But reports that Pope Leo intends to shut down Opus Dei piques my interest.
I am not particularly interested in the Dan Brown tinfoil hat stuff, but considering the organizations long record of supporting right wing despots and aggressively intervening in secular politics, the elimination of the organization is a good thing.
As reported in Christopher Hale (a political operative and writer who ran Catholic outreach for President Obama's 2012 campaign), Pope Leo XIV is weeks away from approving statutes that would vaporize Opus Dei as a unified organization. The group that gave us both Da Vinci Code villains and connections to Spain's Fascist dictator Franco is about to become three separate entities.
……
Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz scaled the meeting back to "minimum necessary business," church-speak for "let's stall and pray for a miracle." The miracle they got was Pope Leo deciding to finish what Francis started, except with less patience for organizations accused of functioning like cults that exploit vulnerable people through coercive recruitment.
Francis had already stripped them of authority over lay members in 2023 and ordered new statutes in 2022 amid mounting allegations of sexual abuse, labor violations, and demanding celibate numeraries live highly controlled lives marked by labor exploitation. By 2025, Opus Dei still hadn't complied.
None of the above abuses are why I think that their effective abolition, they will be split into 3 parts, with the leadership having authority only over themselves, is why I am interested the internal power struggles of the Vatican.
I will celebrate their abolition because they had a pivotal role in things like the Supreme Court's repeal of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. (also Leonard Leo's Opus Dei affiliated lobbying)
Like the founding fathers, I believe that the influence of religion on government is universally corrosive, and Opus Dei has been even more corrosive than most.
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