Marcial Maciel

The Legionaries of Christ has pledged to investigate all past credible claims of the abuse of minors by its members no matter how long ago the abuse occurred and to publish the names of all priests who have been convicted of abuse-related crimes.

Yolanda Martínez's son had been sexually abused by a priest of the Legion of Christ, a disgraced religious order. But when she called Cardinal Valasio De Paolis — the Vatican official appointed by the pope to lead the Legion and to clean it up — to report the settlement the group was offering and to express her outrage, he laughed.

Ana Lucia Salazar's horrific story, which has been corroborated by other victims and the Legion of Christ itself, has sparked a new credibility crisis for the once-influential order, 10 years after the Holy See took it over after determining that its founder was a pedophile.

The Legion of Christ religious order, which was discredited by its pedophile founder and the cult-like practices he imposed, says an internal investigation has identified 33 priests and 71 seminarians who sexually abused minors over the past eight decades.

Your thoughts: National Catholic Reporter followed the U.S. bishops' conference fall assembly closely as usual, with national correspondent Heidi Schlumpf and columnist Michael Sean Winters representing our publication in Baltimore. 

Though the new film about a series of encounters between Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis is largely fictional, it deals well with church history, the papacy, the mysteries of faith and communion. It also has something to say about the antagonistic level of public discourse in the U.S.

Distinctly Catholic: Like the church, the meeting is traditional but unpredictable; mainstream society will largely ignore it; and it is difficult to believe in the current leadership.

We say: The response in certain circles to the Aug. 21 court decision upholding Cardinal George Pell's conviction for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s was as swift as it was irrational. Hysteria serves no purpose.