Archbishop Charles Scicluna in Peru to investigate clerical sex abuse

Archbishop of Malta Charles Scicluna will return to Latin America invested as the Vatican’s top investigator on the clerical sexual abuse of minors.

Scicluna, who serves as adjunct secretary to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and his official Jordi Bertomeu, a Spanish monsignor, are tasked with handling allegations of clerical abuse. Scicluna also serves as president of a board of review for abuse cases within the dicastery.

Crux Now reported that Scicluna will arrive in Peru for an in-depth inquiry into the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a scandal-ridden lay group whose founder has been sanctioned for various abuses, including the sexual abuse of minors.

Scicluna will be reporting to the Pope before any next course of action, which could include the dissolution of the SCV as advocated by various members of the Peruvian Church hierarchy.

Scicluna and Bertomeu were already sent by Pope Francis to Chile in 2018 over allegations that Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno covered up the abuse of notorious paedophile priest Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexually abusing minors. Their 2,600-page dossier prompted the pope to apologise for mishandling the situation in Chile. After a meeting with Francis in Rome that year, every Chilean bishop offered their resignation.

The two veterans travelled to Mexico in March 2020 to help the local bishops address the clerical abuse crisis in the country and the case of the late Mexican priest Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legion of Christ.

They have sentenced thousands of abuser priests.

As the largest ecclesial lay movement in Peru, the SCV was founded by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari in 1971. The charismatic SCV emphasises strict asceticism and intellectual formation, believing their call is “to fight as elite soldiers in God’s army”.

In 2010, Figari stepped down as superior general of the SCV for alleged health reasons when allegations of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse had already begun to surface.

It was only in 2015 that an investigation into Figari was opened Peruvian journalists started chronicling the SCV abuse. Complaints to the ecclesiastical tribunal in Lima had already been filed in 2011 and 2013, but no formal action was taken.

According to the SCV itself, 66 persons could be considered victims of abuse or mistreatment at the hands of Figari and other members of the group, allocating more than $2.8 million in reparation funds.

Figari was forbidden from living in community with the SCV.

A Peruvian Parliamentary Investigatory Commission on the Sexual Abuse of Minors in Organisations published a lengthy report on the SCV earlier this year detailing, among other things, systematic abuse and cover-up on the part of SCV members, including some who still hold positions of authority within the organisation.