Vatican Expels Founder Of Peru’s Sodalitium Over Sexual Abuses, Corruption

The Vatican has expelled the founder of an influential Peruvian religious movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, after the Catholic hierarchy spent more than a decade downplaying allegations of sexual and psychological abuse, as well as financial corruption, against him and his community, Nicole Winfield reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The decree against Luis Fernando Figari came after Pope Francis last year ordered an investigation into the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae by the Vatican’s top sex abuse experts to get to the bottom of the scandal. I Photo: Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana Facebook

The decree against Luis Fernando Figari came after Pope Francis last year ordered an investigation into the Sodalitium by the Vatican’s top sex abuse experts to get to the bottom of the scandal.

Previous commissions and investigations had failed to fully address the group’s problems. According to the decree by the Vatican’s department for religious orders, which was posted on the website of the Peruvian bishops' conference,

Francis gave his explicit authorization to expel Figari from the movement, even though canon law didn’t precisely cover his alleged misconduct.

Figari’s behavior was described as “incompatible and therefore unacceptable in a member of a church institution, as well as causing scandal and serious damage to the good of the church and of the individual members of the faithful,” the decree stated.