P. Jaime Baertl Gómez

Ordained in 1981, Baertl was the Sodalicio’s first priest and for decades served as its Assistant for Spirituality on the Superior Council. The press calls him the architect of the group’s finances, a characterization that Baertl denies.

A former member, Martin Scheuch, alleges that in 1979, when he was 15 or 16 and Baertl was his spiritual director, Baertl ordered him to undress and simulate intercourse with a chair. In April 2019, Scheuch testified to the Congressional commission. The commission’s report noted that in 2016, the Sodalicio had deemed the allegation not credible and refused to recognize Scheuch as a victim. It later apologized and reportedly paid reparation to Scheuch in December 2024.

Prosecutors declined to charge Baertl in 2017, and a money-laundering inquiry was archived in May 2026.

On October 23, 2024, Pope Francis expelled Baertl and fellow SCV member Juan Carlos Len from the Sodalicio. The communique from the nunciature cited their participation in “irregular and illicit” financial activities within the group’s companies and organizations, as well as one allegation of sexual abuse, without saying which of the two men was accused. The pair sent a notarized letter to the papal nuncio calling the charges “false and defamatory” and the allegation of sexual abuse “absolutely false.” In a Crux article that appeared on October 28, 2024, Scheuch reiterated his allegation of abuse by Baertl. The priest continues to deny the allegation, saying that he has not been found guilty under either church or civil law.