Pope Benedict XVI had an impromptu meeting on Friday with five bishops who completed a probe into a conservative Catholic order whose founder Marcial Maciel was disgraced by abuse scandals.
The inspectors had been scheduled only to meet with Vatican number two, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
The five inspectors, who completed the nine-month probe in March, visited some 120 Legion of Christ communities around the world.
The Mexican-born Maciel, who died aged 87 in 2008, was accused of molesting seminarians and secretly fathering children.
The global probe wrapped up as the Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by paedophile priest scandals in the Americas and Europe.
Before Maciel's fall from grace, he and the order he founded in Mexico in 1941 and led with an iron fist were championed by Benedict's predecessor John Paul II.
Earlier this month in Mexico, the order asked for forgiveness from two brothers claiming to be Maciel's sons said he had abused them.
Last year the order confirmed a report in The New York Times that Maciel had also secretly fathered a daughter.
In May 2006, Benedict ordered Maciel to renounce all duties and lead a "quiet life of prayer and penitence."
But a canonical trial was ruled out because of his advanced age and poor health.
The Legion of Christ is present in 22 countries, notably Mexico and Spain, and runs 12 universities. It counts 800 priests, 2,500 seminarians and 70,000 lay members.
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The inspectors had been scheduled only to meet with Vatican number two, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
The five inspectors, who completed the nine-month probe in March, visited some 120 Legion of Christ communities around the world.
The Mexican-born Maciel, who died aged 87 in 2008, was accused of molesting seminarians and secretly fathering children.
The global probe wrapped up as the Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by paedophile priest scandals in the Americas and Europe.
Before Maciel's fall from grace, he and the order he founded in Mexico in 1941 and led with an iron fist were championed by Benedict's predecessor John Paul II.
Earlier this month in Mexico, the order asked for forgiveness from two brothers claiming to be Maciel's sons said he had abused them.
Last year the order confirmed a report in The New York Times that Maciel had also secretly fathered a daughter.
In May 2006, Benedict ordered Maciel to renounce all duties and lead a "quiet life of prayer and penitence."
But a canonical trial was ruled out because of his advanced age and poor health.
The Legion of Christ is present in 22 countries, notably Mexico and Spain, and runs 12 universities. It counts 800 priests, 2,500 seminarians and 70,000 lay members.
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