The New York Review of Books has its distinguished Latin American correspondent, Alma Guillermoprieto, analyzing the extraordinary Maciel story. Ignore Guillermoprieto's dimestore psychological analysis of the priesthood. But what she convincingly suggests is the importance of the Maciel story for Mexican Catholicism, where Maciel was a major figure with deep roots in the country's elite and among those Mexicans descended from early twentieth century Cristero Catholic activists.

John T. McGreevy is the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame.

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