Luis Fernando Figari

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Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo (born 8 July 1947) is a Peruvian Catholic layman, the founder and former superior general of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He also founded the Christian Life Movement and several other religious associations.

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He has been the subject of allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of young men, some of whom were minors. On 30 January 2017, following an investigation of these claims, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ordered that Figari be "prohibited from contacting, in any way, persons belonging to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, and no way have any direct personal contact with them." [1] In August 2024 he was formally expelled from the Sodalitium with the explicit approval of Pope Francis. [2]

Biography

Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru, on 8 July 1947. His parents were Alberto (1902–1990) and Blanca Figari (1909–1995), both Peruvian. He was born in a Catholic family, the last of four children. He studied at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School until he was 10 years old and then at Holy Mary High School at Lima. He studied humanities and law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and then law at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. During this time, he became a leader of the National Confederation of Youth, the youth branch of the Odriíst National Union, the political movement of former president Manuel A. Odría. When he was 19, he was elected to represent the university students from Lima in giving a welcoming speech to US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy during his visit to Peru. He began studying theology in the Pontifical and Civil School of Theology of Lima, where he also taught in 1975.

He founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 1971. He called that moment "baptism of a search". Cardinal Juan Landazuri, Archbishop of Lima, began meeting with Figari in 1972 to monitor the development of the Sodalitium and express support. In 1974, Figari founded the Immaculate Mary Association for women. In 1984, Figari participated in the first World Youth Day in Rome. In 1985, he founded the Christian Life Movement (CLM), an ecclesial movement. In 1991, he founded the Marian Community of Reconciliation, a religious association for lay consecrated women. In 1994, CLM was recognized by the Holy See as an international lay association of faithful of pontifical right. In 1995, he founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Reconciliation. In 1997, Pope John Paul II approved Sodalitium as a society of apostolic life. [1] In 1998, Figari founded another religious association for consecrated women, the Servants of the Plan of God.

In 2002, Pope John Paul named Figari as consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI named Figari an auditor for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, one of the few lay participants invited to that assembly. On 3 June 2006, Figari addressed the closing words to Pope Benedict XVI in the Encounter of the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities with the Pope at the Vigil of Pentecost in St. Peter's Square.

On 21 December 2010, Figari resigned from his role as Superior General of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, citing health reasons.

Leadership controversy

Figari has been known to openly sympathize with Falangism, which has earned a reputation for being Spain's Fascist ideology. [3] In a 2016 interview with The Guardian former Sodalitium member Pedro Salinas accused Figari of admiring fascist figures Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying that Figari "admired the oratory of Hitler and Mussolini. He was inspired by Nazi marches and he had a fascination with the Hitler Youth.” [3] Salinas also accused Figari of being the person with the most power in Sodalitium, saying that under Figari's rule, Sodalitium "was an absolutely totalitarian religious organisation in which the power rested in the hands of one person: Luis Fernando Figari.” [3] In an article for El País in October 2024, Archbishop of Lima Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio described Figari's Sodalitium Christianae Vitae as "a failed Cold War experiment" which also "conceals its crimes and its ambition for political and economic dominance." [4] Archbishop Castillo also said that Sodalitium was influenced by fascism, describing Figari's former society as "the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, using the church cunningly, through sectarian methods, testing how strong you are or forcing you to sleep face down on stairs to forge your character." [4] [5]

Allegations of physical and sexual abuse

Some groups are opposed to the Sodalitium, which has generated suspicion and alarm; it is seen by some as a conservative, elitist sect with an authoritarian and fundamentalist structure. In 2003, after parents accused the Sodalitium of brainwashing their son and separating him from them, the movement opened its doors to the press for the first time. Young members were reported as laughing at talk of brainwashing and said that they had been evangelised, not captured, as teenagers. [6]

Pedro Salinas, a former member, said at the time that during his membership in the SCV in the 1980s he was subject to absurd orders. He said that he assumed that "now the Sodalicios have learned from their mistakes and have evolved", but that when he was a member of the movement they had "sectarian characteristics". [6] In a 2015 book, Salinas reported abuse and mistreatment, including sexual abuse, on the part of Figari. [7] Alessandro Moroni Llabrés, the community's current superior general, responded that it was "a cause for deep grief and shame if such acts could have been committed by Luis Fernando Figari ... We condemn the incidents that may have occurred, especially the sexual abuse". [8] Moroni said that the testimonies Salinas reported were plausible and needed to be thoroughly clarified, and that former members of the Movement had reported abuse.

Church authorities were investigating. Allegations submitted to ecclesial tribunals were kept confidential. Figari denied all accusations, but made no public statement, "as would be his moral obligation". [8] The SCJ asked for forgiveness, and said they offered victims help. They formed a committee of members and non-SCJ experts to meet with any person affected and said they were committed to investigating and clarifying the truth about "the incidents, which are intolerable, because they involve grave suffering for persons who trusted our community, and they betray our deepest values". They said they were available to cooperate with civil and ecclesial authorities. [8]

There were thirty allegations of abuse by Figari and his closest associates, including Daniel Murguía and Germán Doig. Salinas's book also detailed Figari's involvement in his youth with right-wing Catholic, extreme right-wing, and falangist groups. [9]

In 2016, Sodalitium of Christian Life leader Alessandro Moroni posted an online video claiming, among other things, that Figari was now in a state persona non grata after the organization conducted an investigation which found that he engaged in sex abuse. [3] Moroni stated that “After the testimonies received, we consider Luis Fernando Figari guilty of the allegations of abuse against him and declare him persona non grata in our organisation as we deplore and wholly condemn his behaviour.” [3] It was also reported that Figari had been living in the Vatican since 2010. [3]

In September 2024, it was reported that Figari and other members of Sodalitium Christiane Vitae were found to have sexually abused 19 minors and 17 adults since 1975. [10]

Despite allegations, findings of a Vatican investigation, and expulsion of many Sodalite authorities, as of October 2024 none of Sodalitium's current or former leaders had been charged with any crimes. Allegations of sexual abuse were not investigated because of a statute of limitations. An investigation was started into Sodalitium as a criminal organization in response to allegations of kidnapping and other crimes, but the investigation was discontinued in October 2024 after nearly eight years. [10]

Vatican review

In April 2015, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life appointed Bishop Fortunato Urcey, Prelate of Chota, as apostolic visitor tasked with investigating charges of "improper behavior" on the part of Figari. [1] Urcey's work in Peru was scheduled to last from August 2015 to March 2016. [11] In May 2016, Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis was named to oversee the reform of Sodalit, [12] and Figari was declared persona non grata by the Sodalitium. [13] On 30 January 2017, as a result of Urcey's investigation, the Congregation decreed that Figari should have no further contact with members of the Sodalit community. Urcey had reported that while Figari was Superior General he had "adopted a style of government excessively or improperly authoritarian, directed to impose one's own will," and that "in order to obtain the obedience of his brothers [he] used improper strategies and methods of persuasion, that is to say, underhanded, arrogant and nonetheless violent and disrespectful of the right to the inviolability of one's own interiority and discretion". [1]

In February 2017, the institute's superior general turned over to Peru's Office of the Public Prosecutor information identified in a recent report regarding the sexual abuse of minors by its founder and by four of its former members. [14] In January 2017, the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life prohibited Figari from having any contact with other members of the society. Figari filed appeals twice. With the rejection of both appeals, in February 2019 Superior General of the SCV, José David Correa, formally expelled Figari from the group's community life, and contact with any members. [15]

On August 14, 2024, After more than a year of high-level investigation, the Vatican expelled Luis Fernando Figari for downplaying allegations of sexual and psychological abuse and financial corruption. [16]

Publications

Figari has published many articles and books on such subjects as Christian spirituality, the Virgin Mary, the Eucharist, Catholic social teachings, the Catholic view of family, human rights and evangelization of culture. He has strongly backed the ideal of reconciliation, as well as the organization of congresses on several occasions on the issue of reconciliation.

Organisations

According to one study: [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Vatican bars Sodalit founder from contact with members". Catholic News Agency . 10 February 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Decree expelling Luis Fernando Figari from the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana" (Press release) (in Spanish). Episcopado Peruano (Peruvian Bishopric). ANCEP (Agencia de Noticias del Episcopado Peruano). 14 August 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Collyns, Dan; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (16 June 2024). "Abuse allegations follow leader of Peruvian Catholic sect to Rome". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 Mattasoglio, Carlos Castillo. "El Sodalicio, un experimento fallido de la guerra fría en Latinoamérica" (in Spanish). El Pais.
  5. ↑ Allen, Elise Ann (24 October 2024). "New Lima cardinal calls scandalous Peru group a failed 'resurrection of fascism'". Catholic Outlook. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 Muñoz Nájar, Teresina (2003). "Los Once Mil Castos". Caretas (in Spanish). No. 1763. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2007.
  7. ↑ Salinas, Pedro (1 October 2015). Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados [Half Monks, Half Soldiers, 324 pages] (in Spanish). Planeta. ISBN   978-612-319-028-6.
  8. 1 2 3 "Sodalitium Christianae Vitae issues statement in wake of accusations". Catholic News Agency (CNA). Lima, Peru. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  9. 1 2 Manrique, Nelson (3 November 2015). "Mitad monjes, mitad soldados, siempre políticos". La Republica (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  10. 1 2 Taj, Mitra; Povoledo, Elisabetta (25 September 2024). "Pope Punishes Members of Catholic Group in Peru After Vatican Investigation" . New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024.
  11. ↑ "Sodalitium Christianae Vitae has an apostolic visitor to investigate its founder". Catholic News Agency. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "Vatican appoints Archbishop Tobin as delegate for Sodalitium reforms". Catholic News Agency. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Sanchez, Jeremy (5 April 2016). "Mensaje del Superior General del Sodalicio". Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  14. ↑ "Sodalits provide information on abuse of minors to Peruvian prosecutors". Catholic News Agency. 20 February 2017.
  15. ↑ "Sodalit founder expelled from congregation's community life". Catholic News Agency. 21 February 2019.
  16. ↑ "Vatican expels founder of Peru's Sodalitium religious movement after probe into abuses, corruption". AP News. 14 August 2024.
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