Superior admits sexual abuse

Allegations of sexual abuse within the Sodality of Christian Life, a “society of apostolic life” founded in Lima by Luis Fernando Figari in 1971 have renewed controversy in Peru.

A Lima prosecutor, Marcos Villalta, has said that he plans to interview the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, over allegations by two men who say they submitted complaints about abuse to the Lima archdiocesan tribunal but were ignored.

Following the publication of detailed accounts of abuse last October in the book  Mitad monjes, mitad soldados (half monks, half soldiers), Figari was ordered by Rome to spend time in seclusion and penitence.

The current superior of the Sodality, Alessandro Moroni, has released a video message in which he admits the charges of abuse against senior figures in the Sodality, and apologises to the victims. Moroni says he will ask the Holy See to expel Figari from the Sodality and undertake an “integral reform” of the organisation.

“The authorities of the Sodality recognise the sin of not having acted in a firm and timely manner and we are ready to accept the penance necessary to obtain forgiveness from God, the Church, our family and society,” he says in the video.

Cardinal Cipriani has said that he is willing to talk to the prosecutor, who has also asked to speak to Moroni, and that it is “high time” that Figari was expelled from the Sodality.

During the pontificate of John Paul II, the Sodality, along with Opus Dei and the Neocatechumenate, wielded considerable power in the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference.