Luis Fernando Figari

Biography

Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru, on 8 July 1947. His parents were Don Alberto Figari (1902–1990) and Mrs. Blanca Figari (1909–1995), both Peruvian. He was born in a Catholic family, and was the last of four children. He studied in the Immaculate Heart of Mary School until he was 10 years of age and then in Holy Mary High School at Lima. He studied humanities and law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and then law in the National University of San Marcos, in Lima. During this time, he became a leader of the National Confederation of Youths, the youth branch of the Odriíst National Union, the political movement of former president Manuel A. Odría. When he was 19 years old he was elected to represent all the university students from Lima, giving the welcoming speech to U.S. presidential candidate Robert Kennedy during his visit to Peru. He began studying theology in the Pontifical and Civil School of Theology of Lima, where he also taught in 1975.

He founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 1971. He called that moment "baptism of a search". Cardinal Landazuri, the Archbishop of Lima, began meeting with Figari in 1972, following closely the development of the Sodalitium and expressing his support. In 1974, Figari founded the Immaculate Mary Association for women. In 1984 Figari participated in the first World Youth's Day at Rome, pronouncing the “Catechesis on Love”, in Saint Paul Outside the Walls Basilica. One year later, in 1985, he founded the Christian Life Movement (CLM), an ecclesial movement. In 1991, he founded the Marian Community of Reconciliation, a religious association for lay consecrated women. In 1994, Christian Life Movement was recognized by the Vatican as an International Lay Association of Faithful of pontifical right. In 1995, he founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Reconciliation. In 1997, Sodalitium was approved by Pope John Paul II as a Society of Apostolic Life for laymen and priests. One year later, in 1998, Figari founded another religious association for consecrated women, the Servants of the Plan of God.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II named Figari as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity. In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI named Figari as an Auditor to the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, one of the few lay participants invited to the assembly. On 3 June 2006, Figari addressed the conclusive words to Pope Benedict XVI in the Encounter of the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities with the Pope at the Vigil of Pentecost in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican.

On 21 December 2010, Figari resigned to his role as Superior General of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, claiming health reasons.

Allegations of sexual and psychological abuse

Some groups are opposed to the Sodalitium, which has generated suspicion and alarm; it is seen by some as a conservative, elitist sect with an authoritarian and fundamentalist structure. After parents accused the Sodalitium of brainwashing their son and separating him from his parents, the movement opened its doors to the press for the first time in 2003. Young members were reported as laughing at talk of brainwashing, and said that they had been evangelised, not captured, as teenagers.

Pedro Salinas, a former member, said at the time that during his membership of the SCV in the 1980s he was subject to absurd orders, and assumed that "now the Sodalicios have learned from their mistakes and have evolved", but that when he was a member of the movement they had "sectarian characteristics".

In 2015 Salinas published a book, Mitad Monjes, Mitad Soldados (Half Monks, Half Soldiers) which reported abuse and mistreatment, including sexual abuse, by Luis Fernando Figari. The movement first published a response which was later considered insufficient, then said that it was "a cause for deep grief and shame if such acts could have been committed by Luis Fernando Figari ... We condemn the incidents that may have occurred, especially the sexual abuse". They said that the testimonies in the book were plausible and needed to be thoroughly clarified, and that former members of the Movement had reported abuse. Allegations submitted to ecclesial tribunals were withheld. Luis Fernando Figari denied all accusations, but did not make any public statement, "as would be his moral obligation". Ecclesial authorities were investigating. The SCJ asked for forgiveness, and said they offered victims help. They created a committee of members and non-SCJ experts to meet with any person affected, and said they were committed to thoroughly investigating and clarifying the truth about "the incidents, which are intolerable, because they involve grave suffering for persons who trusted our community, and they betray our deepest values". They said they were available to cooperate with civil and ecclesial authorities. There were thirty allegations of abuse by Luis Fernando Figari and his closest associates, including Daniel Murguía and the "almost saintly" Germán Doig. Salinas's book also details Figari's involvement in his youth with right-wing Catholic, extreme right-wing, and falangist groups.

Vatican review

In April 2015, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life appointed Bishop Fortunato Urcey, Prelate of Chota, as apostolic visitor tasked with investigating charges of "improper behavior" on the part of Figari. Urcey's work in Peru was scheduled to last from August 2015 to March 2016. In May 2016, Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis (later Cardinal Archbishop of Newark) was named to oversee the reform of Sodalit. On 30 January 2017, as a result of Urcey's investigation, the Congregation decreed that Figari should have no further contact with members of the Sodalit community. Urcey had reported that while Figari was Superior General he had "adopted a style of government excessively or improperly authoritarian, directed to impose one's own will," and that "in order to obtain the obedience of his brothers [he] used improper strategies and methods of persuasion, that is to say, underhanded, arrogant and nonetheless violent and disrespectful of the right to the inviolability of one's own interiority and discretion".

Publications

Figari has published many articles and books on various subjects, such as Christian spirituality, the Virgin Mary, the Eucharist, Catholic social teachings, the Catholic view of family, human rights and evangelization of culture. He has strongly backed the ideal of reconciliation, as well as the organization of congresses on several occasions on the issue of reconciliation. He is considered one of the main Latin American Catholic thinkers.

Organisations

According to one study: