logo
How Pope Leo dealt with years of abuse allegations in a powerful Catholic society in Peru

How Pope Leo dealt with years of abuse allegations in a powerful Catholic society in Peru

Yahoo18-05-2025

As a missionary and bishop in Peru, the future Pope Leo came face-to-face with one of the most serious and far-reaching scandals in the church in Latin America.
For years, there were allegations of abuse within the hugely influential Catholic society Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), which had deep ties to Peru's powerful and wealthy.
The scandal came to a head in 2015, the year after Leo, then known as Robert Prevost, was appointed bishop in the northern city of Chiclayo. A book written by one of the victims, Pedro Salinas, with journalist Paola Ugaz, 'Half Monks, Half Soldiers,' described alleged beatings, humiliation and sexual assault in stark detail from 30 anonymous victims that enflamed the country.
Several survivors in Peru, Ugaz and a Vatican source closely involved in the case told CNN that Leo's eventual intervention – after a key meeting in 2019 and a crucial promotion in Rome – is what finally kicked the Church into taking dramatic action.
When Oscar Osterling formally joined SCV in 1992, he was instructed not to tell his parents about his loyalty oath – a secrecy that appealed to the then-teenager. He would go on to spend more than two decades with SCV, only breaking out in his mid-thirties as the first allegations began to surface.
Founded in 1971 in Peru as a lay group, the Sodalitium was politically driven as a fight back against the rise of liberation theology in Latin America, a radical movement which began in the 1960s and focused on supporting the poor. The society controlled several communities and ran religious schools in the southern part of the country, its members and students mostly drawn from the country's elite.
At one point, SCV had 20,000 members across South America and parts of the United States – and went on to develop strong ties with Denver and Colorado, including links with conservative Catholic media.
Victims complained of abuses by founder Luis Fernando Figari to the archdiocese in Peru's capital city Lima as early as 2011, and possibly before. Figari has always maintained his innocence with his lawyer telling CNN in January that Figari has not been convicted in a court of law for the allegations.
But hearing the others' accounts, Osterling says he realized the strangeness of his own experience; he alleges that Figari would film him and other young converts standing in their underpants in the middle of the night during a spiritual retreat.
'In my case it did not escalate to a full sexual assault,' he says. He now believes he and his cohort were being groomed.
Another alleged victim told CNN that he was raped by Figari at least three times in the 1970s, when he turned 17. It was 'the only way to correctly see his aura,' he recalls the older man telling him.
While dozens of young Peruvians have alleged they were victimized or bullied by Figari and other senior members of SVC, the topic remains taboo in ultra-Catholic Peru, and only a few have chosen to make details of their allegations public.
Prevost, who lived in Peru as a missionary in the 1980s and the 1990s, would have heard about these accounts while serving as Bishop of Chiclayo starting in 2014, especially following the publication of Ugaz and Salinas' bombshell book.
Ugaz and Salinas also accused José Antonio Eguren, an archbishop in the coastal diocese of Piura – where Prevost worked as a young priest and which neighbors his diocese of Chiclayo – of protecting the SCV despite knowing about alleged abuses within it.
Eguren fought back with a defamation lawsuit alleging this was untrue and harmed his honor and reputation, though he later dropped the case.
According to Ugaz, who has faced a long campaign of legal actions and death threats around her reporting on the Sodalitium case, she received a message of solidarity during this time from Prevost and two other bishops.
In 2017, a probe ordered by SCV revealed stunning allegations. The group, which had already begun a series of internal disciplinary actions, found that Figari sodomized his recruits and forced them to fondle him and one another. He liked to watch them 'experience pain, discomfort and fear,' and humiliated them in front of others to enhance his control over them, the report alleged.
The next year, more than a dozen alleged victims of the SCV from across Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica, held a meeting with five high ranking prelates at the Peruvian Episcopal Conference in Lima. Prevost was one of the meeting's organizers; according to Ugaz, he acted as a 'bridge' between the victims and the SCV and helped secure financial settlements.
Renzo Orbegozo, another alleged SCV victim, had been trying to meet with church officials for weeks but found little traction before Prevost, he told CNN. Trying to overcome the impasse, Orbegozo started emailing Prevost and another official, the Vatican's representative to Peru.
When the meeting finally took place, Orbegozo recalls, 'Prevost recognized me immediately. 'You are the guy from the email!' he told me.' 'He wanted to know everything about our correspondence …and showed real empathy,' Orbegozo said.
Osterling and Ugaz recall that the bishops they met agreed to write a letter to the Vatican, pushing to investigate the alleged crimes and asking for the personal involvement of then-Pope Francis. But higher church officials declined to move the case forward.
'I remember that meeting very well,' Orbegozo, who now lives in Texas, told CNN. 'Back then we had the feeling nobody was listening to us.'
Ugaz, who first met Prevost in 2018 and remained in contact with him, said the stalled outcome of the meeting caused Prevost 'great frustration' although she added 'his character is not one to burn down the house. He accepted what had happened, made his frustration clear.'
Though that meeting initially seemed to lead to little, Orbegozo and Osterling believe it was the first crack in a wall destined to crumble.
'(Prevost) knew — he knew about many things — but he couldn't act because he had people above him. So much so, that as soon as he could, he did — when they made him prefect,' says Osterling.
Everything seemed to accelerate in early 2023 after Prevost was named prefect of the influential Dicastery of Bishops – a role that suddenly catapulted him into a much more powerful position than the archbishop next door in Piura.
The job gave him a crucial role in the appointments and oversight of bishops, holding regular meetings with fellow cardinals and Pope Francis to discuss episcopal nominations.
It's hard to say exactly what happened in the halls of the Vatican after Prevost moved to Rome. But the next year, two top investigators from the Vatican were finally sent to Lima to establish what had happened within SCV – a probe that led to the expulsion of 14 members of the society, including Figari.
Archbishop Eguren also resigned in April 2024 at the age of 67 – several years before the normal retirement age of 75 – without specifying the reasons.
A source close to the Vatican investigation told CNN that the future Pope Leo played a crucial role in removing Eguren. 'As prefect of the dicastery, (Prevost) was very efficient in evaluating the evidence and obtaining the resignation of Archbishop Eguren,' a source close to the investigation explained to CNN.
Eguren has denied Prevost's involvement in his resignation, emphasizing that he offered his resignation directly to Pope Francis. After stepping down, the archbishop also said in a statement that he rejected Ugaz and Salinas' allegations, and had 'sought to fulfil the mission entrusted to me with justice, honesty, and fidelity to the teachings of the Church, with special concern for the well-being of the poorest and most needy.'
Another expelled member was Alejandro Bermúdez, founder of the Denver-based Catholic News Agency, who was found by the Vatican investigation to have committed 'abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism.'
Bermudez, known for a combative style on social media, has countered that he was kicked out for simply 'telling the truth.' More recently, he worked as a contractor with 'Catholic Vote,' an organization which sought to bolster support for US President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. (The group's president Brian Burch is President Trump's pick to be the next US Ambassador to the Holy See.)
The Sodalitium still retained powerful supporters. Following the news of the expulsions, the Archdiocese of Denver said it was 'shocked and saddened' while an adviser to a former Archbishop of Denver wrote that 'something is deeply wrong' with the 'Rome's latest treatment of the SCV (Sodalitium).'
Nevertheless, in early 2025, then-Pope Francis went even further, taking the very rare step of suppressing the society entirely.
The move was formally decreed on April 14 – just a week before Francis died. Afterwards, the SCV released a statement asking 'forgiveness from the entire Church and society for the pain caused' and 'forgiveness for the mistreatment and abuse committed within our community.'
Prevost has been accused of mishandling abuse allegations in two other cases, in Chicago and in Chiclayo, Peru. But in the case of the SCV, Ugaz says she is certain that Prevost 'took action' to help ensure the Sodalitium was dissolved. She and Salinas met with him in the Vatican in October 2024, and she says he arranged their meeting with Pope Francis two months later.
After years of fighting to be heard, Osterling says he never lost his Catholic faith – but that Francis's eventual crackdown reinvigorated it.
'What we're talking about here is just the latest chapter. I have hope now because of what happened in the last two years. Had we had this conversation two years ago, I'd have told you I had no hope in the Church. Now, it's different,' he told CNN.
As Francis' successor, Pope Leo seems to have left little doubt about his stance on the end of SCV. A few days after his election, Leo was photographed greeting Ugaz with a broad smile, as she handed him a box of chocolates and a Peruvian scarf from the country he called home for years.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more
How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more

Chicago Tribune

time3 hours ago

  • Chicago Tribune

How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more

VATICAN CITY — The world's smallest country has a big budget problem. The Vatican doesn't tax its residents or issue bonds. It primarily finances the Catholic Church's central government through donations that have been plunging, ticket sales for the Vatican Museums, as well as income from investments and an underperforming real estate portfolio. The last year the Holy See published a consolidated budget, in 2022, it projected $878 million, with the bulk paying for embassies around the world and Vatican media operations. In recent years, it hasn't been able to cover costs. That leaves Pope Leo XIV facing challenges to drum up the funds needed to pull his city-state out of the red. Anyone can donate money to the Vatican, but the regular sources come in two main forms. Canon law requires bishops around the world to pay an annual fee, with amounts varying and at bishops' discretion 'according to the resources of their dioceses.' U.S. bishops contributed over one-third of the $22 million collected annually under the provision from 2021-2023, according to Vatican data. The other main source of annual donations is more well-known to ordinary Catholics: Peter's Pence, a special collection usually taken on the last Sunday of June. From 2021-2023, individual Catholics in the U.S. gave an average $27 million (23.7 million euros) to Peter's Pence, more than half the global total. American generosity hasn't prevented overall Peter's Pence contributions from cratering. After hitting a high of $101 million in 2006, contributions hovered around $75 million during the 2010's then tanked to $47 million during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches were closed. Donations remained low in the following years, amid revelations of the Vatican's bungled investment in a London property, a former Harrod's warehouse that it hoped to develop into luxury apartments. The scandal and ensuing trial confirmed that the vast majority of Peter's Pence contributions had funded the Holy See's budgetary shortfalls, not papal charity initiatives as many parishioners had been led to believe. Peter's Pence donations rose slightly in 2023 and Vatican officials expect more growth going forward, in part because there has traditionally been a bump immediately after papal elections. The Vatican bank and the city state's governorate, which controls the museums, also make annual contributions to the pope. As recently as a decade ago, the bank gave the pope around $62.7 million a year to help with the budget. But the amounts have dwindled; the bank gave nothing specifically to the pope in 2023, despite registering a net profit of $34.2 million, according to its financial statements. The governorate's giving has likewise dropped off. Some Vatican officials ask how the Holy See can credibly ask donors to be more generous when its own institutions are holding back. Leo will need to attract donations from outside the U.S., no small task given the different culture of philanthropy, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, director of the Church Management Program at Catholic University of America's business school. He noted that in Europe there is much less of a tradition (and tax advantage) of individual philanthropy, with corporations and government entities doing most of the donating or allocating designated tax dollars. Even more important is leaving behind the 'mendicant mentality' of fundraising to address a particular problem, and instead encouraging Catholics to invest in the church as a project, he said. Speaking right after Leo's installation ceremony in St. Peter's Square, which drew around 200,000 people, Gahl asked: 'Don't you think there were a lot of people there that would have loved to contribute to that and to the pontificate?' In the U.S., donation baskets are passed around at every Sunday Mass. Not so at the Vatican. The Vatican has 4,249 properties in Italy and 1,200 more in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. Only about one-fifth are rented at fair market value, according to the annual report from the APSA patrimony office, which manages them. Some 70% generate no income because they house Vatican or other church offices; the remaining 10% are rented at reduced rents to Vatican employees. In 2023, these properties only generated $39.9 million in profit. Financial analysts have long identified such undervalued real estate as a source of potential revenue. But Ward Fitzgerald, the president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, which finances papal charities, said the Vatican should also be willing to sell properties, especially those too expensive to maintain. Many bishops are wrestling with similar downsizing questions as the number of church-going Catholics in parts of the U.S. and Europe shrinks and once-full churches stand empty. Toward that end, the Vatican recently sold the property housing its embassy in Tokyo's high-end Sanbancho neighborhood, near the Imperial Palace, to a developer building a 13-story apartment complex, according to the Kensetsu News trade journal. Yet there has long been institutional reluctance to part with even money-losing properties. Witness the Vatican announcement in 2021 that the cash-strapped Fatebenefratelli Catholic hospital in Rome, run by a religious order, would not be sold. Pope Francis simultaneously created a Vatican fundraising foundation to keep it and other Catholic hospitals afloat. 'They have to come to grips with the fact that they own so much real estate that is not serving the mission of the church,' said Fitzgerald, who built a career in real estate private equity.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' ex says she joined 'cuckold' sex marathons to feel loved by him
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' ex says she joined 'cuckold' sex marathons to feel loved by him

Associated Press

time4 hours ago

  • Associated Press

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' ex says she joined 'cuckold' sex marathons to feel loved by him

NEW YORK (AP) — Under cross-examination, Sean 'Diddy' Combs ' ex-girlfriend testified Tuesday she took part in sex acts with male sex workers at the music mogul's request because it made her feel loved by him, but now regrets what she came to recognize as the 'cuckold' lifestyle. The woman was testifying at Combs' sex-trafficking trial under the pseudonym 'Jane' to protect her identity. A day earlier, she revealed their three-year relationship stretched up until the Bad Boy Records founder was arrested in September at New York hotel, where she'd been planning to meet him. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that carry a potential penalty of 15 years to life in prison. He has been jailed without bail. Prosecutors allege Combs used violence, threats and a network of employees and associates to control and abuse women for two decades. His lawyers have told the jury in federal court in Manhattan that although there was domestic violence in his relationships, everything he did sexually was consensual. Earlier in the trial, R&B signer Casandra ' Cassie ' Ventura testified over four days that Combs physically abused her and that she participated in hundreds of 'freak-off' sexual performances during a nearly 11-year relationship that ended in 2018. The Associated Press doesn't name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent unless they have shared their identities publicly, as Cassie has. Teny Geragos, a lawyer for Combs, cross-examined Jane on Tuesday by leading her into discussing the drug-fueled sexual marathons choreographed by Combs — which Jane said sometimes happened weekly — by reminding her that she mentioned regrets in earlier testimony. 'I resent him for leading me into the lifestyle he led me to,' Jane said. 'I resented the way he went about introducing me to this lifestyle.' She said she agreed to these 'hotel nights' while 'under a lot of emotional pressure' — and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified Monday she began therapy about three months ago. She previously met with lawyers on Combs' defense team but cut off those meetings in April, days before the trial began. She said she struggles to understand why she kept participating in 'hotel nights' even though she only wanted to have sex with Combs, however the reasons are 'becoming more and more clear' as she proceeds with therapy. Jane initially felt it was 'something very special' to have these secret sexual experiences with Combs. She said she didn't want to judge him and 'really wanted to just go along with these things because if I can be my partner's escapes than I would be.' Jane said she researched sexual variations in 2022 and came across the words 'cuck' and 'cuckold,' which seemed to fit the lifestyle she found herself in because she said a man known as a 'cuck' derives pleasure seeing 'his woman receive pleasure' from another man. In earlier testimony, Jane provided recent examples of Combs acting violently toward a woman while seeking to fulfill his sexual desires. Cassie sued Combs in November 2023 alleging sexual abuse. The lawsuit was settled within hours for $20 million, but it touched off the criminal investigation into Combs.

Ensure More Equitable Workplace Reporting
Ensure More Equitable Workplace Reporting

Harvard Business Review

time14 hours ago

  • Harvard Business Review

Ensure More Equitable Workplace Reporting

You may think that urging employees to report abusive behavior is enough to address misconduct. It's not. Who reports abuse matters just as much as what gets reported—especially when evidence is thin. Without changes to how reports are handled, organizations risk reinforcing bias rather than fixing it. Here's what to do differently. Recognize credibility bias. When reports lack clear evidence, credibility becomes subjective—and women's reports are often taken less seriously. The solution isn't to demand more proof, but to redesign how reports are evaluated so bias can't skew outcomes. Redesign the evaluation process. Separate report receivers from evaluators. Managers shouldn't decide which reports move forward. Route all cases through a centralized, trained team that follows clear, formal guidelines. Standardize and anonymize. Use a consistent process that strips away identifying details. This helps remove assumptions based on gender, role, or seniority, and ensures anonymous reports are judged fairly. Commit to follow-up. Every report—regardless of who submits it—should receive formal, documented follow-up. Timely updates build trust and signal accountability. Offer safe, flexible reporting paths. Give employees options beyond their manager. Use both reactive channels (like hotlines) and proactive ones (like surveys) to uncover issues early.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store