LIMA (PERU)
Catholic News Service
June 4, 2018
By Barbara J. Fraser
Vatican officials have denied protecting the founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Peru-based religious movement, who is accused of sexual, physical and psychological abuse of minor and young adult members of the group.
In a communique dated May 25 and released by the Peruvian bishops’ conference at a news conference June 1, the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life said it was responding to claims that it had “hidden” Luis Fernando Figari in Rome and was “protecting him.”
Meanwhile, the archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, announced that he is awaiting a final ruling from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the case of a priest who is accused of physical and sexual abuse of adolescents while he was affiliated with Sodalitium in that city.
The communique from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life responded to criticism of guidelines issued to Sodalitium more than a year ago in the case of Figari, who founded the movement in 1971.
In January 2017, the congregation informed Sodalitium’s superior general, Alessandro Moroni, that an investigation begun in 2015 determined that Figari had been authoritarian and had committed “acts against the Sixth Commandment,” including at least one case of sexual abuse involving a minor.
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