Peruvian priest from scandal-plagued group demands 'corrections' from papal embassy

ROME – A Peruvian priest recently expelled from a scandal-plagued lay group, partly over allegations of financial irregularities, has sent a registered letter to the papal embassy in Peru demanding a series of corrections to the Oct. 23 announcement of his ouster. its content ‘false and defamatory’.

Crux has also learned that the priest in question, Father Jaime Baertl, has business ties to an individual who helped launch a criminal complaint in Peru against the Vatican officials who led an investigation into the group, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV).

Last July, Pope Francis sent his top investigative team – Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, assistant secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, an official of the dicastery – to Lima to conduct an in-depth investigation to the accusations against soda litium.

Archbishop Charles Chaput, left, and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, right, meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, October 21, 2024. (Credit: Vatican Media.)

This past week, the papal embassy in Peru, known as the “nunciature,” announced that the pope had expelled four members of the SCV: Jose Ambrozic, a former vicar general of the SCV and former superior of the House of Denver; Luis Antonio Ferroggiaro, charged with abuse of a minor; Baertl, accused of sexual misconduct and financial corruption; and Juan Carlos Len, also accused of financial corruption.

The move comes after the Pope in August expelled the SCV’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari, as well as 10 other high-ranking members last month, bringing the total number of expelled members to 15.

The announcement of the deportation of Baertl and Len stated that the decision was made based on “the seriousness of the sexual abuse committed by one of the suspects, as well as the personal responsibility of these two ordained persons in numerous irregular and illegal actions by organizations of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.”

It said that some of their economic management and investments within the SCV are “sinful acts that betray the Gospel.”

A day later Baertl and Len sent a notarial letter to the nunciature, arguing that the measures taken were unjust and that the accusations in the communiqué were false and therefore ‘defamatory’. They said these allegations “have nothing to do with the truth and are defamatory” as defined in the Code of Canon Law.

Baertl and Len requested an “immediate correction” of several points, including the communiqué’s implication that both men had committed sexual abuse, which they say is “absolutely untrue.” They said no reference was made to this allegation in a canonical inquiry, and that an accusation of sexual abuse “causes serious damage to the good name to which every person is entitled, including ourselves.”

Baertl and Len also denied having any responsibility for irregular or illegal activities of companies affiliated with the SCV, saying that while this accusation was included in the communiqué, it was not part of their expulsion decisions and as such amounts to “false and seriously defamatory” allegations.

They disagreed with the communiqué’s description of “sinful” economic management and investments, saying that this too was not included in the expulsion decree, as well as an accusation of illegal use of assets that should have gone to charity , was not included in the official decree. of deportation.

They called all these accusations “unfounded” and said they “could ultimately constitute a civil and canonical crime of defamation,” suggesting they could take legal action against the nunciature, and called for a public “rectification.”

Neither Baertl nor the papal ambassador to Peru, Archbishop Paolo Rocco Gualtieri, immediately responded to a Crux request for comment. However, Baertl did demand that Crux tell him who provided the letter, which one Crux refused to do so on grounds of journalistic ethics regarding the protection of sources.

Baertl, long seen as the SCV’s financial czar and the architect of their financial empire, also has ties to two individuals who have filed a criminal complaint against Bertomeu for alleged breach of professional secrecy.

These individuals are Peruvian layman Giuliana Caccia Arana and layman Sebastian Blanco, who requested to be interviewed by Scicluna and Bertomeu last year. They were given an appointment and, since Scicluna had missed his flight, were interviewed by Bertomeu. When the details of their conversation became public, Caccia and Blanco filed a criminal complaint against Bertomeu, believing he had made the information public.

(Under Peruvian law, a private individual can file a criminal complaint without prior review by a prosecutor or prosecutor.)

Participants in the trial have said that the identities of Caccia and Blanco were discovered by photographers outside the nunciature, and that the contents of their accusations, but not their names, were passed on by Scicluna and Bertomeu to other witnesses in the investigation to assess their veracity. As a result, these participants say, the information in question did not have to come from Bertomeu.

Suspicions that both Caccia and Blanco’s complaint and Baertl and Len’s letter are part of a coordinated effort to discredit the Vatican investigation have been strengthened by business and personal ties between the various parties.

For example, Blanco is the brother of Ignacio Blanco, Figari’s personal secretary, who left the SCV in 2018, and who is also currently in a relationship with Caccia, a cultural and political activist who has spoken before the Peruvian parliament on family issues. .

Caccia and the Blanco brothers are also jointly involved in the association “Person, Life, Family”, founded by Caccia in 2019, and where Caccia served as president from 2020, Sebastian as secretary and Ignacio as treasurer. According to a profile sheet available from the National Superintendency of Public Records in Peru (SUNARP), a lawyer named Gonzalo Agustin Flores Santana serves as attorney for the group.

Crux has learned that Flores Santana is also a member of the SCV “Santa Rosa Foundation,” which is based in Denver and is believed to be a recipient of funds from Peru-based SCV companies.

According to a profile page on CauseIQ, the secretary of the Santa Rosa Foundation is Jose Ambrozic, who was also expelled this week for alleged financial impropriety, and the vice president is Juan Carlos Len, who was expelled along with Baertl.

According to SUNARP, Sebastian Blanco is also secretary of the “Asociación San Lucas Civil San Lucas” in Peru, where Baertl is treasurer and Father Javier Len, brother of Carlos Len, who was deported this week along with Baertl, is president.

When asked whether she had disclosed her relationship with Ignacio Blanco and her personal and business relationships with both Blanco brothers in her testimony against Bertomeu last year, Caccia said: Crux that the meeting was confidential, and “I am not violating the confidentiality of what was agreed.”

When asked whether he had made similar revelations, Sebastian Blanco denied having any business ties at all with Baertl or Javier Len.

“I don’t have any relationship with Fr. Jaime Baertl nor with Fr. Javier Len,” he said Cruxsaying that the only place where “we coincide” is as members of the board of directors of the San Lucas Association, which he said is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting priests, religious, youth and poor people in remote mountain areas of Peru.

Although several SCV and now former SCV members serve on San Lucas’ board, he said, it has “no institutional ties whatsoever” to the SCV.

Regarding his meeting with Bertomeu last year, Blanco said the meeting was confidential and: “I respect that confidentiality.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen