Peru group dissolved by Vatican pledges obedience to pope

ROME – After news leaked in recent days about the suppression of a scandal-plagued Peruvian lay group, the community has condemned the leak and pledged obedience to the pope and to the official charged with overseeing the dissolution.

News of the dissolution of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) was first reported by Spanish-language site InfoVaticana on Jan. 18.

The article said that during the SCV’s ongoing Jan. 6-31 general assembly in Aparecida, Brazil a papal decree of suppression had been read aloud by Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a papal delegate who had been tasked with revamping their formation process and who holds historic ties to the SCV, citing the immoral behavior of the founder and the lack of a founding charism.

Among other things, the article also revealed that, according to the decree read aloud by Ghirlanda, one of the Vatican officials investigating the group, Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, had been named as papal commissioner responsible for overseeing the process of dissolution.

So far, no official statement or decree has been published by the SCV, or the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, which is meeting this week to elect new leadership, however, several participants in the assembly confirmed the news to Crux.

In a Jan. 20 statement, the SCV referred to the article published in InfoVaticana, saying, confirming the dissolution, but saying the article also “contained several inaccuracies.” It did not state what these inaccuracies were.

Given the severity of the leak, the SCV said, “the first act of the day was to urge those responsible to take responsibility for the absurdity of having leaked information of an absolutely confidential nature.”

They said two SCV members in attendance at the Aparecida assembly admitted to being responsible for the leak, and that “after asking forgiveness from those present, were definitively expelled from the Assembly.”

“We regret that the misconduct of the two members may have been exploited by the press to raise doubts about whether it was Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda,” they said, referring to some news reports that have questioned whether Ghirlanda himself was responsible for leaking the news to the press.

Some observers have also questioned whether he was authorized to make the announcement at the assembly, apparently before Vatican investigators had met with authorities.

Bertomeu is currently in Lima meeting with the Peruvian bishops, presumably to discuss the SCV’s dissolution, and its implementation.

The SCV in its statement said it was responsible solely for the news published by its official communiques, and that it therefore “disassociates itself from any other news that has come out or will come out of the press” related to the assembly, to the SCV, and to the pope and his delegates.

They pledged fidelity to the pope, “in whom we trust and whom we obey,” and to Ghirlanda and Bertomeu as pontifical delegates.

While not referencing it directly, the SCV’s statement comes after Peruvian journalist Alejandro Bermudez, who was expelled from the SCV by the Vatican last year as part of its ongoing inquiry, published a lengthy open letter to SCV members urging them to disobey Bertomeu in his capacity as papal commissioner for the SCV’s dissolution.

Among other things, Bermudez in his Jan. 20 post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, calls Bertomeu’s objectivity into question and also apparently revealed confidential information about the cases of other SCV members who were expelled amid the Vatican’s inquiry.

Bermudez and other individuals close to the SCV have routinely criticized Bertomeu since he and Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna arrived in Lima in July 2023 to investigate the SCV as part of a Special Mission sent by Pope Francis.

Last year two individuals with close ties to the SCV filed a criminal complaint against him in Peruvian courts, despite his status as a papal envoy with diplomatic immunity, for actions related to the investigation, and Bermudez in the InfoVaticana article pledged to “investigate” Bertomeu, who alongside Scicluna is one of the pope’s most trusted abuse investigators.

In his role as commissioner for the SCV, Bertomeu will be tasked with overseeing the liquidation of the SCV’s assets, and the incardination of priests into dioceses, among other things.

Following news of the SCV’s dissolution, the SCV-owned Catholic University of Saint Paul in Arequipa also released a statement Jan. 20 in which they indicate that the dissolution will have little impact on their academic activities.

The statement insists that the university is not solely an SCV project but is “an institution recognized by Peruvian law to provide the service of higher university education.”

“We also have our own legal status, university autonomy, institutional solidity, academic prestige and a work horizon that makes us protagonists of the integral development of society,” it said.

Any decision related to the SCV and its future, it said, therefore “does not affect the community of our university projects.”

“We will continue working on the base of our Catholic identity and maintaining firm in the commitment to delivering a humanistic, professional and high-level academic formation,” it said.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen