Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo (born July 8, 1947 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian Catholic layman and the founder and former superior general of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He has also founded Christian Life Movement and other religious associations.
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Luis Fernando Figari was born in Lima, Peru, the 8th of July 1947. His parents were Don Alberto Figari (1902–1990) and Mrs. Blanca Figari (1909–1995), both of them Peruvians. He was born in a Catholic family, and was the last of four children. A controversial character, he is nevertheless one of the most important figures in the late history of the Roman Catholic Church in Peru
He studied in the Immaculate Heart of Mary School until he was 10 years of age and then in Holy Mary High School at Lima.
When he was 7 years old, he received the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Communion, and Confirmation. Presiding over the Liturgy was Archbishop Juan Landazuri, O.F.M., who would have an important role in the approval of the Sodalitium, as well as in other societies Luis Fernando established.
He first studied Humanities and Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and afterwards Law in the National University of San Marcos, in Lima. During this time, he became a leader of the National Confederation of Youths, the juvenile branch of National Odriist Union party, the political movement of former president Manuel A. Odria When he was 19 years old he was elected to represent all the university students from Lima, giving the welcoming speech to US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy during his visit to Peru.
After participating in politics and searching answers in philosophy, he began to walk through the path of the faith. A Passionist Priest, Father Constancio Bollar, who had baptized L.F. Figari and was a friend of the family, had an important role in his discernment towards a consecrated life. Fr. Bollar became, until his death in 1975, his spiritual director.
He would begin studying Theology in the Pontifical and Civil School of Theology of Lima, where he also taught in 1975.
His conversion process finds a culminating point in the foundation of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, in 1971. He calls that moment "baptism of a search". Cardinal Landazuri, the Archbishop of Lima, would start meeting with Figari in 1972, following closely the development of the Sodalitium and expressing his support.
In 1974, he founded the Immaculate Mary Association for women.
In 1984 Figari participated in the first World Youth's Day at Rome, pronouncing the “Catechesis on Love”, in Saint Paul Outside the Walls Basilica. One year later, in 1985, he founded the Christian Life Movement (CLM), an ecclesial movement.
In 1991, he founded the Marian Community of Reconciliation, a religious association for lay consecrated women.
In 1994, Christian Life Movement was recognized by the Vatican as an International Lay Association of Faithful of pontifical right.
In 1995, he founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Reconciliation.
In 1997, Sodalitium was approved by Pope John Paul II as a Society of Apostolic Life for laymen and priests.
One year later, in 1998, Figari founded another religious association for consecrated women, the Servants of the Plan of God.
All the members of these institutions, who share a common spirit and goals, are said to form a spiritual family: the Sodalit Family. It is constituted by men and women of every age, and is extended throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as in Australia and some countries of Asia and Africa.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II named Figari as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI named Figari as an Auditor to the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, one of the few lay participants invited to the assembly.
On June 3, 2006, Figari addressed the conclusive words to Pope Benedict XVI in the Encounter of the Ecclesial Movements and New Communities with the Holy Father at the Vigil of Pentecost in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican.
On December 21, 2010, Figari resigned to his role as Superior General of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, claiming health reasons.
Figari has published many articles and books on various subjects, such as Christian spirituality, the Virgin Mary, the Eucharist, Catholic social teachings, the Catholic view of family, human rights and evangelization of culture. He has strongly backed the ideal of reconciliation, as well as the organization of congresses on several occasions on the issue of reconciliation. He is considered one of the main Latin American Catholic thinkers.
Although his writings cover a vast number of subjects, a strong synthetic view of Christian life and mission emerges. First, an understanding of the itinerary which the Christian must travel on the road to holiness, based upon the cornerstone of the virtue of faith, which is the means to enter into communion with the mystery of love of the Holy Trinity. Figari's approach to spiritual life is deeply centered upon the event of the Incarnation, finding in the Lord Jesus the illumination for the mystery of human existence. In this context the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and specifically of paragraph 22 of Gaudium et spes is very important for Figari, as well as the role of Saint Mary, Mother of the Lord Jesus and our Mother, in Christian life. Filial love to Mary is understood as a dynamic process of growth in love, by which the Christian, who has been led to Mary by the love he finds in the heart of Christ, grows in his love of the Lord Jesus as well as in the understanding of Him, in the measure in which he lives in the company of Mary. The incarnation is understood in terms of Reconciliation, which becomes the key to understanding all the relational dimensions of human existence: relationship with God, with oneself, with other persons, and with the whole of creation. This understanding of Christian life, which according to Figari must become everyday life, naturally develops into an ecclesial affirmation of the apostolic mission of which all Christians are responsible. Conscious of the need for Christian witness in the present context, Figari has reflected upon the challenges for evangelization, analyzing the crisis of our secularized cultured, which he describes as characterized by functional agnosticism. He has also developed different aspects of the mission of the People of God in our times. Among them, four have a special relevance in his writings: the evangelization of youth, solidarity with the poor, the family and the evangelization of culture.