A controversial group which had to admit its founder molested seminarians is under investigation by the Vatican.

The Legionaries of Christ had wanted to build a seminary and university in New Castle and Mount Pleasant.

It once enjoyed Pope John Paul II’s favor, but then its founder was disciplined by the Vatican.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has taken the extraordinary step of ordering a Vatican investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, the influential, conservative religious order that has acknowledged that its founder fathered a child and molested seminarians.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 man in the Vatican, said church leaders will visit and evaluate all seminaries, schools and other institutions run by the Legion worldwide.
Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said in a statement made public Tuesday that the Vatican was stepping in “so that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties.”
The Legion revealed in February that its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel of Mexico, had fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and lives in Spain. Maciel died in 2008 at age 87.
The disclosure caused turmoil inside the religious order and its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi. The groups teach that Maciel was a hero whose life should be studied and emulated.
The news also raised many questions — from the order’s critics and defenders alike — that the Legion still hasn’t publicly answered, about whether any current leaders covered up Maciel’s misdeeds and whether any donations were used to facilitate the misconduct or pay victims.
There is no way to predict the outcome of the evaluation. Germain Grisez, a prominent moral theologian at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, has said the Legion should be shut down.
In a statement Tuesday, the director of the religious order, the Rev. Alvaro Corcuera, expressed his “deep gratitude” for the review, called an Apostolic Visitation.
Yet, the Holy See undertakes these extraordinary investigations when it considers a group unable to correct a major problem on its own. In 2002, at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal, the Vatican ordered an evaluation of all U.S. seminaries.