Vatican City, May 12 (ANI): Seven priests from the Legion Christ religious order are being investigated by the Vatican for sexually abusing minors.
Two other priests are also being investigated for sacramental violations and using spiritual directions to create sexual relations with women.
It is for the first time that the Vatican has taken action against Legion priests for their alleged involvement in sexual relations after the scandal of the order's founder emerged.
The church, however, had earlier maintained that crimes by late Reverend Marcial Maciel were the only case involving the church, Sky News reports.
Reverend Maciel was seen as a model by Pope John Paul II, despite accusations that he had raped and molested his seminaries, which were proved later.
Documents from the Vatican archives, however, have revealed that the Vatican had evidence that Maciel was a drug addict and a paedophile.
It was only in 2006 that the Vatican punished Maciel to lifetime reparation and prayer for his crimes.
He died in 2008 and a year later the Vatican confessed that he had fathered three children with two different women and had also abused his seminarians.
In 2010, the Vatican started probing the Legion and began implementing a system of change. (ANI)
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