Opus Dei rejects accusations of wrongdoing spread in new book

He Opus Dei, at personal prelature based in Rome almost a century old, has published a long response to the book Opus October 2024, accusing the text of giving “a false image of Opus Dei based on distorted facts, conspiracy theories and outright lies.”

The book, written by journalist Gareth Gore, describe to Opus Dei as “a secret, ultra-conservative Catholic sect” that “pushed its radical agenda within the Church and around the world, using billions of dollars extracted from one of the largest banks in the world.”

In a exhaustive analysis of the book Published on Monday, January 13, the Catholic organization – founded in 1928 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá – said that “we have sought to collaborate” with Gore as he researched the work, which included offering him “data, explanations of context, contacts” and “clarifications about various topics, availability to face others.”

However, the group stated, in the English version of the documentthat in Gore’s book “not a single good deed is recorded by anyone in Opus Dei; Not a single response from Opus Dei to the many accusations leveled against Opus Dei in the book is included.”

Members of the Opus Dei global communications team indicated that “upon verifying the marked bias of the book and its numerous factual errors, the people who had been in contact with Gareth Gore from the Opus Dei Communication Office, decided to prepare a document” to “to offer the readers of this website the complementary explanations that were given to the author and that he often silences.”

“We have tried to separate the true information from the false; discriminate truths, half-truths, lies and judgments and interpretations about intentions; clarify false narratives with context and additional explanations,” explains the team of Opus Dei communicators.

The resulting document, 101 pages of “facts and clarifications,” effectively seeks to turn lemons into lemonade by addressing in one place all of the major criticisms Opus Dei has received over its nearly century of existence.

“We write these pages from a necessary premise: respect and openness towards critical views, which can normally be helpful,” the document states. “No human institution is perfect” and “being the bearer of a Christian charism does not grant immunity from error,” the authors acknowledge.

“Like other institutions of the Catholic Church, for years we have been traveling a path of greater awareness of our own vulnerability, which leads to deeper empathy with wounded people and provides us with new sensitivity and light on how to carry out our mission” , the authors continue. “For these reasons, we try to listen to and analyze both fair and constructive criticism and that which is not.”

Along with the explanatory document, Opus Dei updated its website to include a section on “Some additional clarifications on the book Opus by Gareth Gore” which addresses both old and more recent controversies surrounding the organization.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.