The Georgetown University Lecture Fund
in partnership with
The Hoya
present:

Vows of Silence

A Documentary by Jason Berry

VOWS OF SILENCE explores the haunting saga of Father Marcial Maciel, one of the greatest fundraisers in church history. Maciel wins the favor of Pope John Paul II, despite a trail of pedophilia accusations from former seminarians of his religious order, the Legion of Christ. Though small in number, the Legion has a $650 million budget. Ex-Legionaries file a 1998 canon law case in the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, seeking Maciel’s expulsion from the church. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State, pressures Ratzinger to abort the case. In late 2004, with Pope John Paul dying, Ratzinger orders a secret investigation. The film follows the journey of a Vatican investigator, taking testimony from Irish, Mexican and American witnesses. Maciel cloaked his abuses and psychological tyranny by swearing Legionaries to secret vows, never to criticize him or the cult-like movement. With location shoots in Latin America, the U.S. and Italy, the film follows Maciel’s rise from a war-torn Mexico, gaining support from the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, securing his position in Rome as he turns the Legion into an international movement, building schools and universities. As the Vatican investigator builds his dossier against Maciel and the Legion, Ratzinger, as Pope Benedict XVI, must decide the meaning of Vatican justice.

Jason Berry is renowned for his pioneering investigative reporting on sexual abuse in the Catholic priesthood. Lead Us Not Into Temptation (1992) was the first major book on the church's crisis and is still used in many newsrooms. He has worked as a consultant for ABC News and is routinely interviewed in the national media about Catholic Church issues and his native city, New Orleans. The book Vows of Silence (2004), co-authored with Gerald Renner, prompted a Vatican investigation and demotion of one of the most powerful priests in Rome. Mr. Berry is a cultural chronicler of New Orleans in such books as Up From the Cradle of Jazz, a grand history of popular music, and Last of the Red Hot Poppas, a comic novel about Louisiana politics. His play, Earl Long in Purgatory, won a 2002 Big Easy Award for best original work of theater. Mr. Berry has received Guggenheim and Alicia Patterson fellowships for his research.