VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Legion of Christ religious order has been hit by a second scandal in a week with the admission that its most well-known priest had fathered a child.
The Rev. Thomas Williams, an American television commentator, author and moral theologian at the legion's Rome university, said in a statement Tuesday he was "deeply sorry for this grave transgression."
The legion has been beset by scandals for years following revelations that its founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, fathered three children and sexually abused his seminarians. Maciel died in 2008, and in 2009 the legion admitted to his crimes.
Father Williams, the most prominent priest in the 800-strong order, admitted to Maciel's double life, telling a Catholic TV program that the revelations were a "very, very hard blow to all of us."
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