VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has expressed his support for farmers in northern Peru who are threatened with expulsion from what they say is their ancestral land by groups linked to a Catholic movement.
“I know what’s going on with you. Protect the country, don’t be robbed,” the pope said in a video message posted online April 13. The video was published the next day on X by the office of Archbishop Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima.
Pope Francis directed his message to the farming communities of Piura in northern Peru, who accused groups affiliated with the Catholic ministry Sodalitium Christianae Vitae of taking their ancestral land and disrupting the farmers with legal threats.
The land dispute is being considered by the Peruvian court.
“Thank you for your work,” the pope told the farmers in a video message. “From here, I pray to you and I am happy that I bless you.”
In July 2023, Pope Francis sent the Vatican’s top abuse investigators – Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Spanish Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu – to investigate the Sodalitium in Peru, which has been accused of spiritual, mental and tyranny among its ranks and financial corruption.
During their investigation, they met members of the farming community of Catacaos near Piura. The leader of the community, Marcelino Ynga, said that he told the Vatican delegation about the torture and abuse received at the hands of the Sodalitium groups, such as the St. drive them out of their land.
Responding to Pope Francis’ video message, Ynga thanked the pope for launching an investigation into the Sodalitium, which he called a “criminal organization” that tried “to harm us, ask us and we will be arrested.” He also said that two members of the farming community were killed in an attempt to evict the farmers from their land.
The Vatican said on April 2 that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop José Eguren Anselmi of Piura, a member of the Sodalitium since 1981.
The Sodalitium was founded in Peru by lay Catholic Luis Fernando Figari in 1971 and is known as a group of apostolic life; It has grown to work in several other Latin American countries and Italy. Although the movement was previously accused of abuse, a 2015 book revealed its psychological abuse and torture and an internal investigation in 2017 found that Figari and other senior members of The move injured 19 minors and 10 adults.
In 2017, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life banned Figari from living with a Sodalitium community, participating in Sodalitium activities or contacting any Sodalitium member.
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