Vatican City - The Vatican official running the disgraced Legionaries of Christ has begun an initial shakeup of the conservative order by limiting some of the duties of the powerful vicar general.
The Legion said in a statement Tuesday that Cardinal Velasio De Paolis has also expanded the group's governing general council and will appoint the two new members himself.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed De Paolis to take over the Legion and profoundly reform it after a Vatican investigation concluded that its founder was a fraud who sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.
In a book being released Tuesday, Benedict lamented that the Vatican took so long to realize the fraud but said that "by and large the congregation is sound."