World News : Catholic order head admits hiding priest's scandal

ROME (World News) - The leader of the Legionaries of Christ admitted on Tuesday he knew for years the scandal-plagued Roman Catholic order's most famous priest had fathered a child but still allowed the popular cleric to preach about morality.

The order, still reeling from revelations that its founder was a sex abuser and drug addict with two secret families, suffered another major blow last week when it admitted that Father Thomas Williams, an American based in Rome, also had led a double life.

But the question that had been left hanging after the first admission was how long Williams' superiors knew.

In a letter to members published on the order's website, the order's leader, Father Alvaro Corcuera, said he found out about Williams's child "early in my new assignment" as director-general, which began in 2005.

In an interview with World News last week, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the man Pope Benedict appointed in 2010 as his personal delegate to try to reform the order, said he did not find out about Williams's affair until this year.

Williams was the public face of the order, appearing often on American television networks to explain Church teachings. He was the author of more than a dozen books, including one called "Knowing Right From Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience".

He was a big draw on the lecture circuit at Catholic institutions and had two websites, both of which were shut down last week after the order issued a statement about him.

In his letter to members, Corcuera said that after he first found out that Williams had a child he asked him to "start withdrawing from public ministry" but admitted that the restrictions "were not firm enough" and Williams was allowed to continue teaching.

In fact, Williams continued to appear in public and teach at Rome's Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University.

He appeared as a consultant to a U.S. television ne twork until 2010 and had a contract with the network until May 2011, when it was not renewed, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Corcuera said in his letter that he did not give Williams an "explicit indication to full withdraw from all public ministry" until March 2012. By that time it was an open secret to a number of television journalists.

In the letter, Corcuera "begs" forgiveness from members of the order for being an ineffective leader and for not being "diligent in setting proper restrictions and enforcing them" in the Williams case.

SNAP, a U.S-based group combating sexual abuse in the Church, called on the pope to "oust" Corcuera.

"Virtually nothing will change if the pope and other Church officials continue to let their colleagues and underlings act recklessly and deceitfully - year after year afte r year - and get by with saying, when they're caught, 'Oops, sorry, I goofed,'" SNAP said in a statement.

FOUNDER LED DOUBLE LIFE

The Legionaries of Christ run private Catholic schools and charitable organizations in 22 countries via a network of 800 priests and 2,600 seminarians. The order's lay movement, known as Regnum Christi, has around 75,000 members.

The order and its leaders have been at the centre of controversy since 2009 when they were forced to admit that their charismatic Mexican founder, Father Marcial Maciel, had led a double life for decades.

Maciel, who made huge financial contributions to the Vatican, secretly fathered children with at least two women, used drugs, misused donations and sexually abused seminarians.

He had enjoyed the support of the late Pope John Paul and wa s spared official censure for years despite what critics say was overwhelming proof of his crimes.

Some Churchmen say the scandal may delay John Paul's road to sainthood. Last year he was beatified, the last step before being made a saint.

Pope Benedict ordered Maciel to retire in 2006 to a life of "prayer and penitence" when the evidence could no longer be disputed, and he died in disgrace in 2008.

Some critics of the order say that since the Legionaries have such a history of scandal and cover-up that they are beyond repair and should be shut down, with good priests joining other religious orders or being put under control of bishops.