By Salvatore Cernuzio
A delegation from the Vatican, including cardinals, bishops, and a priest, and representatives of the Catholic Church in Peru, knelt before farmers (campesinos) in Peru as a sign of forgiveness for justice and reconciliation that came too late.
It was a deeply symbolic and, at the same time, moving gesture that took place on the evening of May 23, in front of the altar of the parish of San Juan Bautista in Catacaos, a town a few kilometers from Piura in northern Peru.
In the church overlooking the Plaza de Armas, the campesinos of the Indigenous Tallán people were given a tangible sign of the willingness of the country’s Church representatives to make amends, after more than a decade of abuses, persecution, land seizures, harassment, and violations of social and labor rights, committed by sectors and members linked to the “Sodalitium of Christian Life” (SCV).
In 2025, Pope Francis dissolved Sodalitium, an ecclesial organization, following proven scandals of abuse and corruption, which were brought to light through the investigative work of journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz.
“We should have come twenty years ago…”
This act was a response to the farmers’ petitions to Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith who was sent to Peru a year ago as apostolic commissioner for the dissolution process of Sodalitium. The Vatican delegation’s gesture and plea for forgiveness represented the culmination of the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated on the solemnity of Pentecost at San Juan Bautista.
Monsignor Bertomeu spent two weeks listening to victims at the Nunciature in Peru. He concelebrated Mass with Cardinals Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, Archbishop of Lima, and Pedro Barreto, Archbishop Emeritus of Huancayo, as well as Archbishops Luciano Maza of Piura and Alfredo Vizcarra of Trujillo.
Authorities, members of civil society, and diplomatic corps were also present, along with the farmers of Catacaos, holding white flowers. Relatives of Cristino Melchor Flores and Guadalupe Zapata Sosa, indigenous leaders who died after actively opposing land trafficking linked to companies associated with Sodalitium, as well as other relatives and members of the farming community of Catacaos, also gathered for this event. “We should have come twenty years ago; today we ask forgiveness,” Monsignor Bertomeu said.
Renewal and hope
In his homily, Cardinal Castillo Mattasoglio spoke of a commitment “on the path of renewal” as well as “an authentic sign of hope for humanity.” Hope after the “tragedy” caused by “a group within the Church that unfortunately casts a shadow over it.”
“Today we want to overcome this dishonor” and move forward on the “path of reconciliation” begun by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo XIV, who had already addressed the Sodalitium issue on numerous occasions during his time as a bishop in Peru, offering support to victims.
“We come as a sign of solidarity, ready not only to ask forgiveness in the name of the Church—since it was a group within the Church that created the problem you still experience today—but also to commit ourselves to renewing the Church and continuing along the path of renewal pursued by the last two Popes,” the cardinal assured.
“We cannot forget, and we must not forget,” he added, “but we must know how to remember to correct. Not only to correct ourselves—since we are all sinners—but to help correct those people who believe themselves uncorrectable, who believe themselves gods; and we are not gods, we are human beings, sinners, who can and must change and improve.”
Appeal for peace
Cardinal Mattasoglio then called for peace—the “unarmed and disarming peace” that Pope Leo has set as a central theme of his pontificate. A peace that is achieved “not with weapons,” but through “words,” “gestures,” through the simple people who are “called to be protagonists” and “to build together, as happens with all the popular movements of the world, which are hidden but are awakening and are convincing everyone that we need to regenerate humanity.”
Pope Leo’s commitment, Pope Francis’ appeal
“If peace is built with peace, with dialogue, with recognition of people and the value each of us has, then it is lasting,” Cardinal Castillo said, again quoting Pope Leo. He also referenced “something that Pope Francis liked to say very much,” that he “loved you very much” and “had a special memory of the fact that working people suffer greatly but must never lose hope.”
The cardinal recalled one of his last conversations with the Argentine pontiff before his death: “You speak of popular movements, but they are not famous movements.” The Pope replied: “Yes, but they are like seeds, and they are everywhere. They are hidden, but they will reveal themselves.”
Cardinal Mattasoglio’s appeal was therefore to spread the message of hope, “today more urgent than ever” in the face of “powerful forces” that “want to destroy the world.” The world, however, “belongs to God and belongs to everyone, so let us do what the Gospel of today says: by forgiving, we recognize the value of the other,” the Archbishop of Lima concluded, thanking the campesinos (farmers) gathered in the parish: “Thank you for helping us.” – Vatican News
