Retired archbishop, media figure expelled from troubled Peruvian lay group
September 25, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Following a year-long Vatican investigation, ten leading members have been expelled from the Sodality of Christian Life (SCV), a lay movement that has been troubled by charges of financial corruption and physical and psychological abuse.
Luis Fernando Figari, the layman who founded the SCV in Peru in 1971, was expelled from the group earlier this year, having previously been sanctioned by the Vatican in 2017 for physical, spiritual, and sexual abuse of members. In August, Archbishop José Antonio Eguren of Piura, Peru, a prominent member, resigned amid complaints of sexual and financial corruption.
In the latest disciplinary action, Pope Francis approved the dismissal from the SCV of Archbishop Eguren and of a former superior general, Eduardo Antonio Regal Villa. One of the others dismissed was Alejandro Bermudez, the former head of the ACI media group that runs the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
The Peruvian episcopal conference, which announced the disciplinary actions, said that they were a response to “the scandal caused by the number and seriousness of the abuses reported by the victims.”
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