Father Carlos Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez, the new general director of the Legionaries of Christ, speaks about transparency, renewal, and the long road of healing after the crimes of founder Marcial Maciel.<\/p>\n
Can a religious congregation survive after its founder turns out to have been a sexual abuser and a liar who lived a double life for years? The Legionaries of Christ have spent 20 years answering that question with actions.<\/p>\n
They were pioneers in publishing the cases of their abusive priests \u2014 an unprecedented step in consecrated life \u2014 and in submitting 80 years of a dark history to public scrutiny. Today, they are an ecclesial reference point for transparency. Now, Father Carlos Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez, 51, the new general director elected in February, speaks with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, about the road that still lies ahead.<\/p>\n
It is a path of expiation that began in 2006 but reached a turning point in 2019 with the publication of the \u201c1941\u20132019 Report,\u201d the first of its kind to include all cases from the congregation\u2019s founding to the present day and throughout the world. Since then, it has been updated each year through the \u201cTruth, Justice, and Healing\u201d reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we began facing this reality, although it was very painful, it also opened our eyes: There was a lot of work to do,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez said. \u201cIn recent years we have been working hard to meet standards, following the documents issued by the Church, collaborating with canonical and civil authorities. We have been putting a certain order in place so we can attend to and respond to the needs of victims and provide comprehensive care in different areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Father Carlos Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez at the Legionaries of Christ headquarters in Rome. | Credit: Daniel Iba\u00f1ez\/EWTN News<\/p>\n
His priestly vocation, marked by the wound left by Maciel<\/p>\n
His own vocational story was marked by the scandal that shook the congregation because of its founder, Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, who was responsible for extremely serious sexual abuse. Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez was ordained a priest in 2009, just as the magnitude of Maciel\u2019s crimes was coming to light: Maciel had sexually abused dozens of minors over several decades and had lived, as the Vatican confirmed in 2010, \u201ca life devoid of scruples and genuine religious sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely something very strong, something that left all of us very perplexed, frightened, and also disillusioned,\u201d he said in an interview with ACI Prensa. \u201cAnd that meant for me a very deep process of reflection in which I had to ask why I was giving my life to God and also the question: Why remain here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maciel died in 2008 without acknowledging his crimes or asking for forgiveness, even though a Vatican investigative commission had already revealed his criminal activity beyond any doubt.<\/p>\n
After the scandal, Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez explained, the figure of the founder ceased to be a reference point: \u201cDefinitely, the founder is no longer a spiritual reference point, a moral reference point for us. And for me, that reference point, I saw, had always been Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we seek to imitate and with whom we also seek to have that personal relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benedict XVI saw the light that was in them<\/p>\n
Despite all the evil committed by the founder, Benedict XVI never failed to recognize in the Legionaries of Christ \u201ca healthy community\u201d made up of \u201cyoung people who want to serve the faith with enthusiasm,\u201d as the pontiff himself emphasized in the book-length interview with Peter Seewald \u201cLight of the World.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the beginning, the Vatican established that the congregation\u2019s review should be built around three fundamental axes: the redefinition of its charism or spirituality; the review of the exercise of authority \u2014 whose abusive control of consciences allowed Maciel to live a double life for years \u2014 and the guarantee of adequate formation for seminarians and priests. In addition, to complete the long process of purification, a constant dialogue was opened with victims inside and outside the Legion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church accompanied us throughout a whole process of renewal. We reviewed constitutions, we reviewed many of the norms we had been living in the congregation, the style of apostolate we carried out \u2014 in short, it was an entire review that lasted many years,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez said.<\/p>\n
For many Legionary seminarians and priests, the support of the Church was decisive; like a \u201cmother,\u201d the Church \u201cshowed the way,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing how the Legion was responding, I said: Well, I also want to help the Church with my priesthood to move this congregation forward, because the congregation can also contribute and give much to the Church in evangelization. In the end, we are here to serve God Our Lord, in the Church, and in this call that he made to me. As I have gone step by step, I have felt very happy, and that has also been my experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
First meeting with Pope Leo XIV<\/p>\n
During the audience the Legionaries had with Pope Leo XIV in February, the pontiff returned to several key points of the deep renewal they have carried out in fidelity to the Church. For example, he emphasized to them that authority in the Church must be lived as fraternal and spiritual service, not as a form of domination.<\/p>\n
For the Mexican priest, this is a demanding but profoundly evangelical ideal.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I really liked that part of the audience,\u201d Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez said.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV with the former superior general of the Legionaries of Christ, Father John Connor. | Credit: Vatican Media<\/p>\n
He especially highlighted the moment when the pope invited the Legionaries to approach people \u201cwith a respectful and compassionate gaze,\u201d aware that every encounter means entering \u201ca sacred space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing on his own experience as a superior and as territorial director in northern Mexico and Colombia, Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez said he has always been clear that authority is above all a service: \u201cFor my brothers, I am offering them a service. \u2026 What they share with me is something sacred, and I have to respect that sacredness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez is not naive. He knows well that many people may wonder how it is possible to separate the deplorable actions of the founder, who was responsible for so many crimes, from the charism that the Legionaries of Christ embody today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a valid question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In this regard, he noted that it was the Church herself that \u201cfrom the beginning,\u201d when she asked the Legionaries to \u201creview our constitutions,\u201d placed the fundamental question before them: \u201cWhat is your charism? What is the charism and the contribution that the Legion makes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe charism, I believe, is something we have been discovering, and it is nothing other than forming apostles to transmit the love of Christ, to form apostles and also send them to evangelize the world and help the Church in this evangelization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the congregation\u2019s statistics, updated as of Dec. 31, 2025, the Legionaries of Christ have 1,327 members worldwide, including 52 religious with perpetual vows and 151 with temporary vows.<\/p>\n
Despite the wounds of the past, they continue to attract vocations: Currently, 250 minor seminarians are being formed in vocational centers, reflecting the continued weight of initial formation within the congregation.<\/p>\n
The Legionaries of Christ belong to Regnum Christi, which also includes the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, with 479 consecrated women in 53 communities around the world; the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi, with 47 lay consecrated men in eight communities; and lay members: 21,712 lay young people and adults older than 16 and 14,353 lay members younger than 16.<\/p>\n
The new superior general of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Carlos Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez, speaks with ACI Prensa in an interview. | Credit: Daniel Iba\u00f1ez\/EWTN News<\/p>\n
In Regnum Christi\u2019s educational work \u2014 139 schools and 14 universities \u2014 153,219 students are being educated.<\/p>\n
The new general director explained that one of the keys to eradicating abuse from within the congregation has been swiftly applying standards for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults in the 23 countries where it is present.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years we have been very strict in applying these standards and in perfecting them so they can be lived well. In each of the countries where we are working, we have sought to have the necessary teams that can respond, made up of professionals. These are things that we priests cannot do alone. We need specialists \u2014 psychologists, lawyers, and so on \u2014 to help us truly be very serious in complying with these standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An engineer-priest with broad international experience<\/p>\n
Affable and approachable, Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez is used to moving in international settings. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum as well as industrial and systems engineering at the Monterrey Institute of Technology. He also holds a master\u2019s degree in psychology from Divine Mercy University in the United States.<\/p>\n
He has carried out his ministry in Chile, Italy, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a great richness to have that experience, to be in contact with different cultures, to know the needs of each country, to learn to listen, to adapt to what a society and a culture are like, to understand them in order to offer and bring them the message that leads to the Church, which is knowing Christ and living one\u2019s faith,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that has also been personally enriching, now that my Legionary brothers have elected me to this role, so that I can respond and accompany the different territories,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Until his election as general director, he served as territorial director of northern Mexico, a region deeply wounded by violence, poverty, organized crime, and migration flows toward the United States. The Legionaries also try to be a balm for migrants \u2014 many of them deportees \u2014 amid their suffering.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole situation of migrants and organized crime truly causes suffering for many families affected by this reality. What we seek, above all, is to form young people and families, to instill values in them, precisely so they can begin to change their social environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In this context, he explained that alongside the private schools the congregation operates in cities in northern Mexico, there are also the Mano Amiga schools, intended for families with limited resources and supported through subsidies and scholarships.<\/p>\n
The goal is to offer these children an education that will allow them to enter a profession and pursue university studies \u2014 \u201ca way to change the destiny of their lives, open horizons for them, and, above all, form them in values so they can transform their environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his election at the most recent general chapter, the Legionaries of Christ have entrusted Guti\u00e9rrez L\u00f3pez with the task of continuing the congregation\u2019s process of renewal and strengthening its evangelizing service, with special attention to the existential peripheries.<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n