Rome and the Ownerless Ruins

In the Vatican corridors, no one will say it out loud, but history repeats itself with almost mathematical regularity: Rome never dissolves what it cannot inherit. The proof is in the Legion of Christ. After the monumental scandal of Marcial Maciel—abuses, lies, money, power—the logical thing would have been to suppress the congregation, excise the tumor, and close the chapter. But no: it was intervened in, reformed, names and statutes were changed, and the body was left to cool on its own. Why? Because there was nothing to gain. Only debts, lawsuits, and mortgaged buildings.

The Vatican then discovered that the Legion, like almost all successful movements of the 20th century, had learned the legal lesson before the theological one: all the important properties were in the hands of foundations and civil societies. The universities, the residences, the schools, the vocational centers… every piece registered with a notary, with its own patronage, separate accounts, and perfect shielding. Dissolving the Legion would have meant inheriting its liabilities without touching a euro of its assets. Rome preferred the sensible option: let it die alone, due to lack of vocations, slowly, without making noise or assuming bills.

The parallelism with Torreciudad is evident. There is also a sanctuary, a spiritual brand, a charismatic symbol. And behind it, the same civil architecture: Inmobiliaria Aragonesa S.A. as the owner, Patronato de Torreciudad as the temporary usufructuary, everything registered in a notary’s office with surgical precision. Not a single brick in ecclesiastical hands, not a crack to enter through. In Rome, they still haven’t understood that when movements learned to speak the language of civil law, they became economically independent forever. Rome can preach about poverty, but the charisms learned to register their assets like bankers.

The problem is not only financial, but canonical. For decades, the Church has tolerated—and sometimes encouraged—communities, orders, and foundations to channel donations and inheritances through civil entities, outside the ecclesiastical radar. There is no canonical commercial law that clearly regulates these hybrid structures. The result is a tangle of societies, patronages, and foundations that function as shields: when Rome tries to intervene, it encounters a legal labyrinth and the same outcome as always: “nothing to scrape”.

So Rome will continue dreaming of reforms and reorganizations, while in the property registries remain the true stone testaments. The orders rot, the movements become extinct, the charisms dilute… but the buildings remain there, perfectly deeded. Because in this postmodern Church, the Spirit blows where it wills, but it is the notaries who sign.