Vatican�s top abuse investigators begin probe of scandal-plagued Peru group
Elise Ann Allen
By Elise Ann Allen

Jul 26, 2023
|Senior Correspondent
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Vatican�s top abuse investigators begin probe of scandal-plagued Peru group

Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, left, and Spanish Monsignor Jordi
Bertomeu, right, arrive to the Vatican�s apostolic nunciature in Lima on
July 25, 2023, to begin their investigation into the Sodalitium Christianae
Vitae lay group. (Credit: Martin Meja/AP.)

ROME � Top Vatican investigators began holding interviews in Peru Tuesday
as part of their inquiry into a scandal-plagued lay group, whose founder
has been sanctioned for various abuses and barred from contacting the
group.

The Peruvian Bishops� Conference formally announced the arrival of Maltese
Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, which had
previously been reported by Crux, to investigate the Sodalitium Christianae
Vitae (SCV) on Saturday, July 22.

Both Scicluna and Bertomeu are officials of the Vatican�s Dicastery for the
Doctrine of the Faith, which handles allegations of clerical abuse. Their
track record also includes the high-profile investigation into the
Legionaries of Christ and its founder, the late Mexican Father Marcial
Maciel Degollado; the explosive clerical sexual abuse scandals in Chile; as
well as abuse crises in countless other countries across the world.

RELATED: Vatican�s top abuse investigators to probe scandal-plagued lay
group in Peru

A Society of Apostolic Life and the largest ecclesial lay movement in Peru,
the SCV was founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari in 1971.

Though allegations were made several years prior, scandals involving the
SCV exploded in 2015, when Peruvian journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola
Ugaz published their blockbuster book Half Monks, Half Soldiers chronicling
years of alleged sexual, physical and psychological abuse by members of the
SCV. Salinas himself is a former member of the SCV.

Figari himself was accused of physical, psychological, and sexual abuses
within the community, including against minors. He was sanctioned by the
Vatican in 2017 and prohibited from having further contact with members of
the group, and he is currently living in exile.

In his July 22 statement, Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte of Trujillo,
president of the Peruvian Bishops� Conference, said Scicluna and Bertomeu
were coming �to investigate, listen, and present a report on the case of
the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana in our country.�

�I think it is excellent that this matter will be investigated in-depth,
that the people involved are listened to and I am sure that the report will
be fair and objective for the good of all,� he said.

Sources with knowledge of the visit have told Crux that a special committee
will be formed to evaluate various points, including the possible
dissolution of the community and what that would involve.

Scicluna and Bertomeu began holding interviews as part of their inquiry
into the SCV at the apostolic nunciature in Peru on Tuesday.

Both Salinas and Ugaz met with the duo Tuesday morning, each spending
several hours in conversation.

Ugaz, who is currently working on a second book detailing SCV finances and
alleged financial misconduct, has received an onslaught of legal complaints
for defamation and other allegations made by individuals and groups with
ties to the SCV.

One of those complaints, which was later retracted, came from Peruvian
Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi, a longstanding top member of the
SCV.

Ugaz met Pope Francis at the Vatican in November 2022.

In a series of Tweets following his meeting with Scicluna and Bertomeu,
Salinas referred to them as �the Van Helsings of clerical pedophilia,�
saying, �I don�t know what will happen, but I left the meeting with the
envoys of Pope Francis more than satisfied.�

(The reference is to a popular television series about a vampire hunter
based upon Professor Van Helsing in the gothic novel Dracula by Bram
Stoker.)

Salinas tweeted a photo of himself with Scicluna from 2019, when he was
invited by the Maltese archbishop to a major summit on child protection
organized by Pope Francis in Rome, saying that already in 2019 Scicluna
�showed empathy and concern for what was happening in Peru with the Sodalit
case.�

�Having him on a mission in Peru is something incredible,� Salinas said.

Ugaz in tweets of her own recalled her meeting with Pope Francis last
November, saying that eight months later, the pope �sent the mission that
will investigate the Sodalicio.�

She described her conversation with Scicluna and Bertomeu as �great and
endearing,� noting that �this amazing story with [Pedro Salinas] started in
2010 and we�re still here. Long live journalism in Peru.�

Scicluna and Bertomeu on Tuesday also met with victims of the SCV and
Peruvian Congresswoman Susel Paredes, who worked on the so-called �Belaunde
report,� the product of an investigation conducted by the Investigatory
Commission on the Sexual Abuse of Minors in Organizations, which was
launched by Peruvian Congressman Alberto Belaunde, but fell off the radar
until Paredes resuscitated it. The final report was published earlier this
month.

In a Tweet following her meeting with Scicluna and Bertomeu, Paredes said,
�In November 2022 I rescued the report on sexual aggressions within the
Sodalicio from the congressional archives. I sent copies to the Vatican.
Today, a mission is in Lima to investigate the facts. Truth breaks through.
No more silence or impunity.�

�I will continue to push for the Belaunde report to see the light, for
justice to be done, and for the victims to receive reparation,� she said.

Cabrejos himself is scheduled to meet with Scicluna and Bertomeu Wednesday,
July 26, for his own interview.

Also on Tuesday, the same day that Scicluna and Bertomeu began interviews,
Peruvian lawyer Carlos Rivera Paz, who is assisting Ugaz with the various
legal complaints against her, announced via Twitter that the Peruvian
prosecutors office had archived an investigation of money laundering.

The case was launched in 2021 by Luciano Revoredo, a Peruvian businessman
who has close ties to the SCV and who had previously accused Ugaz of money
laundering and bribery. Yesterday Rivera announced that the prosecutor�s
office archived the case, declaring that there was no basis for the
allegations.

He quoted the decree from the prosecutor�s office, which stated that the
case was �distorted, since the complainant�s statement lacks subjective
credibility,� citing longstanding conflicts between Ugaz and Revoredo.

�In this particular case, there are no elements of conviction that
corroborate peripherally and that objectively prove that the investigative
party has participated in acts that constitute the crime of money
laundering,� the decree said, saying Revoredo�s statement �does not have
guarantees of certainty� and lacks credibility.

The lawyers assisting a group of victims of the SCV, who have filed two
separate legal complaints against Figari and other high-ranking members and
former members, also issued a statement Tuesday condemning the decision to
have the provincial prosecutor overseeing the second of the two cases
removed.

The first complaint of the SCV victims, launched against Figari and other
top-ranking members of the group, was made in October 2015, shortly after
Half Monks, Half Soldiers was published, for sexual abuse of minors. A
second complaint was filed in May 2016 for physical, sexual, and
psychological abuses, indoctrination or mental �kidnapping,� and illicit
business practices.

In 2017, the first case was archived due to a statute of limitations, and
on grounds that the legal deadline by which to complete the preliminary
investigation had passed.

The second case continued to move forward, however, in August 2021, lawyers
representing Figari and other top SCV members submitted a formal request to
the Peruvian Judiciary to close the case, which had been sent to the
Prosecutor�s Office for Organized Crime over the illicit business
activities charge.

At the time, Eduardo Casta�eda, the provincial prosecutor attached to the
case, argued that the case ought to move forward.

However, in their statement Tuesday, the lawyers representing the SCV
victims said that Figari�s legal team had successfully had Casta�eda
removed from the case, and that he was replaced by Deputy Provincial
Prosecutor for Organized Crime Karen Yeremy Mercado Gutierrez.

Casta�eda, according to the statement, had previously described the SCV as
a sect and took the position that recruiting members fell under the crime
of fraud for using coercive techniques of persuasion and an �undue use of
religion,� as well as the victims� confidence in faith.

On June 21, 2023, Mercado ruled to archive the case, a decision the
victims� lawyers said is one that �seriously violates the victims� right of
access to justice, as well as the right to the truth that benefits them and
all of society.�

They have filed an appeal of the decision to archive the case, calling the
move �express ignorance of the obligations of Peruvian justice to duly
investigate facts that constitute human rights violations.�

Should the case in fact be archived, as the lone remaining civil case
against Figari and other members of the SCV, it would mean that neither
Figari nor other members of the group would face any civil charges.