The cardinal-elect Archbishop of Lima called for the abolition of the scandal-ridden Peruvian group, Sodalitium Vitae Christianae.
Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio said the Sodalitium Vitae Christianae (SCV) or Sodality of Christian Life had “destroyed people,” adding: “There is nothing Christian about that.”
In an article published on 19 October in the Spanish daily, El País, he outlined a “hypothesis” that the movement was a political initiative.
“It is the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, artfully using the Church via sectarian means,” wrote Castillo, currently the Archbishop of Lima. He alleged the SCV “experimented” on members to see “how strong” they were.
In a bid to “build character,” he said they were “forced to sleep on stairs, face downwards.” He added: “In other words, this is pure Pelagian ascetism, all leading towards the mental control of individuals who end up turning into an army of robots who conquer and dominate.”
In 2019, Castillo said he had met a young man who said the SCV had conducted an “experiment” on him, by compelling him to take medication for schizophrenia, inducing the illness – which he had not previously suffered. He had incurred debt paying for the medication. “I wondered ‘why have they experimented on this boy?’ He was not the only one,” wrote Castillo.
“As a theologian and a sociologist I began to ask myself what the sodality and similar church movements really were about,” he added.
In the article – titled “The Sodality, a failed cold war experiment in Latin America” – Castillo also recalled his first encounter with Luis Figari, the group’s founder.
In 1967, the 17-year-old Castillo was leader of Peru’s national student youth movement. In 1968, Figari attended a meeting, inviting members to join his “Revolutionary Union”, which had Fascist inclinations. Castillo subsequently heard members were attracted to the paraphernalia of the Spanish Falange.
Castillo also claimed the SCV was involved in attempts to discredit the Gustavo Gutierrez, the Peruvian Dominican and Father of Liberation Theology who died on Tuesday. He said Gustavo Gutierrez asked him to hand-deliver the replies he had penned to questions regarding his theology raised by Cardinal Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
As Castillo delivered the papers in Rome, Ratzinger observed this meant the “documents” from Gutierrez which should have been dispatched via the nunciature in Peru “had not arrived”. Castillo recalled Ratzinger saying: “I knew something was up because Fr Gutierrez is extremely serious and would not have made a mistake.”
Castillo concluded: “There had been a short circuit in the nunciature or elsewhere, but the latter is more likely as a sodality member was providing external support to the work of the nunciature.”
Castillo also compared the Figari to Marciel Maciel, the sexual abuser priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ.
In August, the Vatican expelled Figari, who has been accused of sexual abuse, from the SCV. A further 10 members of the SCV were ejected on Vatican orders last month.
Castillo concluded: “The use of religion for ends alien to the spreading of the good news of Jesus is the most destructive thing of all for the Catholic Church. Which is why I’ve reached the conclusion that there is no charism in the sodality. A charism only exists when a person receives a gift of the Spirit for the whole Church, and their works are good.”
He added: “The founder and the group can make mistakes and commit sins, but the evaluation on balance is very positive due to the good works they produce. However, Figari, who has been proved to be an abuser … invited a supposed charism to protect a political, and sectarian initiative. Well-intentioned people bought into this experiment.”
He declared the sodality “could not be salvaged” due to a “bad birth” as was “demonstrated by its fruit over the course of the past 50 years”.
“At the service of the Latin American cold war, it has been a machine which has destroyed people, inventing a faith which covers up its crimes and ambition for political and economic power,” he said. “There is nothing spontaneous about its members. As a failed experiment it should be suppressed by the Church.”
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