2023-07-21 21:50:00
July 21, 2023 / 2:50 p.m.
The Vatican commissioned a new investigation by the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana (SCV, for its Latin acronym), a lay apostolic life society founded in Peru, which will be led by Bishop Charles J. Scicluna, assistant secretary of the Department for the Doctrine of the Faith and an expert on sexual abuse.
Bishop Scicluna will be accompanied by Bishop Jordi Bertomeu, official of the Department for the Doctrine of the Faith. The visit could begin next Tuesday, July 25.
Years ago, both were sent by Pope Francis to deal with the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Church in Chile. Msgr. Bertomeu was recently commissioned to analyze in Bolivia the advances in the prevention work against these crimes in the midst of complaints against Jesuit priests such as the late Fr. Alfonso Pedrajas, known as “Padre Pica”.
The news of the sending of Mons. Scicluna and Mons. Bertomeu went public through the Peruvian newspaper La República the night of July 20.
Sources close to the case told ACI Prensa that the specific assignment of the Vatican envoys is unknown as well as whether they will arrive with any decision from the Holy See.
The Sodalicio responds
This Friday, July 21, Daniel Calderón, General Assistant for Sodalicio Communications, sent a statement to ACI Prensa to clarify that the institution has not yet received official notification from the Holy See regarding the details of the investigation.
“First of all, we want to clarify that, although the Apostolic Nunciature in Peru, since yesterday, has extended an invitation to some members of our institution for a meeting, to date we have not received any official notification about the initiation of an investigation, as mentioned in said news,” he said.
In this context, Calderón asserted that its members are “attentive to any official communication in this regard and, as soon as it is received,” they will act “responsibly and openly to collaborate in whatever is necessary.”
The Assistant General for Communications also expressed “respect and a cordial welcome to the people sent to Peru by the Holy Father.”
“As has been our constant, we welcome with the greatest willingness and willingness to collaborate any initiative that comes from the Holy See. Our institution maintains a constant commitment to the Catholic Church, ”he assured.
Likewise, Calderón ratified that the members of the Sodalicio value “deeply the closeness of the Holy See”, which is accompanying them “in the renewal process” that the community has “been working for so many years together with the papal delegates appointed by the Holy See”.
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“Throughout this path, we have been transparent in our actions and have sincerely sought to correct the mistakes of the past,” the Sodalit executive emphasized.
“Our commitment to truth and justice has led us to face the problems of the past and to continue working for an institutional transformation for the benefit of our community and society in general,” he concluded.
The Sodalicio case
Founded in 1971 by the Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, and with pontifical approval since 1997, the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana has been involved in various accusations of sexual abuse and power.
In 2011, the SCV confirmed that his deceased vicar general, Germán Doig, Figari’s right-hand man, had engaged in “sexual misconduct.”
In November 2015, the book Half monks, half soldiersby Peruvian journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, would present accusations of abuses committed by Figari himself.
The Holy See investigated the case and in February 2017 determined that Figari had adopted “an excessively or inappropriately authoritarian style of government, aimed at imposing one’s own will” and “used inappropriate strategies and methods of persuasion, that is, underhanded, arrogant and in any case violent and disrespectful of the right to the inviolability of one’s own interiority and discretion”.
In addition, it concluded that Figari “in some cases has committed acts contrary to the VI Commandment” (“not to commit impure acts”) to manipulate, make dependents and “control rather than direct consciences, especially of young people in formation.”
The sanctions imposed by the Vatican include that Figari not return to Peru, except for serious reasons, and that he be permanently assigned to a residence where there is no Sodalicio community, whose members he is prohibited from contacting.
In January 2018, the Vatican appointed an Apostolic Commissioner for the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana. Curatorship is the largest type of intervention carried out by the Holy See on a Catholic institution.
This process culminated a year later, with the election of new authorities in the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, among them its new Superior General, the Colombian José David Correa González.
Currently, the Sodalicio is accompanied by papal delegates appointed by the Vatican: Fray Guillermo Rodríguez, “Delegate to nod” of the Sodalicio to advise and support the Superior General and the general government; Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Consultant for the Revision process of the Sodalicio Constitutions and Delegate for formation; and Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, Delegate to address economic issues.
Various accusations have been addressed by the Prosecutor’s Office in Peru against Figari and other members of the Sodalicio. In some cases they have been archived, while in others appeals have been filed and remain in the hands of the Judiciary.
ACI Prensa is a Catholic agency founded in 1980 by the late Comboni missionary Adalberto María Mohn. The agency’s next director was Alejandro Bermúdez, a consecrated layman of the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana. Since 2014, ACI Prensa has been part of the EWTN family, through its EWTN News division, which maintains and directs its operations.
David Ramos, Editor-in-Chief of ACI Prensa, collaborated on this article.
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