“We Should Have Come 20 Years Ago”: The Catholic Church Apologises to a Peruvian Community Over Lost Land

• A Vatican envoy apologised to the Tallán community of Catacaos in northern Peru
• Thousands of hectares were caught up in disputed transfers and eviction attempts
• The companies involved were linked to the dissolved Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
• Two community leaders were shot dead in clashes over evictions

The Catholic Church has formally apologised to an Indigenous community in northern Peru for its part in a bitter struggle over land, Crux reported in an Associated Press story on 24 May 2026. At a ceremony in Catacaos, home of the Tallán people, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu asked the community for forgiveness.

Bertomeu is the apostolic commissioner overseeing the dissolution of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement founded in Peru in 1971 by Luis Figari that at its height had about 20,000 members across South America and the United States. Pope Francis dissolved the group in 2025 after investigations into sexual abuse, financial mismanagement and spiritual abuse.

The land dispute in Catacaos involves thousands of hectares. Companies linked to the Sodalitium sought to evict farmers after property transfers the community did not recognise, and two community leaders were shot and killed in clashes connected to the eviction efforts. The report did not say whether any land has been returned; the ceremony was described as a symbolic act of reparation.

“We are here to ask for your forgiveness in the name of the Church. We are late. We should have come 20 years ago, and we are truly sorry,” Bertomeu said. Tania Pariona, secretary of Peru’s National Human Rights Commission, called it a “historic gesture” in which the church was “taking the lead over the state, which has failed to protect rural communities.”

The case shows how land held by church-linked organisations can become a source of conflict, and how difficult it is to put right once families have been displaced and lives lost. An apology is a start; for the community, the practical question is what happens to the land.

Jamaica has its own long history of disputes between church landholders and the families who farm or live on their land. The Catacaos story is a reminder that churches, and bodies connected to them, carry a special responsibility in land dealings: clear titles, fair treatment of occupiers and an honest reckoning with past wrongs are part of Christian witness, not just property management.

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