Sodality of Christian Life dissolved by Pope Francis, apostolate confirms

Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ, takes possession of his titular church in Rome, the Church of the Gesù, on Dec. 8, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 20, 2025 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

The Sodality of Christian Life confirmed on Monday that Pope Francis has decided to dissolve the society of apostolic life without going into further details about how the process will be carried out.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV, by its Latin acronym) issued a statement following the news published on Saturday by Infovaticana, according to which Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda supposedly announced the dissolution to its members gathered for the general assembly that is taking place in Aparecida, Brazil.

The general assembly began on Jan. 6 and will end Jan. 31. Ghirlanda is attending in his capacity as consultant for the process of revising the constitutions of the Sodalitium and is its delegate for formation, a task entrusted to him by the Vatican in 2019.

In its statement on Monday, the SCV said: “On Jan. 18 of this year, the website ‘Infovaticana’ published the news that the Holy Father had dissolved our society of apostolic life. The main information about what occurred was true, but it contained several inaccuracies.”

In its text, the Sodalitium does not indicate what the inaccuracies are but clarifies that the leak to the press of this “confidential” information did not come from Ghirlanda but from two members of the sodality who violated “the confidentiality of the case” and who have been expelled from the assembly.

“The assembly recognizes as its own only the news from its official communications; therefore, the assembly disassociates itself from all other news that has come out or may come out from the press related to the assembly, to the Sodalitium, to the Holy Father, in whom we trust and whom we obey, to Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, and to Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ,” the SCV stated.

According to Infovaticana, the decree of dissolution “refers to the immorality of the founder, Luis Fernando Figari, as an indication of the nonexistence of a founding charism, and therefore, the lack of ecclesial legitimacy for the permanence of the institution.”

Figari was expelled from the SCV by Pope Francis in August 2024. The Holy See had already sanctioned him in 2017 and banned him from having contact with any member of this society after it was proven that he committed sexual abuse and the abuse of power.

According to Infovaticano, the Vatican supposedly appointed Bertomeu, a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, as commissioner responsible for the dissolution process. The Spanish priest was part of the special mission that the pontiff sent to Peru in July 2023 to investigate the accusations against members of the Sodalitium.

The SCV was founded in Lima, Peru, in 1971 and currently is also present in Italy, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.