Adrián Núñez is a member of the Peruvian Association of Atheists.
In 1971, two young men known in some Catholic groups for having recruited young people to join the fascist group “Unión Revolucionaria” in some Italian and German schools in Lima, founded the now dissolved “Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana.” These two men were Luis Fernando Figari and Sergio Tapia. Also participating with them was Father Gerald Haby, who promoted an initiative of the Marianists of the sixties: “Sodality of the Virgin Mary,” and Germán Doig, about whom I will write later. I have to omit many names of former members of the Sodalitium who courageously denounced the facts, as well as abusers and criminals hired by this sect. Nor will I mention all the criminal acts that were committed in this case, because this text would become several books.
Germán Doig (left) and Luis Fernando Figari (right)
By 1977, Figari, who created a cult of personality around himself, had taken complete control of the sect. Toward the end of the decade, with the economic administration of the priest Jaime Baertl, the organization began to gain power (it is estimated that the Sodalitium and all its affiliated companies and religious groups, at their peak, reached a billion dollars). During those years, they received the donation of a piece of land in the south of Lima, which was converted by Baertl into a private cemetery that did not pay taxes (curiosities of religion). At that time, they began to be known in Rome, and Figari began to be seen by conservatives as a figure who effectively opposed the theology of liberation.
The Sodalites consolidated themselves in the 1980s as an elitist and sectarian Catholic group that recruited teenagers in some private schools. I remember in the late eighties they came into my classroom to offer us the chance to go to a religious retreat they called “Convivio.” I was the class atheist, and because of this, I was spared from having to live through that unpleasant experience. But most of them did go, and I remember that for a day or two, everyone behaved in a silly and strange way, as if they had been brainwashed. But it was just a momentary thing, and none of my classmates were sucked into the cult.
The organization grew very steeply from 1980 to 2000, but little was known outside about what was going on inside. They took advantage, with very few scruples, of the privileges offered by being a religious organization, such as the Concordat between Peru and the Vatican, which allowed them to pay fewer taxes (thus achieving unfair competition in their business, especially in real estate), the image of sanctity that their religious status gave them, and their proximity to people with political power in different regions of Peru (especially in Lima and Piura). In 2001, Germán Doig died, and due to the great closeness between John Paul II and the Sodalitium, the process for his beatification began. But this was interrupted a few years later because the first claims of sexual abuse perpetrated by Doig against young members of his institution arose. These were followed by allegations of pederasty against other members of the sect who were close to Figari, and in 2011, the first allegations against Figari himself were made public.
These allegations might not have appeared had it not been for the fact that in 2000 journalist and former Sodalite José Enrique Escardó wrote several columns in the magazine “Gente” (People) in which he denounced a series of physical and psychological abuses of young people and adolescents in the houses of the Sodalitium. In 2001, a newscast on “Canal N” (a cable channel with a large audience and prestige at the time, partly because it had recently broadcast a video of an act of corruption that ended the Fujimori dictatorship) made a report on the abuses in the Sodalitium, followed by an interview on the set with José Enrique Escardó (in which he narrated some of the abuses he suffered within the sect) and finally by an interview with the psychotherapist Jorge Bruce, who, without knowing the cases of sexual abuse (because by that time there were no public accusations), predicted that there should be sexual abuse inside because the characteristics of the sect matched the pattern.
Through these means, we began to learn about some of the acts that were committed against the young members: they were prevented from studying, they were enslaved, they were tortured, they were taken away from their families (the letters they sent to each other disappeared to make them believe that they were no longer loved). The reaction of the Catholic Church and the authorities was nonexistent.
José Enrique Escardó during a talk organized by Peruvian Association of Atheists with the support of Humanists International (2024).
In 2013, I was part of a commission of the Peruvian Association of Atheists for the creation of a filmic record of special interest for the incipient atheist community that was being formed in those years. There, we interviewed Héctor Guillén, a victim of the sect, not because he belonged to it but because it had taken away his son. It was during that interview that I really remember becoming aware of how destructive and dangerous it was (https://youtu.be/YXRpHGyhbzI). From the reactions to this video on our social networks, we could see that the Sodalitium case was still unknown to most.
At the end of 2015, journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz published the book “Mitad monjes, mitad soldados” (Half Monks, Half Soldiers), which exposed some of the abuses committed within the sect. This book was an instant success, and thanks to it, several former members of the Sodalitium were encouraged to tell these journalists their stories of terror lived inside. These two journalists have continued to research and write over the years. It is neither possible nor desirable to try to summarize in this article everything that was found. I only mention that these two journalists, since that time, have been suffering brutal legal persecution by people linked to the Sodalitium, although they cynically deny it.
José Enrique Escardó, Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas.
As a result of what was exposed in 2015, the prosecutor’s office started an investigation. In 2016, five former members of the Sodalitium filed a complaint against Figari and others for illicit association to commit a crime, kidnapping, and serious injuries (but the processes have not advanced significantly, and a few years later, we learned that the State prosecutor’s office was infiltrated by people close to the Sodalitium).
Pedro Salinas interviewed in our podcast (2022)
During these years, the Church has acted erratically and slowly, but on January 20, we learned through a communication from the Sodalitium itself that they have been dissolved by a papal decision.
This has been a moment of celebration, especially for all the people and institutions that have been doing what we could to make known the truth about this destructive sect that was born in Peru and spread to other countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, and Chile. Moreover, this event has symbolic value, because it is the first time that the Pope has dissolved a religious organization for cases of abuse, and also because the resolution was signed by a woman, Simona Brambilla, the first woman to head a dicastery. This is significant because many women lived through hell in the women’s section of this organization, as described by Chilean Camila Bustamante in her book Siervas (Servants). But we all know this celebration is only momentary because there is still a long way to go before justice is done. To give an example, 36 properties of the Sodalitium (among them, nine cemeteries) were transferred as a trust in 2020 to a company that was at that time owned by the current mayor of Lima, a character between obscure and inept of the local religious right, who aspires to be president of Peru. They have mechanisms to avoid any significant reparations to the victims, and they will most likely use them. We will keep pushing.
Header photo by Anyela Málaga on Pexels.