LETTER FROM CUZCO
In Peru, the Sodalicio case is similar to the case of Fernando Karadima in Chile, or that of Marcial Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ in Mexico: the country’s biggest scandal of sexual and psychological abuse linked to the Catholic Church. For decades (from the 1970s to the 2000s, and even beyond according to recent testimonies), dozens of victims, including minors, suffered abuse within the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana institution. , a lay apostolic organization established in 1971 and recognized by the Pope in 1997.
Its founder, Luis Fernando Figari, a consecrated layman, was sentenced by the Vatican in 2015 to a life of prayer and penance in Rome. In 2017, the Peruvian justice imposed nine months of preventive prison against him as well as against three other ex-leaders of Sodalicio, indicted for “ association of criminals, sequestration and serious injuries”.
At the end of July 2023, for the first time, the Vatican commissioned a commission of experts in Lima to shed full light on the actions of this organization, which is among the most conservative fringes of the Catholic Church.
The arrival of the two experts in the Peruvian capital – the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna, and the Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeu – was welcomed by the victims and raised the hope of accessing restorative justice. These prelates are indeed among the most recognized for investigating the facts of pedocrime in the Church. They are the ones who investigated the Chilean pedophile priest Fernando Karadima, found guilty by a Vatican court of multiple sexual assaults on minors. The conclusions of their investigation led to the resignation, in 2018, of the entire hierarchy of the Chilean Catholic Church.
Institution close to the far right
This time, the duo are not investigating a single man, but an entire Catholic institution close to the far right, with considerable economic power and political influence. A sprawling movement which brings together under its supervision various religious organizations and owns a multitude of establishments – colleges, universities, cemeteries and health centers – united in a holding company.
Sodalicio is also suspected of embezzling several million dollars and enriching himself illegally by using the loopholes of the Concordat – an agreement between the Vatican and Peru allowing religious organizations to be exempted from taxes. The Peruvian public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation at the end of July against three of its members, entrepreneurs, for alleged money laundering in connection with offshore companies.
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