The pope ordered the investigation last year after the Legionaries acknowledged its late founder, the Rev Marcial Maciel of Mexico, had fathered a daughter and had sexually abused seminarians.

Since then a Mexican woman has come forward saying she had a lengthy relationship with Maciel, that he fathered her two sons, adopted a third and sexually abused two of them.

The disclosure of Maciel's double life has caused enormous turmoil inside the Legionaries and its lay affiliate, Regnum Christi, particularly because information initially released by the leadership was less than forthcoming. The order had essentially created a personality cult around Maciel, teaching that he was a hero whose life should be studied and emulated.

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The Legionaries was formed in 1941 and became one of the most influential and fastest-growing orders in the Roman Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II championed the group, which became known for its orthodox theology, military-style discipline, fundraising prowess and success recruiting priests at a time when seminary enrolment was generally dismal.

The group says it now has some 800 priests and 2,600 seminarians worldwide, along with 75,000 Regnum Christi members.

The Vatican began investigating allegations against Maciel in the 1950s, and again in 1998 after nine former seminarians said he had abused them when they were boys or teenagers in Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy from the 1940s through the 1960s. Later, others came forward.

But it was not until 2006, a year into the current papacy when the Vatican instructed Maciel to lead a "reserved life of prayer and penance" in response to the abuse allegations.