ROME – In recent days a scandal-plagued Peru-based lay group has confirmed its suppression by the Pope Francis and has pledged loyalty to the pope and the Vatican official tasked with overseeing the process.
In a Jan. 31 communique published at the conclusion of their Jan. 6-31 general assembly in Aparecida, Brazil, the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) confirmed that during the gathering, they were informed that the pope and the Vatican department overseeing them “had decided to suppress” the group.
“We, the Sodalits, accept this decision with docility, maintaining our trust in divine providence,” they said in the statement, assuring of their “full obedience to the Holy Father” and their desire to “continue to accompany him with our constant prayers.”
They also conveyed their “pain and deep remorse, our plea for forgiveness to the victims and all those affected by the various abuses that have occurred throughout our history, for the wounds inflicted, and for all the scandal this has caused.”
In a separate communique published Feb. 1, the SCV formally announced that Pope Francis has appointed Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, one of the two officials who’d been tasked with investigating the SCV, as pontifical commissioner overseeing the process of dissolution.
This process, they said, “will begin in the coming days.”
The SCV reiterated its “acceptance and adherence” to the pope’s decisions and their willingness to collaborate “in the best possible way in this process.”
In an apparent reference to public criticism against Bertomeu and an ongoing social media campaign against him by former members of the SCV who were expelled by the Vatican last year, the SCV said it “disassociates itself from any publication and/or public statement that goes against the Holy Father or the Delegates appointed by the Holy See.”
Since being expelled from the SCV last fall, former member Alejandro Bermudez, a media consultant affiliated with the Catholic Vote website, has carried out a public social media campaign against Bertomeu, accusing him of impartiality and leaking confidential information about the Vatican’s inquiry into other SCV members who were investigated.
Former member Father Jaime Baertl has also accused the papal nunciature in Lima of defamation over its statement announcing his expulsion and demanded a retraction.
The SCV in their Feb. 1 statement clarified that it provides relevant information “only through official statements published on its official channels and is not responsible for any other publication issued outside these channels.”
