VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Wednesday took over a Peru-based Catholic movement whose founder has been accused of abusing its members sexually, physically and psychologically, just days before Pope Francis starts a trip to Chile and Peru.

A Vatican statement said the congregation for religious orders had issued a decree naming a commissioner to take over the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a conservative movement that has about 20,000 members and chapters throughout South America and the United States.

The move came just weeks after Peruvian prosecutors announced that they were seeking the arrest of Sodalitium’s founder, Luis Figari. Investigators have described him as a paranoid narcissist obsessed with sex and watching his underlings endure pain and humiliation.

The pope is expected to have to contend with the church’s sexual abuse scandal during his visit from Jan. 15 to Jan. 21, with protests planned amid recent revelations in Chile about the scandal there. On Wednesday, the online database BishopAccountability.org released research it said showed that 78 priests or members of religious orders had been credibly accused or convicted in Chile.