CATACAOS — Peru's highest ecclesiastical authorities held a symbolic reparation ceremony in Catacaos on Saturday, May 23, 2026, apologizing to the Indigenous people of Tallán for land dispossession linked to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. The ceremony was led by Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, the apostolic commissioner in charge of the dissolution process of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

"We are here to ask for your forgiveness in the name of the Church," Bertomeu said during the ceremony. "We are late. We should have come 20 years ago, and we are truly sorry."

The land disputes date back at least a decade to when Sodalitium-linked companies began legal action to evict people from thousands of hectares in Catacaos following property transfers not recognized by farmers. Dozens of farmers were prosecuted on allegations of usurpation, and two community leaders were shot and killed during clashes stemming from the eviction efforts. Pope Francis told the community in 2024: "Fight for your lands, I am with you."

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was dissolved in 2025 by Pope Francis. The dissolution followed a Vatican investigation that uncovered sexual abuses by its founder, financial mismanagement by its leaders, and spiritual abuses by its top members.

The group was founded in 1971 as one of several Catholic societies formed in reaction to the left-leaning liberation theology movement of the 1960s. At its height, it had about 20,000 members across South America and the United States.

In 2011, former members complained to the archdiocese in Lima about abuses by the group's founder, Luis Figari. Neither the local church nor the Holy See took concrete action until one of the victims and a journalist wrote a book in 2015. Pope Francis subsequently sent Bertomeu and Archbishop Charles Scicluna to investigate the allegations. Their report described "sadistic" sect-like abuses of power and spirituality, financial abuses in administering church funds, and instances of harassing critics. Tania Pariona, the secretary of Peru's National Human Rights Commission, said the ceremony was a historic gesture in which the church is taking the lead over the state, which has failed to protect rural communities.