 29, 2012

Lawyer pushes to unseal Legion of Christ documents

A Rhode Island Superior Court judge has heard arguments on whether to unseal documents in a lawsuit contesting the will of an elderly widow who gave some $60 million to the Legion of Christ, a disgraced Roman Catholic religious order.
 
A lawyer for the niece of the late Gabrielle Mee on Monday argued that it was in the public interest to release the documents, but a lawyer for the Legion of Christ said that would compromise its right to a fair trial.

The judge did not immediately issue a decision.
 
Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women.