The new pope and Opus Dei

New photographs raise questions about the new pope's relationship with a group accused of human trafficking and abuse towards its members

On the evening of June 26, 2019, Opus Dei members from across northern Peru converged on the provincial capital of Chiclayo to celebrate a special mass in commemoration of Josemaría Escrivá, the controversial Spanish priest and founder of the movement. Hundreds of worshippers streamed into the city’s cathedral to celebrate the life of a man venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church – albeit one who had left behind a divisive legacy tainted by allegations of abuse and manipulation.

Presiding over the mass that evening was a priest who, at the time, was little known outside the diocese. Bishop Robert Prevost, an American by birth who had spent most of his adult life in Peru, began the service by telling an anecdote, recalling a recent trip up into the mountains to visit a small village parish. With no cell coverage, Prevost had taken the wrong fork and gotten lost. Only after finally finding some cell coverage did he realise his mistake and find the right way.

Young people constantly find themselves in moments where they too must choose one path or another, Prevost went on – such as which career path they should take, and how they might continue serving Christ their professional lives. The saints – including Saint Josemaría, the founder of Opus Dei – were their guides, he explained, gesturing towards a huge portrait of the controversial figure that had been placed, pride of place, at the front of the cathedral.

The election of Prevost as pope has been celebrated by hundreds of millions of progressive Catholics around the world as confirmation that the College of Cardinals wishes to continue down the path trodden by Pope Francis – towards a more modern, open and inclusive Church. Many pounced on the pope’s old retweets of articles condemning Trump’s immigration policies, berating JD Vance and calling for an end to the death penalty as evidence that here is another Francis.

But these images of Prevost publicly venerating Opus Dei and its controversial founder will give many pause for thought. After all, Escrivá was a man who supported Franco, who said it was "impossible" for the Nazis to have killed six million Jews, who used listening devices to spy on his followers, and who ordered his female followers (but not the men) to sleep on wooden boards because their flesh was weak. He created an abusive cult accused of trafficking and enslaving young girls.

You can read more about the group’s abuses in my recent book.

In view of this photographic evidence, is it possible that Pope Leo XIV isn’t quite the progressive many are assuming? Is he close to Opus Dei?

Context here is everything. First of all, it’s important to understand that Peru is one of the biggest countries for Opus Dei. It has thousands of members there. It runs one of the country’s largest universities. And one of the frontrunners in the country’s presidential election next year is a numerary member of Opus Dei (basically, a celibate member who lives in a male-only Opus Dei lodge and who pledges their life to the movement - complete obedience in other words).

The mass presided over by Prevost was just one of more than a dozen masses taking place across Peru that day. In Chiclayo, where he was bishop at the time, there is a large population of Opus Dei members. Indeed, for thirty years between 1968 and 1998, the bishop of the city was a fully signed-up, card-carrying member of the group. It seems wholly reasonable that Prevost, as bishop, would allow them to have a mass in honour of Escrivá – a man considered a saint in the Catholic Church.

It is also unsurprising that Prevost – as the bishop of Chiclayo – would preside over that mass. As bishop, presiding over masses is something he does week in, week out. Holding a mass and presiding over that mass don’t mean that Prevost is an active supporter of Opus Dei. Indeed, when he was appointed bishop and sent there by Pope Francis in the mid-2010s, many interpreted that he had been chosen for the job as a counterweight to the influence that Opus Dei already had in the diocese.

The timing is also important. This was 2019. Prevost presided over another mass for Escrivá in 2020, it seems. But that looks to have been the last. Interestingly, 2021 was the year that the Vatican was first notified of Opus Dei abuses that occurred in Argentina – abuses that would later lead federal prosecutors to accuse the group of trafficking and enslaving young women. Four priests from Opus Dei are set to stand trial in coming months. The group’s number two in Rome is implicated too.

Another complaint was filed alleging a whole series of other abuses in 2023. The complaint, which was signed by former members from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina, Italy, Spain, and the UK alleged widespread abuse, the cover-up of criminal acts - including child abuse - as well as an institutionalized fraud toward the Church itself, with Opus Dei intentionally concealing its internal rules and practices from the Vatican. Pope Francis took action shortly afterwards.

The point is, Prevost was most likely completely unaware of Opus Dei’s abuses at the time when he presided over the mass for the group’s founder. But his presence there that day speak to a much bigger problem: the normalisation of Opus Dei within the Catholic Church. Since the early 1980s, when it was given new powers by Pope John Paul II, it has been able to operate anywhere in the world – outside the normal hierarchy of the Church.

Ordinary Catholics see it as an organisation officially approved by the Vatican. They are unaware of the dangers that lurk within – of its predatory practices, of its grooming of children, of its targeting of the rich and the powerful. They happily send their children to its schools, attend its churches, spill out their secrets to its priests and numeraries in “spiritual guidance” sessions – because, well, it’s an official wing of the Catholic Church, right? Why would they – or Prevost – challenge that?

The normalisation of Opus Dei within the Church has facilitated the abuse that has happened.

Just before he died, Pope Francis had been on the cusp of signing into law a huge reform of Opus Dei. The reforms were designed to address the abuses that have festered for years within the group. But, within hours of Francis’ death, Opus Dei cancelled the vote it had been due to hold to push these reforms through. The group has dragged its feet ever since Francis began tightening the noose around them – they have played for time, in the hope the pope would die and this problem would go away. That strategy looks like it might have paid off.

Or maybe not. Because the new pope looks like he is every much the reformer as his predecessor. What Pope Leo XIV does about Opus Dei will be his first important test. Will he allow the normalisation of the group within the Church to continue? Or will he take a stand? The omens look good: sources tell me that Prevost was a critical figure in the suppression of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, another abusive group that started up in Peru and which later expanded to the States. An Opus Dei cardinal was later accused of helping them cover up abuses.

Throughout that ordeal, Prevost has stood with the group’s victims. He met with victims of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae earlier this year in Rome – when they were informed personally by Pope Francis that the group was being supressed. Will Pope Leo XIV do the same with Opus Dei? Time will tell. But, if the smear campaign launched against him by the ultra-conservative Catholic media close to Opus Dei ahead of the conclave is anything to go by, they are quaking in their boots.