Pope orders probe of scandal-plagued religious order

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has ordered an investigation of an influential Roman Catholic priestly order whose founder was discovered to be a sexual molester and to have had at least one child with a mistress.

The Legionaries of Christ announced the inspection, known in Church language as an "Apostolic Visitation," on Tuesday. The Vatican privately informed the order on March 10.

The conservative Legionaries, have been shaken over the past several years by a string of scandals tied to their founder, Father Marcial Maciel, who died last year at the age of 87.

Last month, the order said it had found evidence that he had lived a double life for decades.

While running an order of priests who take vows of celibacy, he had a mistress with whom he fathered at least one child.

In 2006, Pope Benedict told Maciel to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence" after accusations that he had molested boy and men seminarians decades earlier.

The order had denied the molestation charges for years but the Vatican moved against Maciel after new evidence emerged. At the time, the sanctions against Maciel made him one of the most prominent persons to be disciplined for sexual abuse.

The "Apostolic Visitation" can lead to sanctions and disciplinary action. Such probes are not frequent and can last for months.