VATICAN CITY. Pope Francis has taken the extraordinary step of expelling 10 individuals, including a bishop, priests, and laypeople, from the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodalitium of Christian Life) following a Vatican investigation that uncovered “sadistic” abuses of power, authority, and spirituality within the movement. The decision, announced by the Peruvian Bishops Conference on Wednesday, marks a significant escalation in the Vatican’s response to longstanding allegations against the influential Catholic group in Peru.
The investigation, led by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, revealed shocking abuses, including physical violence, spiritual manipulation, and economic mismanagement. The Vatican’s statement, posted by the Peruvian Bishops Conference, detailed crimes rarely addressed in canonical investigations, such as hacking communications and targeting victims through media outlets.
According to the statement, investigators uncovered various forms of abuse, including “physical abuses with sadism and violence,” abuses of conscience, and financial exploitation within the movement. One particularly notable form of abuse cited was the “abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism,” likely referring to media attacks by Sodalitium-affiliated journalists on critics of the movement.
The expelled individuals include Archbishop José Antonio Eguren, who was forced to resign as bishop of Piura in April following a scandal involving the forced eviction of peasants on lands linked to Sodalitium in his diocese. Eguren had previously sued journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, who exposed the movement’s abuses in their 2015 book Half Monks, Half Soldiers. In response to the Vatican’s action, Ugaz, who has also been a victim of hacking, remarked, “It is a demonstration that in Peru, the survivors would never have found justice and reparation… because the Sodalitium is an organization with a lot of political, social, and economic power.”
The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, founded in 1971 by layman Luis Figari as a conservative Catholic movement to counter liberation theology, peaked with around 20,000 members across South America and the United States. Figari, who was previously expelled from the group, was found to have committed numerous abuses, including sodomizing recruits, forcing them to engage in degrading acts, and using psychological manipulation to maintain control.
Despite these findings, the Vatican had initially declined to expel Figari in 2017, merely ordering him to live in isolation in Rome. However, the latest investigation uncovered additional layers of abuse, with perpetrators within the movement covering up crimes and obstructing justice. Victims had long demanded justice, and the Vatican’s latest move is a long-overdue step toward accountability.
In its statement, the Vatican expressed solidarity with the victims, with Pope Francis and the Peruvian bishops “seeking the forgiveness of the victims” and urging the movement to begin a process of “justice and reparation.”
Both Figari’s legal team and representatives of Archbishop Eguren have yet to respond to inquiries from CNN. The Vatican’s latest actions have sent a strong message about the consequences of abuse within the Church, especially in movements that wield significant influence across political and social spheres.
This marks a critical turning point for the Sodalitium movement as it faced both internal reforms and external scrutiny in the wake of these revelations.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
