(ZENIT News / Rome, 20.01.2025).- In the context of the 6th General Assembly of the Sodalitium of Christian Life, underway in the month of January 2025 in Aparecida, Brazil, Jesuit Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda announced to the participants Pope Francis’ decision to ban the Sodalitium. The announcement was made on Friday, January 17.
The news was accompanied with the announcement that controversial Catalan priest Jordi Bertomeu would execute the dissolution. Father Bertomeu, among others, is facing an accusation before the Peruvian justice system for revealing secreters known by trade.
Among the most immediate challenges for the dissolution is the destiny of the assets and the future of the members. The Sodalitium of Christian Life (SCL)) was made up of consecrated laymen who took vows and lived in community, also with priests (some 35 of the 120 members with perpetual vows). A possibility would be that of a refoundation. There is also a women’s branch. It’s not known at present if the ban applies also to them.
The Sodalitium of Christian Life was founded in Peru in 1971 by Luis Fernando Figari, a layman that is still alive and who has been condemned canonically for sexual abuses and abuses of conscience.
In 2011 and 2013, accusations came to light of sexual abuse against Figari, both of minors as well as adults. However, the scandal became more important in 2015 with the publication of the book Half Monks, Half Soldiers, which not only exposed the sexual abuses, but also what had been a system of manipulation and coercion within the SCL. This book became a catalyzer for more victims to talk and the mechanism of power and control that Figari used to subject the members of the community.
In 2016 a Commission confirmed the SCL’s abusive practices linked in great part to a cult of personality around Figari. The following year, an independent Report requested by the community itself revealed more than 60 victims of abuse by Figari and other members. The Holy See took forceful measures: in 2017 Figari was prohibited any contact with the SCL, and a process of reform began, supervised by Cardinal Joseph Tobin.
The appointment of Colombian Bishop Noel Antonio Londoño as Commissioner in 2018, and the participation of experts such as Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, marked the beginning of an integral effort to restructure the government, finances and formation in the SCL This effort included a proposal of reform approved by Pope Francis to rewrite the Institute’s Constitutions.
The process of transformation reached a significant milestone in 2024. In August, the Vatican formally expelled Figari, a decision that had been requested by the SCL itself years before. Shortly after, over ten members of the community were also expelled, including prominent figures such as Archbishop José Antonio Eguren, former leader of the Archdiocese of Piura and Tumbes in Peru.
In July 2023, the Vatican sent Archbishop Charles Scicluna, known for his work on cases of abuse inside the Church, to investigate the new accusations of bad financial management in the SCL.
