Christian Life Movement Back to List
description: It was approved by the Holy See in 1994 as an International Association of Christian Faithful of Pontifical Right. This means it is a worldwide Catholic association dependent on the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
The Christian Life Movement was born in 1985, in Peru. At that time, a number of apostolic initiatives by members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, now a Pontifical Society of Apostolic Life, had taken root and were growing. Luis Fernando Figari, the Founder of the Sodalitium, conceived the idea of gathering these initiatives and the people involved in them together in an ecclesial movement. Thus, the Christian Life Movement was born as the fruit of an apostolate that had been blessed by the Holy Spirit.
Communities of the Christian Life Movement began spreading throughout Peru and neighbouring countries in America. As time went by, with the maturity and the growth of the movement, it received the Holy See's recognition as an International Association of Christian Faithful of Pontifical Right. This took place on March 23, 1994.
The Christian Life Movement obtained recognition of the Apostolic See through a Decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Eduardo Pironio.
Since that moment, the expansion of the Christian Life Movement has continued to increase greatly. Many communities and individual members can now be found in different countries of America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Our founder, Luis Fernando Figari, made the closing address to Pope Benedict XVI at the II World Encounter of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in Saint Peters Square, on the Vigil of Pentecost. He thanked the Holy Father for all the good he is doing for the Church and the Ecclesial Movements. He was also invited by Pope Benedict to participate in the V Latin American General Conference of Bishops held in Aparecida (Brazil) from May 13-31, 2007.
In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI invited our founder to the XII Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops, about The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church.