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Luis Fernando Figari
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Luis Fernando Figari
Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo (born 8 July 1947) is a Peruvian Catholic layman who is the founder and former superior general of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He also founded the Christian Life Movement and several other religious associations.
He has been the subject of allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of young men, some of whom were minors. On 30 January 2017, following an investigation of these claims, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ordered that Figari be "prohibited from contacting, in any way, persons belonging to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, and no way have any direct personal contact with them." In August 2024 he was formally expelled from the Sodalitium with the explicit approval of Pope Francis.
Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru, on 8 July 1947. His parents were Alberto (1902–1990) and Blanca Figari (1909–1995), both Peruvian. He was born in a Catholic family, the last of four children. He studied at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School until he was 10 years old and then at Holy Mary High School at Lima. He studied humanities and law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and then law at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. During this time, he became a leader of the National Confederation of Youth, the youth branch of the Odriíst National Union, the political movement of former president Manuel A. Odría. When he was 19, he was elected to represent the university students from Lima in giving a welcoming speech to US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy during his visit to Peru. He began studying theology in the Pontifical and Civil School of Theology of Lima, where he would also teach in 1975.
Between 1967 and 1968, as a secondary educator at the San Isidro school, he founded the Escalones Juveniles Nacionalistas (EJN), a religious and nationalist organization of Falangist ideology and influenced by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera's thought, which remained active until 1971.
He founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 1971, a moment he later called the "baptism of a search". Cardinal Juan Landazuri, Archbishop of Lima, began meeting with Figari in 1972 to monitor the development of the Sodalitium and express support. In 1974, Figari founded the Immaculate Mary Association for women. In 1984, Figari participated in the first World Youth Day in Rome. 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, CLM was recognized by the Holy See as an international lay association of faithful of pontifical right. In 1995, he founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Reconciliation. In 1997, Pope John Paul II approved Sodalitium as a society of apostolic life. 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 an auditor for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, one of the few lay participants invited to that assembly. On 3 June 2006, Figari addressed the closing 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.
On 21 December 2010, Figari resigned from his role as Superior General of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, citing health reasons.
Figari has been known to openly sympathize with Falangism, which has earned a reputation for being Spain's Fascist ideology. In a 2016 interview with The Guardian former Sodalitium member Pedro Salinas accused Figari of admiring fascist figures Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying that Figari "admired the oratory of Hitler and Mussolini. He was inspired by Nazi marches and he had a fascination with the Hitler Youth.” Salinas also accused Figari of being the person with the most power in Sodalitium, saying that under Figari's rule, Sodalitium "was an absolutely totalitarian religious organisation in which the power rested in the hands of one person: Luis Fernando Figari.” In an article for El País in October 2024, Archbishop of Lima Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio described Figari's Sodalitium Christianae Vitae as "a failed Cold War experiment" which also "conceals its crimes and its ambition for political and economic dominance." Archbishop Castillo also said that Sodalitium was influenced by fascism, describing Figari's former society as "the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, using the church cunningly, through sectarian methods, testing how strong you are or forcing you to sleep face down on stairs to forge your character."
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Luis Fernando Figari
Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo (born 8 July 1947) is a Peruvian Catholic layman who is the founder and former superior general of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He also founded the Christian Life Movement and several other religious associations.
He has been the subject of allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of young men, some of whom were minors. On 30 January 2017, following an investigation of these claims, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life ordered that Figari be "prohibited from contacting, in any way, persons belonging to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, and no way have any direct personal contact with them." In August 2024 he was formally expelled from the Sodalitium with the explicit approval of Pope Francis.
Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru, on 8 July 1947. His parents were Alberto (1902–1990) and Blanca Figari (1909–1995), both Peruvian. He was born in a Catholic family, the last of four children. He studied at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School until he was 10 years old and then at Holy Mary High School at Lima. He studied humanities and law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and then law at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. During this time, he became a leader of the National Confederation of Youth, the youth branch of the Odriíst National Union, the political movement of former president Manuel A. Odría. When he was 19, he was elected to represent the university students from Lima in giving a welcoming speech to US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy during his visit to Peru. He began studying theology in the Pontifical and Civil School of Theology of Lima, where he would also teach in 1975.
Between 1967 and 1968, as a secondary educator at the San Isidro school, he founded the Escalones Juveniles Nacionalistas (EJN), a religious and nationalist organization of Falangist ideology and influenced by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera's thought, which remained active until 1971.
He founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 1971, a moment he later called the "baptism of a search". Cardinal Juan Landazuri, Archbishop of Lima, began meeting with Figari in 1972 to monitor the development of the Sodalitium and express support. In 1974, Figari founded the Immaculate Mary Association for women. In 1984, Figari participated in the first World Youth Day in Rome. 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, CLM was recognized by the Holy See as an international lay association of faithful of pontifical right. In 1995, he founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Reconciliation. In 1997, Pope John Paul II approved Sodalitium as a society of apostolic life. 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 an auditor for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, one of the few lay participants invited to that assembly. On 3 June 2006, Figari addressed the closing 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.
On 21 December 2010, Figari resigned from his role as Superior General of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, citing health reasons.
Figari has been known to openly sympathize with Falangism, which has earned a reputation for being Spain's Fascist ideology. In a 2016 interview with The Guardian former Sodalitium member Pedro Salinas accused Figari of admiring fascist figures Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying that Figari "admired the oratory of Hitler and Mussolini. He was inspired by Nazi marches and he had a fascination with the Hitler Youth.” Salinas also accused Figari of being the person with the most power in Sodalitium, saying that under Figari's rule, Sodalitium "was an absolutely totalitarian religious organisation in which the power rested in the hands of one person: Luis Fernando Figari.” In an article for El País in October 2024, Archbishop of Lima Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio described Figari's Sodalitium Christianae Vitae as "a failed Cold War experiment" which also "conceals its crimes and its ambition for political and economic dominance." Archbishop Castillo also said that Sodalitium was influenced by fascism, describing Figari's former society as "the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, using the church cunningly, through sectarian methods, testing how strong you are or forcing you to sleep face down on stairs to forge your character."