Peru: Mass of Reparation for the victims of ‘Sodalitium’

Vatican News

In the parish of San Juan Bautista in Catacaos, in Peru’s northwestern Piura region, a solemn celebration was held for the Tallán indigenous communities who, for over a decade, suffered persecution, land expropriation, and harassment by the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a movement suppressed by Pope Francis in 2025.

The Mass, celebrated on Saturday, 23 May, is intended as a public gesture of reparation and justice, following years of violations against territorial and social rights, an accompaniment along the path to healing deep wounds.

The lay society, better known as "Sodalicio," was among the most active and widespread entities in Latin America from the 1970s onward. However, it became the center of severe abuse and corruption scandals involving its founders and top leadership.

Pope Francis suppressed the movement on 14 April 2025, issuing a decree that cited, among other reasons, a "lack of foundational charisma."

A journey of listening

That decisive action by the late Pope Francis was among the final acts of his governance, occurring roughly a month before the election of Robert Francis Prevost, a missionary in Peru and one of the most prominent supporters of the victims and the investigations into Sodalitium.

The suppression was accompanied by the appointment of an apostolic commissioner to oversee the dissolution process: Fr Jordi Bertomeu Farnós.

The Catalan prelate, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, had previously been tasked by Pope Francis with investigating, alongside Archbishop Charles Scicluna, cases of abuse in Chile and other parts of Latin America, including Peru, the homeland of Sodalitium’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari.