What is Canon Law and what is it for?On Monday, January 20, 2025, the Vatican made public the decree, signed by Pope Francis, through which the Pontiff dissolves the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. After a few months in the spotlight for the expulsion of several members, the Holy See has put an end to the activity of this society of apostolic life.
The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was born in 1971 in Peru, founded by Luis Fernando Figari. In 1997 St. John Paul II approved that the Sodalitium become a Society of Lay Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, so the organization became directly dependent on the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
First reviews
Just a few years later, criticism of the Sodalitium began. Several voices were raised to denounce Figari, who was accused of sexual and psychological abuse of seminarians and members of the society of apostolic life.
The abuses committed by the founder were joined by criticism of the spirit of the Sodalitium, in which obedience turned into manipulation. The crisis reached a climax in 2015, at which time "Half Monks, Half Soldiers" was published, a book in which the malpractices of the founder and other members were uncovered. At that time, the Holy See decided to launch an investigation to clarify what was going on.
The Vatican investigation
Two years later, in 2017, a report requested by the same Sodalitium showed that there were more than 60 victims of abuse in the organization. Faced with these facts, the Vatican sanctioned Figari and prohibited him from having any contact with members of the Sodalitium. On the other hand, the Holy See urged a process of reform of the Society of Apostolic Life.
Over the next few years the Pope gradually increased the number of people involved in the analysis of the case. In 2019 Cardinal Ghirlanda was given the task of overseeing the internal reform of the Sodalitium, at the same time that Friar Guillermo Rodriguez began to act as papal delegate.
In 2023, the Vatican further strengthened its supervision and commissioned Archbishop Scicluna to open a new investigation into the Sodalitium, this time for economic corruption. Just one year later, in August 2024, the Pope formally expelled Figari, while various expulsions authorized by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life followed.
Controversies about the process
In September 2024, the Holy Father expelled ten leaders of the Sodalitium, but the decree in which the charges were made public generated surprise and concern by not specifying for which crimes each one was condemned.
At the same time, one of the heads of the Vatican investigation was accused of leaking to the press confidential details from the statements of two witnesses who participated in the ecclesiastical investigation of the case. As a result, the investigator was denounced before a civil court in Chile, an unusual event involving a clergyman in legal proceedings outside the religious sphere.
The allegedly leaked testimonies belong to Giuliana Caccia and Sebastian Blanco, two Peruvian laymen closely linked to the Sodalitium. They were received by the Pope last December and, according to their testimony, the threat of excommunication that hung over them if they did not withdraw the denunciation against the papal envoy was not applied.
Final dissolution
Months later, at the beginning of a Sodalitium general assembly that opened on January 10, 2025, the members of the organization received notification that, in view of "the absence of a legitimate foundational charism" and because of "the serious cases of abuses committed by its founder, Luis Fernando Figari, and other members" the Holy See has ordered the dissolution of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.
