Spain: Principal of Legionaries of Christ-linked school resigns amid abuse scandal

(OSV News) -- The principal of a school run by members of Regnum Christi, the lay arm of the Legionaries of Christ, resigned after a school chaplain was arrested for sexually abusing five underage girls.

"Given the situation we are experiencing at the school where I am principal, which has caused profound pain and has generated distrust in our institution, I believe I must resign," wrote Father Jesús María Delgado, a Legionaries of Christ priest and principal of the Highlands El Encinar school in Madrid.

"I want to express to those who feel let down and dejected by the disappointment that I share their pain. I apologize for all this hurt," he wrote.

The scandal first came to light when the school announced March 7 that police had arrested Father Marcelino de Andrés Núñez after the parents of one student filed a complaint after their daughter said the priest had done "bad things" to her and her classmates.

Police subsequently reached out to the classmates mentioned by the girl, and four others joined in the complaint. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the victims said Father de Andrés Nuñez would give them gifts, would take them to "secret areas" of the school's courtyard, and would forbid them to leave when they tried to escape.

Father de Andrés Nuñez was hired as a chaplain at the school in 2022. El Pais reported that at that time, several parents at the school had expressed concerns to Father Delgado about the priest after they had learned that Father de Andrés Nuñez had once served as a personal secretary to the late-Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

In May 2006, following an investigation into allegations Father Maciel sexually abused seminarians, led by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of the then-Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and started under the pontificate of St. John Paul II, the Vatican announced it had sanctioned the Mexican priest and asked him to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of penance.

After his death in 2008, it was revealed that Father Maciel had sexually abused dozens of children over several decades. In 2010, the Vatican announced that Father Maciel was guilty of "the very grave and objectively immoral actions" and "real crimes," and had lived a "life devoid of scruples and of genuine religious meaning."

Despite the parents' concerns, former school principal Father Delgado said there were no past complaints about the priest and that he had no prior criminal record.

On March 8, two days after his arrest, Father de Andrés Nuñez appeared in court and was released under precautionary measures after a judge determined he did not pose a flight risk. The judge also ordered that several electronic devices confiscated during his arrest be analyzed.

In a letter addressed to members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi published March 24, Father Francisco Javier Cereceda, territorial director of the Legionaries of Christ in Spain, said the allegations of abuse at the school "bring us back to the reality of the suffering caused throughout our history, and for which we humbly ask forgiveness."

While touting the efforts made by the Legionaries of Christ "to combat the scourge of child abuse," Father Cereceda acknowledged that "in the midst of the pain we are experiencing, the question that arises in many hearts is 'What now?'"

"We want to tell you that the answer to this question, from humility and commitment, is that we will not give up, we will not quit, we will not abandon the path of renewal that we embarked on at that time," he wrote. "We will redouble our efforts without sparing any effort to undertake a profound review of our institutional culture and to continue promoting a culture of zero abuse."