In Lima, Leo XIV Receives Six Abuse Victims, Including Former Members of Groups Linked to the Sodalitium

The meeting had been announced before departure. On 27 October, the Holy See Press Office had indicated that the pope wished to show his closeness to victims during his trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for 6 to 17 November, and that meetings with "persons who have been victims of abuse by members of the clergy and of the Church" were planned. On 9 November, in Buenos Aires, he had already received five victims presented by the local Church. He had also met with victims in Madrid in June and in Lourdes in September.

The address to the bishops: truth, justice, reparation

The same day, in the chapel of the archiepiscopal palace in Lima, Leo XIV addressed the bishops of Peru. He spoke of "abuses committed by members of the clergy or in the ecclesial context," a reality which, he said, has caused great pain. "We must respond as Jesus would, with truth, with justice, with forgiveness, with reparation," he declared, according to the text published by the Holy See. He also called for "an ever more resolute commitment to a culture of prevention" and for the "protection of the weakest against these crimes."

The address mentions neither the Sodalicio nor the Diocese of Chiclayo, which Robert Francis Prevost led from 2015 to 2023. Vatican News points out that during that period, the Bishop of Chiclayo had helped pave the way for listening to victims.

The words of the address echo those the pope used in Lourdes on 27 September: there he had spoken of "the search for truth, justice, forgiveness, reparation" and called for continuing "on the path undertaken, maintaining the greatest vigilance."

The Sodalicio case

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was founded in 1971 by the Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari. According to an internal investigation published in 2017, Figari, his former vicar general Germán Doig and other leaders had abused 19 minors and 10 adults. In July 2023, the Holy See opened an investigation entrusted to Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu. Pope Francis then decided to dissolve the movement and its affiliated branches. The dissolution took effect in April 2025, a few weeks before the election of Leo XIV. Figari himself had been expelled from the movement by the Holy See in August 2024.

In Peru, the Church has also made gestures of reparation toward other injured persons. On 23 May 2026, in Catacaos, in the Piura region, Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Pedro Barreto and Msgr. Bertomeu, the commissioner in charge of overseeing the dissolution, celebrated a Mass of reparation. During it, they asked forgiveness of farmers from the Tallán Indigenous community. These farmers accuse companies linked to the Sodalicio of having dispossessed them of their land and taken legal action against them. "We could have come twenty years ago; we are sincerely sorry, please forgive us," Msgr. Bertomeu had said.