Pope Francis Expels Bishop, 9 Others From Religious Movement Over ‘Sadistic’ Abuses
The Peruvian Bishops Conference announced the decision, posting a statement from the Vatican embassy on its website.
Pope Francis on Wednesday made the unprecedented decision to expel a bishop, and nine others including priests, and laypeople, from a controversial Catholic movement in Peru.
The decision came after a Vatican investigation exposed “sadistic” abuses of power, authority, and spirituality within the group.
The expulsion targeted the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodalitium of Christian Life) and followed Francis’ earlier move to expel the group’s founder, Luis Figari, who had been found guilty of sexually abusing his recruits, AP reports.
The Peruvian Bishops Conference announced the decision, posting a statement from the Vatican embassy on its website.
The statement shocked many by detailing the abuses uncovered by the investigation, abuses that have rarely been punished so severely by the Church.
According to the statement, Vatican investigators revealed instances of physical abuse involving “sadism and violence,” as well as sect-like manipulation, spiritual exploitation, financial misconduct, and even abuses related to journalism.
The latter appeared to refer to a journalist associated with the movement who had attacked its critics on social media.
Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was founded in 1971 by Figari as a conservative lay community aimed at recruiting “soldiers for God,” a reaction against the leftist liberation theology movement spreading through Latin America.
At its peak, the group had around 20,000 members across South America and the United States and held significant influence in Peru.
Allegations against Figari first emerged in 2011 when victims approached the Lima archdiocese, though other accusations dated back to 2000.
It wasn’t until 2015, when victims Pedro Salinas and journalist Paola Ugaz published the book ‘Half Monks, Half Soldiers’, exposing the movement’s dark practices, that concrete actions began.
A 2017 independent investigation commissioned by the movement described Figari as “narcissistic, paranoid, demeaning, vulgar, vindictive, manipulative, racist, sexist, elitist, and obsessed with sexual issues and the sexual orientation” of its members.
The report detailed how Figari had sodomized recruits, forced them into degrading acts, and derived satisfaction from their fear and pain.
Despite these revelations, the Vatican initially refrained from expelling Figari, opting instead to isolate him from the community in Rome. Canon law posed complications, as it lacked provisions for punishing founders of religious movements who were not ordained clergy.
However, the latest investigation found that the abuses extended beyond Figari to include hacking and harassing victims while covering up crimes.
Among those expelled was Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren, the highest-ranking figure involved, who had already been forced to resign as bishop of Piura earlier this year. Eguren had also faced legal battles for suing journalists Salinas and Ugaz over their exposé.
