The Red de Sobrevivientes Perú has issued a harsh public statement after InfoVaticana exclusively disseminated an audio involving the commissioner for the suppression of the Sodalicio, Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in alleged maneuvers to avoid investigating bishops linked to the money laundering case of the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana.
The audio, made public by this medium, reveals a conversation between Bertomeu and a representative of the Sodalicio in which strategies are discussed to «avoid the scandal» and reduce the impact of the case both in Peru and in the United States. In the recording, Bertomeu proposes communicating to the FBI that the Church would have already “sanitized” the situation by recovering works and associations linked to the Sodalicio, which would allow closing the case without prosecuting allegedly involved bishops.
The Red de Sobrevivientes Perú denounces a new revictimization
After the publication of the audios, the Red de Sobrevivientes Perú accused the Vatican of using the victims as “bargaining chips” to protect its institutional image. The organization described as “shameful” Bertomeu’s statements in which he claims that victims must be “appeased,” but that it cannot be resolved “with a few bucks,” implying a minimal and merely economic reparation.
According to the Red, these words reveal an instrumentalization of the victims who do not seek symbolic compensations, but effective justice for the abuses and cover-ups committed for decades within the Sodalicio.
The president of the Red: “The Church wanted to avoid a scandal, but scandal is what they have now”
The president of the Red de Sobrevivientes Perú, Jose Enrique Escardó Steck, offered a contundent statement after the dissemination of the audios revealed by InfoVaticana:
“I temporarily trusted, and mistakenly, in the good intentions of the Church and its representatives. This audio demonstrates a premeditated betrayal to those of us who are waiting for justice and integral healing. The Church wanted to avoid a scandal, but scandal is what they have on top now”.
Escardó confirmed that he will no longer maintain any type of interlocution with ecclesiastical authorities:
“I refuse to continue any negotiation with the Catholic Church. I hope that civil and criminal justice, in Peru or in the United States, puts the victims at the center and gives us the justice we deserve, no matter who falls, even if they are all the bishops”.