VATICAN CITY — The Holy See has granted definitive approval of the statutes of Regnum Christi, an ecclesial movement established by Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

Archbishop Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, read a formal statement of the approval on Thanksgiving Day at the end of the Mass at which he presided in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The archbishop ordained 59 Legionaries to the priesthood during the Eucharistic celebration.

The Vatican dicastery's decree of approval, dated Nov. 26, the 60th anniversary of Father Maciel's priestly ordination, “establishes that the Regnum Christi Movement is the specific instrument of the apostolate of the Legion of Christ, to which it is united in an indivisible way.” John Paul II praised the service rendered to the Church by Father Maciel in a letter read in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, in Rome by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State for general affairs, at the end of the thanksgiving Mass at which Father Maciel presided.

In his message to Father Maciel, John Paul II recalled that day 60 years ago when the founder was ordained a priest in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City.

“Your 60 years of priestly life, Reverend Father,” he wrote, “have been characterized by significant spiritual and missionary fecundity.”

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