Pope Leo delivers fiery defense of freedom of the press, supports Peru journalists
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2025/06/pope-leo-delivers-fiery-defense-of-freedom-of-the-press-supports-peru-journalists/
LIMA, Peru – In a message of support sent to journalists in Peru who have faced backlash and judicial harassment for their reporting on a now-suppressed lay group, Pope Leo XIV hailed freedom of the press as key to justice, and to a functional democracy.
His message was read aloud to attendees of a showing of the Proyecto Ugaz, or Ugaz Project, a theatrical work that chronicles the story of Peruvian journalist Paola Ugaz, styling her as a heroine who has faced incredible attacks from the group the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), which was suppressed by Pope Francis earlier this year, shortly before his death.
The Ugaz Project, Pope Leo said in his message, “gives voice and face to a pain silenced for too long.”
“This work is not just theater: it is memory, denunciation, and above all, an act of justice,” he said, saying that through the work, “the victims of the extinct spiritual family of the Sodalitium and the journalists who have accompanied them – with courage, patience, and fidelity to the truth – illuminate the wounded but hopeful face of the Church.”
Founded in Lima by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari in 1971, the Sodalitium consisted of four different branches: a men’s community, two women’s communities, and an ecclesial movement.
Pope Francis earlier this year made the rare decision to suppress the entire spiritual family after launching an in-depth investigation in July 2023, led by his top investigators, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, both officials of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Pope Leo, as bishop of Chiclayo in Peru and later as a cardinal in Rome, also had a hand in the case, playing a key role in facilitating contact for victims with the Vatican and obtaining reparations for some.
Paola Ugaz and fellow Peruvian journalist Pedro Salinas, a former member of the SCV, first exposed abuses and corruption within the SCV in 2015 with their book, Half Monks, Half Soldiers.
Since then, both have been subject to countless lawsuits by members and allies of the SCV family over their reporting.
Bertomeu, who has also faced a lawsuit by allies of the SCV, read the pope’s message aloud at the end of Friday’s performance, which said the journalists’ fight for justice in the SCV case “is also the Church’s fight.”
This, he said, is because “a faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul is a faith that has not yet known the Gospel.”
“Today, we recognize that wound in so many children, young people, and adults who were betrayed where they sought comfort; and also in those who risked their freedom and their name so that the truth would not be buried,” he said.
The reference to those risking their freedom is likely a reference to Salinas, who is currently facing a lawsuit for alleged collusion with four state officials for the benefit of a communications company he used to run, but which he says is false.
Salinas, who maintains that he does not know the individuals in question, and that he has been harassed for years in repeated attempts to find evidence that could prove his guilt, such as the confiscation of his cell phone and computer, and his movements being tracked, said individuals with close ties to the SCV brought the suit forward.
He faces an 11.5 year prison sentence if found guilty. Similarly, Ugaz also faces a legal charge for illicit enrichment that was once archived, but the case has since been reopened, and a judge has ordered the lifting of communications secrecy for her phone, potentially revealing sources and putting victims at risk.
Leo in his messages thanked the journalists who have persevered in revealing the truth, “even when they were ignored, discredited, or even judicially persecuted.”
He reiterated the need for the Church to protect minors and vulnerable adults and to support victims, saying, said that a “profound ecclesial conversion” is necessary in this regard, one which “is not rhetoric, but a concrete path of humility, truth, and reparation.”
“Prevention and care are not a pastoral strategy: they are the heart of the Gospel. It is urgent to root a culture of prevention throughout the Church that tolerates no form of abuse,” he said, saying the defense against abuses of power, authority, conscience, and spiritual and sexual abuse requires active vigilance and listening.
For this to happen, “we need journalists,” he said, and personally thanked Ugaz, Salinas, and other journalists who have faced legal suits for their reporting on the SCV, including Daniel Yovera and Patricia Lachira, for their work.
He specifically thanked Ugaz for going to Pope Francis in November 2022 and asking for protection against the SCV’s continual legal harassment, saying injustices committed not just against former members, but also a group of peasants in Catacaos and Castilla, in the province of Piura, by SCV groups “made what was denounced even more intolerable.”
Pope Leo reiterated his May 12 speech to journalists days after his election, saying, “truth is not anyone’s property, but it is everyone’s responsibility to seek it, guard it, and serve it.”
This meeting with the press, he said, “was more than a ceremonial greeting: it was a reaffirmation of the sacred mission of those who, through the journalistic profession, become bridges between facts and the conscience of the people. Even with great difficulties.”
“Today, I once again raise my voice with concern and hope as I look towards my beloved people of Peru,” he said, saying that in a time of social and institutional tension, defending free and ethical journalism “is not only an act of justice, but a duty of all those who long for a solid and participatory democracy.”
In this regard, a culture of encounter, he said, is not built “with empty speeches or manipulated narratives, but with facts narrated with objectivity, rigor, respect, and courage.”
“We exhort, therefore, the authorities of Peru, civil society, and every citizen to protect those who, from community radios to large media outlets, from rural areas to the capital, inform with integrity and courage,” he said, adding, “Where a journalist is silenced, the democratic soul of a country is weakened.”
This appeal from Pope Leo comes amid fresh concern over the outcome of Salinas and Ugaz’s cases after the recent reinstatement of Peruvian lawyer Patricia Benavides as state Attorney General, after she was ousted in 2023 following an investigation called Operation Valkiria by Peru’s National Board of Justice.
Among other things, Benavides was found to have interfered in an investigation into the activities of her sister, and of colluding with lawyers of the SCV to get cases against top members archived, and to keep cases against Ugaz and Salinas open.
She was reinstated over alleged irregularities in the unfolding of Operation Valkiria, and apparently despite not having the full number of votes for the act to be made official.
Pope Leo in his message said that freedom of the press “is an inalienable common good. Those who exercise this vocation with conscience cannot have their voice extinguished by petty interests or by fear of the truth.”
“To all Peruvian communicators, I dare to say with pastoral affection: do not be afraid. With your work, you can be artisans of peace, unity, and social dialogue. Be sowers of light amidst the shadows,” he said.
He closed his message voicing hope that the Ugaz Project would be a “prophetic sign” and would “awaken hearts, stir consciences, and help us build a Church where no one else must suffer in silence, and where truth is not seen as a threat, but as a path of liberation.”
Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen
Religion
via Crux Now https://cruxnow.com
June 21, 2025 at 10:00AM
