Thirty-six-year-old cult leader Ramon Gustavo Castillo Gaete declared that the end of the world was near as the justification behind the barbaric ritual.
Chilean police have arrested four people accused of taking part in the ritual.
Investigators said that the three-day-old baby girl was placed on a board with her mouth taped before being thrown into the flames. Taken to a hill in the town of Colliguay, near the Chilean port of Valparaiso, the ritual took place last November.
The baby's mother, 25-year-old Natalia Guerra, had allegedly approved the sacrifice.
Miguel Ampuero, of the Police investigative Unit, Chile's equivalent of the FBI, said: "The baby was naked. They strapped tape around her mouth to keep her from screaming. Then they placed her on a board. After calling on the spirits they threw her on the bonfire alive."
Authorities say that the 12-member sect was formed in 2005 and was led by Gaete, who remains at large.
"Everyone in this sect was a professional," Ampuero said. "We have someone who was a veterinarian and who worked as a flight attendant, we have a filmmaker, a draftsman. Everyone has a university degree."
Ringleader Gaete was last seen traveling to Peru to buy ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew plant that he used to control the members of the rite.
The child's mother remains in custody with the three other cult members. Gaete is believed to have been the child's father.
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