Regnum Christi is an international Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement associated with the Legion of Christ, founded by Fr. Marcial Maciel. Regnum Christi is dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith. Their motto is "Love Christ, Serve People, Build the Church."
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The Ethos of Regnum Christi is essetially the same as the Legion of Christ with appropriate adaptations for lay life. Its spirituality can be described as four loves: love for Christ, love for Mary, love for souls, and love for the Church and Pope.
Love for Christ is, for Regnum Christi members, a personal experience. Through the Gospel, the Cross, and the Eucharist, they come to know Christ intimately, and love him in a passionate way by embracing him as their model of holiness.[1]
Love for Mary flows from imitating Christ; the Blessed Virgin is loved as both Mother of the Church and their mother. Regnum Christi members try to practice her virtues of faith, hope, charity, humility, and cooperation with Christ's plan of redemption.[1]
Love for Souls is expressed in an ardent desire to spread Christ's kingdom in this world and an ardent charity for one's neighbour. Regnum Christi members want Christ to reign in everyone's heart and practice charity with all independent of any external factor.[1]
Finally, there is Regnum Christi's love for Church and Pope. The Church is loved because it is the Body of Christ, and the beginning of his Kingdom on earth. Thus Regnum Christi members honor her by faith, submit to her in obedience, win souls for her through evangelization, and put her above all other earthly things in their lives. This love of the Church leads many in Regnum Christi to speak of being always in step with the Church, neither ahead nor behind: a commitment to Catholic Orthodoxy. It also explains the members' special affection for the Pope, who is supported in his charism of primacy and magisterium. All bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff, as the Apostles' successors and teachers of the Catholic Faith, are likewise honored.[1]
Members of Regnum Christi make a commitment to specific daily prayers and meditation, weekly meetings, and annual spiritual retreats. They are required to work actively in some concrete way in service to the Catholic Church - usually through specific Regnum Christi apostolates. Its members call these works apostolates. These include those specific Regnum Christi (Mission Youth [Youth for the Third Millennium], Helping Hands Medical Missions, Familia, Conquest, Challenge, and Pure Fashion[2]), and other works in parishes or dioceses.
As of 2010, there were about 70,000 members in more than 30 countries.[3] Among these members, there are three degrees of commitment:
1st Degree: non-consecrated lay members of Regnum Christi.
2nd Degree: non-consecrated Regnum Christi members offer a greater service to the movement.
3rd Degree: consecrated members. These are both the consecrated women, consecrated men, and consecrated Legionaries. As of 2010, there were about 900 such members (not counting Legionaries), nearly all women, but also a handful of men. They give up possessions and ties to their former lives much in the way nuns or priests do. They adhere to Vatican-approved statutes that have promises in the same style (poverty, chastity and obedience) as nuns or religious men have vows. This is a new form of consecrated life in the Church with a unique canonical status.[4]
There is also a special reduced level of commitment for young people who are members of ECYD (Education, Culture and Youth Development). The members of ECYD make commitments to be a better friend of Christ, by saying a few prayers, practicing virtue, and doing some apostolate (service project).[5]
The first draft of the statutes for Regnum Christi was written and promulgated in 1959. On November 25, 2004, Pope John Paul II personally approved the statutes of the movement (this approval was for the core statutes not every single statute).[6] These statutes define the goals, spirituality, and structure of Regnum Christi. In a November 21, 2011 letter, Cardinal Velasio de Paolis asked the consecrated in Regnum Christi to edit their core set of norms, and took force away from a more extensive set of norms. He set up a small commission to revise them.[7][8]
Regnum Christi is directly tied to the Legion of Christ but is a separate entity within the Catholic Church. The nature of the association is that each member of the Legion of Christ is first a member of Regnum Christi and then a member of the Legion of Christ. A priest of the Legion is considered to be a third degree member of Regnum Christi. "Working with lay people is an essential part of the Legion’s apostolic methodology. The Legionaries carry out their apostolate above all with Regnum Christi members, forming them in human and Christian virtues, serving them with their priestly ministry, launching them in pastoral action, uniting efforts in their shared mission, and thus spurring on a great variety of works at the service of the Church."[9]
The Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi have received criticism both from members within the Catholic Church and without.
On May 1, 2010 the Vatican issued a statement condemning Maciel as "immoral" and acknowledging that Maciel had committed "true crimes." Pope Benedict also said he would appoint a delegate to examine the Legionaries’ constitution and open a visitation of its lay affiliate Regnum Christi.[10] On July 9, 2010, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis was appointed as the papal delegate. [11]