The Vatican has reopened a sexual abuse investigation into a powerful priest close to the pope who leads a religious order based in Connecticut.
The allegations focus on the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, an 84-year-old Mexican priest based in Rome who leads the Legionaires of Christ.
The organization, which says it has 600 priests in 18 countries, has its U.S. headquarters in Orange and a seminary in Cheshire.
Nine former members of the Legion said Maciel abused them years ago when they were young boys or teenagers in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ have vigorously denied the allegations of abuse. Maciel has accused the nine men of a conspiracy to defame him.
The accusers -- who are all men and include two Mexican-Americans, five Mexicans and two Spaniards -- have tried for years to get Pope John Paul II to look at their allegations.
In November, the pope praised Maciel for his ministry. A week later, Maciel's accusers were told the Vatican was reopening a canon law investigation that stalled in 1999.