How did Fr. Maciel get off so lightly for his Sexual Abuse?

                                                  

see this latest news item re how Vatican has laicized 3 priests for sexual abuse of minors

The short answer to the question above: because he had friends in high places, namely Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Sec of State.

Also because Pope JPII handlers et al, "wanted to spare him the stress" of knowing that one of the people he admired was a pedophile and a fraud

"The Vatican permanently removed three priests in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Tuesday due to allegations of improper behavior involving minors.
Three priests- Thomas Kuhn, Thomas Feldhaus, and Ronald Cooper have been permanently removed from both the rights and the obligations of the priesthood after a canonical process.  The decisions were made by a panel of three judges in another diocese and affirmed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) at the Vatican.The canonical process is described on the Archdiocese's website.
“I hope that this resolution will bring some measure of closure and healing to anyone harmed by these priests,” said the Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, in a news release. “With this decision, all of the cases presented to the CDF have been dealt with and we have no more priests of the Archdiocese on administrative leave...."

Fr. O'Reilly, Dublin-born, the brood of Fr. Maciel?

Dear Readers,
Irish Mirror, recently published  an article re the conviction of Legionary of Christ, Fr. John O'Reilly in Chile. 

A Chilean blog claims that Fr. O'Reilly was whisked out of Ireland in 85 because of similar problems. The blogger knows this to have been a favorite Maciel-Legion strategy but cannot vow this was the case with Fr. John without further corroboration.

Irish-born priest John O'Reilly guilty of child sexual abuse in Chile

• Oct 15, 2014 19:47
• By Rosalba O'Brien, Antonio de la Jara

The court found that O'Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused a pre-teen girl at a religious school in Santiago

TDTV John O'Reilly

An Irish-born Chilean priest was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the capital, Santiago.
The court found that John O'Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused the pre-teen girl behind closed doors at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.
"The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that ... O'Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student," said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos.
O'Reilly, who denied the charges, will be sentenced next month.
Prosecutors have requested that he be sent to prison for 10 years.
The school where the abuse took place is part of the network of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose founder was revealed to be a fraud and pedophile who had fathered several children.
The Catholic church retains a strong influence in conservative Chile, but cases like this of abuse and other crimes by priests have shaken confidence in recent years.
In 2011, powerful priest Fernando Karadima was found guilty by the Vatican of abusing teenage boys over many years.
The criminal case against him collapsed and the church ordered him to live a life of prayer and banned him fro