175 children abused by Mexican Catholic Church

MEXICO CITY: At least 175 children were sexually assaulted by priests belonging to an ultra-conservative Mexican branch of the Roman Catholic Church, according to an internal report published on Saturday.

The founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel, abused as many as 60 children, with a total of 33 priests or deacons acknowledged to have committed sexual assaults against minors since 1941, the document says.

The findings of the report -- written by a commission created in June by the director general of the group, Eduardo Robles-Gil -- spans from the group’s founding in 1941 until December 16, 2019.

"The vast majority of the victims were adolescent boys between 11 and 16 years old," the statement said, published on ceroabusos.org, which is supported by the Legionaries of Christ.