Vatican - Evil Has a Geeky Sidekick

Vatican - Evil Has a Geeky Sidekick


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Vatican - Evil Has a Geeky Sidekick

Quarta-feira, 28 de Novembro de 2007
VATICAN: Whispers in the Loggia
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html
Whispers in the Loggia
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Not Yet, Eminence, Not Yet
Cardinal Maida got a wee bit carried away yesterday afternoon....

The cardinal himself mixed up his words at the end of the mass, turning to Flores and declaring: "Welcome to the College of Cardinals!"
OK, we know Szoka's been quite good at making his successor's dreams reality, but not that good.... At least, not in this pontificate.

Embarrassed at the flub, the cardinal slapped his forehead, but his next words were swallowed up in surprised laughter that quickly turned into sustained applause.
Whew.

And one last beautiful shot of the day:



PHOTOS: Brandy Baker/Detroit News

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 08:18

Fratres in Unum
This morning in Istanbul, Pope Benedict attended the Divine Liturgy of St Andrew's Day celebrated by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. As the highlight of their encounter, the two issued a Joint Declaration (fulltext).

This fraternal encounter which brings us together, Pope Benedict XVI of Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, is God’s work, and in a certain sense his gift. We give thanks to the Author of all that is good, who allows us once again, in prayer and in dialogue, to express the joy we feel as brothers and to renew our commitment to move towards full communion. This commitment comes from the Lord’s will and from our responsibility as Pastors in the Church of Christ. May our meeting be a sign and an encouragement to us to share the same sentiments and the same attitudes of fraternity, cooperation and communion in charity and truth. The Holy Spirit will help us to prepare the great day of the re-establishment of full unity, whenever and however God wills it. Then we shall truly be able to rejoice and be glad....

As far as relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople are concerned, we cannot fail to recall the solemn ecclesial act effacing the memory of the ancient anathemas which for centuries had a negative effect on our Churches. We have not yet drawn from this act all the positive consequences which can flow from it in our progress towards full unity, to which the mixed Commission is called to make an important contribution. We exhort our faithful to take an active part in this process, through prayer and through significant gestures....

At present, in the face of the great threats to the natural environment, we want to express our concern at the negative consequences for humanity and for the whole of creation which can result from economic and technological progress that does not know its limits. As religious leaders, we consider it one of our duties to encourage and to support all efforts made to protect God’s creation, and to bequeath to future generations a world in which they will be able to live.
Finally, our thoughts turn towards all of you, the faithful of our two Churches throughout the world, Bishops, priests, deacons, men and women religious, lay men and women engaged in ecclesial service, and all the baptized. In Christ we greet other Christians, assuring them of our prayers and our openness to dialogue and cooperation. In the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we greet all of you: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 1:2).
From the Pope's homily (fulltext):

[M]y presence here today is meant to renew our commitment to advancing along the road towards the re-establishment – by God’s grace – of full communion between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople. I can assure you that the Catholic Church is willing to do everything possible to overcome obstacles and to seek, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, ever more effective means of pastoral cooperation to this end.

The two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, were fishermen whom Jesus called to become fishers of men. The Risen Lord, before his Ascension, sent them out together with the other Apostles with the mission of making all nations his disciples, baptizing them and proclaiming his teachings (cf. Mt 28:19ff.; Lk 24:47; Acts 1:8).

This charge left us by the holy brothers Peter and Andrew is far from finished. On the contrary, today it is even more urgent and necessary. For it looks not only to those cultures which have been touched only marginally by the Gospel message, but also to long-established European cultures deeply grounded in the Christian tradition. The process of secularization has weakened the hold of that tradition; indeed, it is being called into question, and even rejected. In the face of this reality, we are called, together with all other Christian communities, to renew Europe’s awareness of its Christian roots, traditions and values, giving them new vitality....

Simon Peter and Andrew were called together to become fishers of men. This same task, however, took on a different form for each of the brothers. Simon, notwithstanding his human weakness, was called “Peter”, the “rock” on which the Church was to be built; to him in a particular way were entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 16:18). His journey would take him from Jerusalem to Antioch, and from Antioch to Rome, so that in that City he might exercise a universal responsibility. The issue of the universal service of Peter and his Successors has unfortunately given rise to our differences of opinion, which we hope to overcome, thanks also to the theological dialogue which has been recently resumed.

My venerable predecessor, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II, spoke of the mercy that characterizes Peter’s service of unity, a mercy which Peter himself was the first to experience (Encyclical Ut Unum Sint, 91). It is on this basis that Pope John Paul extended an invitation to enter into a fraternal dialogue aimed at identifying ways in which the Petrine ministry might be exercised today, while respecting its nature and essence, so as to “accomplish a service of love recognized by all concerned” (ibid., 95). It is my desire today to recall and renew this invitation.
And from the Patriarch's homily (fulltext):

This overwhelming continuity with heaven as well as with history means that the Orthodox liturgy is the mystical experience and profound conviction that "Christ is and ever shall be in our midst!" For in Christ, there is a deep connection between past, present, and future. In this way, the liturgy is more than merely the recollection of Christ's words and acts. It is the realization of the very presence of Christ Himself, who has promised to be wherever two or three are gathered in His name.

At the same time, we recognize that the rule of prayer is the rule of faith (lex orandi lex credendi), that the doctrines of the Person of Christ and of the Holy Trinity have left an indelible mark on the liturgy, which comprises one of the undefined doctrines, "revealed to us in mystery," of which St. Basil the Great so eloquently spoke. This is why, in liturgy, we are reminded of the need to reach unity in faith as well as in prayer. Therefore, we kneel in humility and repentance before the living God and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious Name we bear and yet at the same time whose seamless garment we have divided. We confess in sorrow that we are not yet able to celebrate the holy sacraments in unity. And we pray that the day may come when this sacramental unity will be realized in its fullness.

And yet, Your Holiness and beloved brother in Christ, this con-celebration of heaven and earth, of history and time, brings us closer to each other today through the blessing of the presence, together with all the saints, of the predecessors of our Modesty, namely St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. We are honored to venerate the relics of these two spiritual giants after the solemn restoration of their sacred relics in this holy church two years ago when they were graciously returned to us by the venerable Pope John Paul II. Just as, at that time, during our Thronal Feast, we welcomed and placed their saintly relics on the Patriarchal Throne, chanting "Behold your throne!", so today we gather in their living presence and eternal memory as we celebrate the Liturgy named in honor of St. John Chrysostom.

Thus our worship coincides with the same joyous worship in heaven and throughout history. Indeed, as St. John Chrysostom himself affirms: "Those in heaven and those on earth form a single festival, a shared thanksgiving, one choir" (PG 56.97). Heaven and earth offer one prayer, one feast, one doxology. The Divine Liturgy is at once the heavenly kingdom and our home, "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. 21.1), the ground and center where all things find their true meaning. The Liturgy teaches us to broaden our horizon and vision, to speak the language of love and communion, but also to learn that we must be with one another in spite of our differences and even divisions. In its spacious embrace, it includes the whole world, the communion of saints, and all of God's creation. The entire universe becomes "a cosmic liturgy", to recall the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor. This kind of Liturgy can never grow old or outdated.


PHOTOS: N. Manginas/Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 07:40

Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Fluffiest
Che gioia, indeed.

PHOTO: Reuters/Murad Sezer

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 21:09

"I Am Anxious To Begin...."
The ordination completed, the News posts some shots, and video... Word is more clergy were present from Texas than Detroit -- or, at least, that's what it seemed.....

In other developments, Flores to preside at Detroit Guadalupe festival on 12 December; will celebrate his first Confirmation Saturday night.... More audio, from an in-house TV program to be aired starting next week.

Cardinal Maida's homily included pronunciation phonetics (Oh PURR kar-EE-tah'), and the ordinand's concluding remarks from the Mass are up.

Snips:

God the Father of Lights has given us the gift of his Eternal Son made flesh, and by the power of the Holy Spirit has engendered in us new life. All gifts I have received in life, including the gift of this day, are contained in the primordial gift of Christ to the world....

In a certain way, the presence of so many family and friends here is a personal reminder that Catholicity begins with professing one faith, and bears fruit in a real communion of life and love. Catholicity involves a communion of faith, and life, of family and friends in the joy and grace of Christ. God has granted to me during my life a real experience of that gift. I have many friends here whom I have known over the years, but who have not known each other, and it is a great joy to see them together in one place. I look over the many faces and I rejoice in the way God has manifested generous mystery of the Church in the very personal gift of family and friends....

I am humbled by the presence of so many friends who have been so important in my life. I particularly take the presence of so many seminarians as a sign of their continued prayerful support, something I have relied upon for many years. To the seminarians in particular, I say, love Christ, serve his people, and in the gift of yourself you will encounter the Lord....
I find I have said many things, but really I have not said what I most profoundly wish to say. The human word can never completely express the human soul. This is a mysterious limitation I experience acutely today.

There was a play written by Jose Maria Peman about the life of Saint Francis Xavier. It was called El Divino Impaciente. In it there is a scene wherein Francis Xavier expresses his affection for his friend Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The poet puts some quiet words on the lips of Francis. I would like to take the liberty of adapting the phrases in order to say something of what I experience in trying to express my gratitude to all who are here today.

Forgive me, dear friends,
I cannot say not what I feel,
You who understand my soul,
And can hear its silent peal.
Blood and life have taught me,
Love in quiet best speaks its part,
“Be shorter is the saying,
When affection lies deeper in the heart.”

PHOTOS: Brandy Baker/Detroit News

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 20:06

Sectarian Hooliganism
On the eve of the nation's patronal feast, reports are that violence against Scottish Catholics has spiked:

Anti-Catholic sectarian crime in Scotland has risen 50 percent, according to official figures released by the Scottish Executive.

According to the statistics 440 Scots were convicted of religiously motivated assaults between January 2004 and June 2005.

“Sadly this document shows that Catholics in Scotland are still many times more likely to be subject of a sectarian attack than any other group,” said Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

“During the period of this study Catholics were five times more likely to be the victims.

“This is of great concern to me,” he added.

The report also showed that of the 726 cases investigated 31 percent of the incidents had been directed against Scottish Protestants.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 19:47

Family Reunion
Word from Gotham is that, at 1 o'clock, Cardinal Edward Egan was to meet with the pastors of the archdiocese of New York at the traditional confab-site of St Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie.

Should you be curious: no, the agenda had nothing to do with, um, that. At least, it wasn't supposed to; the gathering was previously scheduled to discuss financial and safe environment protocols, then delayed in light of the cardinal's September knee replacement. It is, however, Egan's first sit-down with his pastors since before the operation.

Four months from his 75th birthday, the cardinal's said to have taken a ramped-up outreach in recent weeks, celebrating Thanksgiving with his retired priests and presiding at the funeral liturgy of a local serviceman killed in Iraq.

The public presence will continue on Sunday morning as, at long last, "The Catholic Channel" launches on Sirius 159 and Egan celebrates its first Mass -- the weekly 10.15 from St Patrick's Cathedral.

Here's hoping he doesn't have to save my Christmas again, but as the first anniversary of that approaches, I remain ever grateful for the assist.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 12:22

The Bishop Is Sent, Breathing Forth Hope
Later today, Bishop-elect Daniel Flores will get to witness an episcopal ordination for the first time. It just happens to be his own -- and from the run-up, it'll mark one of the most enthusiastically-received elevations anyone's seen in quite some time.

The youngest member of the US hierarchy, Flores will be ordained an auxiliary bishop of Detroit in a Mass at the Motor City's Blessed Sacrament Cathedral. The texts and music will evenly switch off betwen Latin, Spanish and English.

All of 45 and, until his appointment last month, a priest of Corpus Christi, the new bishop will be the first Latino prelate to minister to the archdiocese's 130,000 Hispanic Catholics. In addition, Cardinal Adam Maida's making the most of his new aide's gift of multitasking, entrusting "Bishop Danny" with responsibility for drumming up vocations; a Thomistic scholar, he served along the way as vice-rector of Houston's St Mary's Seminary for four years, as well as episcopal vicar for vocations in his native diocese.

As one lay leader described it in today's Detroit News, the new bishop's arrival "has been like the second coming." To an extraordinary degree, you'll find that the new bishop is revered and beloved by practically everyone -- from colleagues, parishioners, former and current students, to the bishops of Texas (who're already praying for his return to the Lone Star State), and even the Detroit press which, not usually known for its enthusiasm for things Catholic, has jumped onto the welcome wagon with both feet.

Saying that "he's movie-star handsome," possessed of "a deep, resonant voice to match," yesterday's Free-Press anointed the baby bishop "poised to become a hugely popular ambassador for his church." (Another worthwhile interview -- with audio -- is on the site of the archdiocesan paper, The Michigan Catholic.)

In light of his doctorate's concentration, Flores has taken his motto from the first part of St Thomas' Summa: "Verbum Mittitur Spirans Amorem" -- "The Word is Sent Breathing Forth Love." Co-consecrators at today's Mass are the current bishop of Corpus Christi Edmond Carmody and Flores' mentor, Bishop-emeritus Rene Gracida.

A gift of the latter, the ring to be conferred at the ordination has quite a history to it: it was given Gracida by his mentor, Coleman Carroll, the founding bishop and archbishop of Miami. Carroll in turn received the ring from his principal consecrator, Amleto Cicognani, who served for a quarter-century as apostolic delegate to the US.


PHOTOS: Archdiocese of Detroit

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 10:18

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Unwittingly, Saturday's post on John XXIII's Turkish period happened to coincide with the now-Blessed Pope's 125th birthday.

With another eye to Papa Roncalli and history, one UK blog has put together an extensive, piece-by-piece look at John's coronation shortly after his 1958 election, working from archived RAI footage. (You'll have to scroll down a bit; the package comprises 30 posts.)

The six-hour liturgy was the last to include all the ritual elements of the old papal inaugural -- the last crowning, that of Paul VI in 1963, was trimmed of some parts. As you can see above, they carried the poor man down the Scala Regia in the sedia gestatoria, and ostensibly without a seatbelt.... Oh, my.

Especially for those of us who've never seen -- and likely will never see -- one of these, it's definitely worth a look.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:04

Turquoise in Turkey
This morning, the Pope celebrated what John Allen called the "smallest crowd in recent memory for a papal Mass," swinging through Ephesus on pilgrimage to the original "Mary's House":

In a fitting pastoral touch, Benedict XVI spoke the opening collect of the Mass in Turkish, drawing appreciative nods from the assembly.
Predictably, the pope’s message centered on Mary. The Sanctuary of Meryem Ana Evì (the “House of Mary”) was founded by the Lazarist Fathers in the 19th century, based on the visions of the German mystic Anna Katherine Emmerick, who identified this spot as the place where Mary died.

Though even the official Vatican Radio trip book notes that there’s no archaeological evidence to support the claim, the sanctuary nevertheless boasts a unique distinction, in that it’s perhaps the only Marian shrine on earth which draws as many Muslim pilgrims as Christians. Inside are votive reliefs with quotations from seven passages of the Qu’ran praising Mary.

Invoking the reverence which Muslims have for Mary, Benedict implored the small crowd to “lift up a prayer to the Lord, a special prayer for peace between peoples.” He referred to the Anatolian peninsula as “a natural bridge between continents.”


The homily's been posted in full.

The only other public moment of today's schedule is Benedict XVI's brief visit to St George's at the Phanar, the church contained within the compound of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, following which he'll meet privately with Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Tomorrow morning, Benedict will join Bartholomew for a divine liturgy in St George's as the patriarchate marks St Andrew's Day, its patronal feast.


PHOTO: Reuters/Stefano Rellandini

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 08:35

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
"Peace at Home, Peace in the World"
The Pope has arrived in Ankara.... Check Vatican Radio's first report. And shortly after they're uttered, the speeches'll be available here.


PHOTO: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:15

Midnight Edition
As 90 minutes of sleep, a mountain-sized in-tray, a holiday-delayed fortnightly column and the Pope's impending departure for what one of his top aides has called the "minefield" of Turkey don't make for the best of combos, bear with me. And to everyone who was away for the long weekend, hope the festivities were fun and the traffic light. Welcome home.

Here's your ecclesiastical potpourri:

Pope Benedict departs for Ankara this morning at 9am Rome time, 3am Eastern. As the final details were being worked out, reports from the region indicated that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, would be involved in the unprecedented security operation for the three-day trip. The Popemobile will be shelved in favor of an armored car, with several others employed as decoys. One late, unconfirmed report said that Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Holy See's top ecumenist, "might also have been" viewed as a soft "target" for an alleged attack plot. Picking up a report from the Italian weekly Gente, a Turkish publication says that Papa Ratzi's "elevated blood pressure" is the underlying cause of his "recent gaffes." Benedict "has undergone a small operation in preparation for an eventual bypass operation," goes the brief. As for the rest, stay tuned.
There's a bit of a storm brewing in the diocese of Wilmington, just south of here. Ten days ago, after a retired priest of the diocese was arrested on abuse charges in his current residence of upstate New York, Bishop Michael Saltarelli released the names of the 20 secular priests who against whom "admitted, corroborated or otherwise substantiated" accusations of sexual abuse had been filed, including some deceased clerics. While the move won plaudits for its swiftness and made Saltarelli the first US bishop to be dropped from the national lawsuit demanding the names of all credibly accused priests, the focus of public fury has now shifted to the religious communities which operate high schools in the diocese: namely, the Oblates of St Francis de Sales and the Norbertines. As it's a matter beyond his purview -- the goverance of the communities being proper to their superiors -- the bishop has "recommended" that the orders cough up the approximately ten names of their members who've been accused. To date, the religious have refused. Under the slogan "No Names, No Money," parents at the schools have started moving to withhold tuition payments, as some among them assert that Saltarelli enjoys the prerogative to "de-invite" the orders from the diocese (in a nutshell, he doesn't... not unilaterally, at least). Delaware's top paper accused the religious of "pompous arrogance" in a Sunday editorial, and yesterday afternoon the state's radio dial was filled with questions of what can and can't be done to force the revelations, canonically speaking.... Five years on and, clearly, still a ways to go......
Appointments, anyone? As always, the speculation keeps up. If things weren't interesting enough before, a long-mused angle has returned with a new verve: talk of the potential merging or suppression of some American dioceses. Over a year ago, word was that the possibility had been eyed in Rome as far back as the mid-80s. Given the mammoth docket of vacancies both real and impending, the average appointment process almost tripling in length since '02, don't be surprised if a study of the question resurfaced, this time with an added emphasis. While buzz going around Pittsburgh of a merger with the diocese of Greensburg (separated from the Steel City in 1951) wouldn't seem to hold water at first glance, one consolidation scenario long-advocated in some quarters lies just across the western line: Youngstown-Steubenville. But fret not, Ohioans -- all indications are that the former, open for 20 months, will have a new bishop of its own... eventually.
And lastly, as many of you know, I don't terribly mind eating crow. It comes with the territory of responsible and accountable reporting. In light of that, one correction's come to light that I'm particularly pleased to make. On Saturday morning, the Bollettino of the Holy See Press Office released a revised list of appointments to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Simultaneously, a slate published earlier in the month disappeared without a trace. At the time, the discrepancy was noted that the updated list failed to re-include the name of the eminent US church commentator Russell Shaw and, consequently, I mused if, as public record of his reappointment had vanished, something had gone awry. Gratefully, however, all's well -- Shaw checks in with confirmation that, as only appointments of new consultors are typically published, his reappointment stands; the letter effecting it was signed 7 October by the Secretary of State, all things to the contrary notwithstanding. Still, coming on the heels of the ad limina address that wasn't and other recent bungles of translation and message-bearing, the confusion caused by the dance of the dueling releases is but further proof that the Vatican's communications apparatus (charitably described as "dysfunctional") isn't enjoying its finest hour. With my profuse apologies for unwittingly abetting the chaos, it's a blessing to eat my crow knowing that the Holy See will continue to count on the wisdom and expertise of Shaw's counsel, which he's also extended to me, and for which I'm immeasurably grateful.

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedicto. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.

Happy Tuesday to all.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 00:08

Sunday, November 26, 2006
The Archbishop Departs
Within the hour, the archbishop of Canterbury concluded his six-day Roman visit with a "Festival Eucharist" of Christ the King celebrated at the high altar of the Dominican Basilica of S. Sabina.

(Our traditionalist friends will be happy to know that the chalice was consecrated "for you and for the many." And, according to an op in attendance, "Santa Sabina's never had music as good" as it was today.)

Held at the traditional site of papal Ash Wednesday, Rowan Williams' Sunday liturgy was the only public event of his swing through the Eternal City not attended by Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's ecumenism czar. Representing the Holy See was Kasper's #2, Bishop Brian Farrell, LC, vested in choir dress. Canadian Fr Donald Bolen, an official at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity with responsibility for the Reformed churches, proclaimed the Gospel at the Mass after having received the archbishop's blessing.

The liturgy caps a successful six-day swing for the Anglican primate, who marked his first visit to Pope Benedict on Thursday. As he flies back to London, Williams will return to a statement of support from his predecessor, issued in response to recent backgrounded assertions to the contrary,

Writing in today's Telegraph, Lord Carey of Clifton, archbishop of Canterbury from 1990 to 2002, says that it is "completely untrue to claim that I am undermining or working against my successor.

Williams "has my support and my prayers during a very difficult period in the life of the Anglican Church," Carey said, chalking up media speculation to an incomprehension of how "just as Anglican leadership is different from that of the Roman Catholic Church, all Christian ministry is distinct from political leadership."

On-the-ground at the Dominican mothership earlier today but not taking part in the liturgy was the order's master-general, Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa. Tipped in recent weeks as a front-runner for the vacant top post of the influential Union of Superiors-General -- the umbrella group of men's orders -- the USG instead signaled its deference to the Vatican trend.

Bypassing marquee names such as Azpiroz and the Benedictine abbot-primate Nokter Wolf, the superiors chose the rector major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr Pascual Chavez Villanueva, as their new frontman at the election earlier this week. Detroit native Fr Joseph Tobin, superior-general of the Redemptorists, was elected to his second term as USG vice president.

Elected head of his community in April 2002, the ascent of Chavez to the USG's helm fulfills yet another prophecy of Robert Mickens. Predicting the Mexican-born cleric's election in the "Letter from Rome" of this week's edition of The Tablet, Mickens observed in advance of the balloting that the letters "SDB" have become something of a magic word in the new pontificate, as two of Benedict XVI's most trusted lieutenants -- new Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and CDF #2 Archbishop Angelo Amato -- bear the Salesian initials.

Among the confreres, however, the USG head remains eclipsed in clout and prominence by the the successor of Ignatius of Loyola, the father-general of the Society of Jesus. With just over 13 months until the opening of the 35th General Congregation and the provincial councils underway, all approaching the first seamless transition of governance in the Jesuits' long and vaunted history, things on the Black Popewatch are beginning to heat up.


PHOTOS: Daniele Colarieti/Catholic Press Photo

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 12:41

"With Trust, I Place Myself...."
It's the liturgical equivalent of New Years' Eve -- Happy Christ the King Sunday.

(Question: Does any other parish aside from mine have a "crowning" ceremony as the boys' answer to the May Crowning? If not, think it over....)

Here's a translation of this morning's Angelus:

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe. Today's Gospel reiterates to us one part of the dramatic interrogation to which Pontius Pilate submitted Jesus, confronting him with the accusation of having usurped the title of "king of the Jews." To the questions of the Roman governor, Jesus responds affirming that, yes, he is a king, but not of this world (cf. Jn 18:36). He did not come to have dominion over peoples and territories, but to liberate men from the slavery of sin and reconcile them with God. And he adds: "For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice" (Jn 18:37).

But what is the "truth" that Christ has come to witness to in the world? His whole existence reveals that God is love: it is therefore the truth to which he offered full testimony with the sacrifice of his own life on Calvary. The Cross is the "throne" from which he manifested the sublime kingship of God Love: offering himself in expiation for the sins of the world, he defeated the dominion of the "ruler of this world" (Jn 12:31) and has established definitively the Reign of God. A Kingdom which will manifest itself in its fullness at the end of time, after all enemies, and finally the death, are finally made subject (cf. 1 Cor 15:25-26). Then the Son will hand over the Kingdom to the Father and finally God will be "all in all" (1 Cor 15:28). The way to join this path is long and does not permit shortcuts: it happens when each person freely welcomes the truth of the love of God. He is Love and Truth, a love whose truth never impose themselves: they knock on the door of the heart and of the mind and, where they can enter, they bring peace and joy. This is the way of God's reigning; this, his project of salvation, a "mystery" in the biblical sense of the term: a design that reveals itself little by little over the course of history.

To the kingship of Christ, the Virgin Mary is associated in a singular way. To her, humble girl of Nazareth, God asks to become the Mother of the Messiah, and Mary corresponds to this call with her whole self, uniting her unconditional "yes" to that of her Son Jesus and making herself with obedient with Him to the point of sacrifice. For this God has exalted her above all creatures and Christ has crowned her Queen of Heaven and earth. To her intercession we entrust the Church and the whole of humanity, that the love of God may reign in all hearts and so complete his plan of justice and of peace.

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae....

**********************

In his postcatechetical remarks, the Pope said the following about his visit to Turkey, which begins with his departure on Tuesday:

Dear brothers and sisters, as you know, in the days to come I will be traveling to Turkey. At this time I wish to send a heartfelt greeting to the dear Turkish people, rich in history and culture; to this People and to their representatives I express sentiments of esteem and sincere friendship. With great emotion I look forward to meeting the small Catholic Community, always present in my heart, and to unite myself fraternally to the Orthodox Church on the occasion of the feast of the apostle Saint Andrew. With trust I place myself in the footsteps of my venerable predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II; and I invoke the heavenly protection of Blessed John XXIII, who was for ten years Apostolic Delegate in Turkey and nurtured for that Nation affection and esteem. To all of you I ask your accompaniment with prayer, that this pilgrimage may bring all the fruits that God desires.

Another event of the week was also noted: "This coming December 1 marks World AIDS Day. I wish greatly that this occasion promotes an increased responsibility for the care of this illness, together with the pledge of avoiding each instance of discrimination toward the many stricken with it. Calling the comfort of the Lord upon the sick and their families, I encourage the many initiatives that the Church maintains in this area."


Benedict also observed the Italian day dedicated to cancer research, with a prayer of "encouragement" to the organizations involved in the research, and to the researchers.

*********************

As the three-day Turkish visit approaches, a crowd estimated at "more than 20,000" protested the Pope's arrival today in Istanbul as it was announced that the pontiff will visit the city's famed Blue Mosque.

A Chicago Tribune columnist writes today on Orthodoxy's "uncertain" future after a visit with one of Benedict's hosts, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.


PHOTO: Reuters/Chris Helgren

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:16

Saturday, November 25, 2006
Amico dei Turchi
A story's running today saying that, as he prepares to embark for his Turkish sojourn on Tuesday, the shadows of his predecessors will "haunt" Benedict XVI.

The word-use might be a bit far-fetched, but at the same time, it highlights the contributions to Turkey made by two of the Pope's recent predecessors -- both of whom, it should be noted, hailed from the diplomatic apparatus of the Secretariat of State.

On the last day of his pilgrimage, the pontiff will bless a two statues in Istanbul: one of Pope Benedict XV, erected after World War I "to honour his humanitarian work caring for Turkish troops wounded" in the conflict, and a new tribute to Bl John XXIII, who served in Turkey as apostolic delegate and head of the country's small Catholic community from 1935-44.

Forty-four years after his death, the man who became Papa Roncalli remains beloved the world over, but especially in Turkey, so much so that the postulator of the "Good Pope's" cause for canonization, Franciscan Fr Luca DeRosa, was given an extensive space in Wednesday's L'Osservatore Romano to speak to it.

"I love these Turks, in Jesus Christ," then-Archbishop Roncalli was quoted as saying in a letter to his ordinary, the bishop of Bergamo. "I love them because I believe them to be called to redemption."

(Psst -- don't tell anybody, but if you're looking for a theme for B16's trip, look no further than the latter line.)

According to DeRosa, Roncalli won the church credibility in the secular Muslim state by maintaining a positive, affectionate approach, one emphasized by the inscription he placed over the door of his nunciature "Pater et Pastor": "Father and Shepherd." (In an emblematic commentary on the state of ecumenism at the time, the prior greeting in the entry was "qui ex Patre Filoque procedit" -- a not-so-subtle jab at the Ecumenical Patriarchate.) Even before the reforms of the council he called, the then-Delegate offered Mass in Turkish; his first secretary in Istanbul, Msgr Angelo Dell'Acqua, later served as Pope John's Sostituto and was made a cardinal by Paul VI in 1967. In one of his letters on their time at the Delegation, Dell'Acqua said of his boss that, in temperament and balance, he was both "a father and a mother" to those who worked with him and the many who sought him out.

Following his 2000 beatification, a street near Roncalli's Istanbul residence was christened in the late pope's honor as "Amico dei Turchi" -- "Friend of the Turks." Such was the Vatican's standing in the eyes of the then-new republic that it was forbidden to set up its diplomatic outpost in the new capital of Ankara, but was exiled to Istanbul. With that situation since rectified, Benedict will be staying at the Ankara nunciature on the trip's first overnight.

For the liturgical triptik of the journey, the "presentation of the missal" given by papal MC Archbishop Piero Marini has been translated into English.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 10:14

Saturday at the Vatican: Press Savvy... or Lack Thereof
Recent rumors of the impending demise of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications are greatly exaggerated.

Again.

If they weren't, then the Pope wouldn't have named three new members and 19 new consultors this morning to the service of the dicastery. Among the new prelates on-board are Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco, the incoming chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for Communication. Niederauer joins his classmate, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, and Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden on the US delegation to the council, which is headed by Archbishop John P. Foley, a native of Philadelphia.

Further along, the consultors' list features notable names such as Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, director of the Holy See Press Office; Msgr Owen Campion, a priest of Nashville and editor of Our Sunday Visitor; Carl Anderson, supremo of the Knights of Columbus; Anthony Spence, editor of Catholic News Service and, in tribute to the Pauline institutes' continued apostolate in the field of media, Fr Silvio Sassi, superior-general of the Society of St Paul and Sr Maria Antonietta Bruscato, the superior-general of the Daughters of St Paul.

Despite the new infusion, PCCS still awaits the appointment of a new secretary after a vacancy of almost two years since the transfer of the post's last holder. Following Bishop Renato Boccardo's departure for the administrative offices of the Vatican City-State in February 2005, Foley's acting #2 has been the council's undersecretary, Dr Angelo Scelzo, the highest-ranking layman in recent Vatican history.

Notably, today's list appears to be a re-do of one that was released some weeks back, with most of the same persons on that slate reappearing. One name conspicuously absent, however, is that of Russell Shaw, the eminent commentator on church affairs, who served for as head of communications for the US bishops from 1967-89 and had previously been tapped for two five-year terms on the council. While Shaw was on the first list of consultors published earlier in the month, it seems his name has disappeared from today's announcement -- and the prior release has been wiped from the archives of the Holy See Press Office.

Hmm.

Shaw wrote a widely-noted piece earlier this month in Crisis magazine, offering a firm critique of the nation's hierarchy and its recent move toward restructuring in advance of the Baltimore meeting. Expressing his finding that the American bishops suffer a collective "lack of vision," Shaw said that while episcopal conferences were a mandatory part of ecclesial life, "no law says they have to get as bloated and self-important as the American conference became over the years, when it sometimes seemed to consider itself a kind of super-diocese giving orders to dioceses and acting as a counterweight to the Vatican."

And today, so it appears, he's off the list.

Everyone together: Hmm.

(SVILUPPO: Clarification/correction here.)

Coincidentally, elsewhere on the Vatican's communications beat, the Pope received the editors of Italy's diocesan papers, telling them that while "the rapid evolution of means of social communication and the advent of numerous and advanced technologies in the field of the media" can often leave small niche outlets behind, the diocesan paper remains "a precious vehicle of information and a means of evangelical penetration."

"Your weeklies are justly called 'newspapers of the people,'" the Pope said, "because they remain geared toward the doings and the life of the people of the area and as they hand down the popular traditions and rich cultural and religious patrimony of your towns and cities." Benedict XVI exhorted local Catholic papers to "Continue to be 'journals of the people and among the people,' arenas of exchange and loyal battle among diverse opinions, so to advance and authentic dialogue, indispensable for the growth of the civil and ecclesial communities."

Speaking to the topic of the journalists' gathering -- the church in political life -- the Pope said that while "the legitimate pluralism of political choices has nothing to do with a cultural diaspora of Catholics," he hoped that the diocesan weeklies may "represent significant 'places' of encounter and attentive discernment for the lay faithful engaged in the social and political fields, to the end of dialogue and finding convergences and objectives of shared action to the service of the Gospel and the common good."

This morning, the Holy See also announced an extensive reorganization of the church in Mexico with the creation of four new provinces, their metropolitan sees in Tijuana, León, Tulancingo and Tuxtla Gutierrez. The new configuration has slimmed down the groupings of ten of the country's 14 existing provinces.

In a related reminder: the Guadalupe Novena begins but nine days from today.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:37

Thursday, November 23, 2006
Turkey, Stuffing and Canterbury
Belatedly, to everyone here in the States, hope you've been having a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving. As always, I give great thanks for the gift of each of you; know that all of you, your loved ones and all your intentions remain in my grateful prayers. God love and reward you all forever!

And now, to the day's top story: While the Vatican's Turkey Day doesn't fall until next week, when Pope Benedict leaves Rome for his three-day pilgrimage to Istanbul and Ankara, American Thanksgiving was a full one in Rome as Pope Benedict received the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in private audience. The pontiff and the Anglican primate also led Midday Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for the Vatican and Lambeth delegations in the Apostolic Palace's Redemptoris Mater chapel.

In part of his address to the archbishop and his entourage, Benedict said the following:

In the present context... and especially in the secularized Western world, there are many negative influences and pressures which affect Christians and Christian communities. Over the last three years you have spoken openly about the strains and difficulties besetting the Anglican Communion and consequently about the uncertainty of the future of the Communion itself. Recent developments, especially concerning the ordained ministry and certain moral teachings, have affected not only internal relations within the Anglican Communion but also relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. We believe that these matters, which are presently under discussion within the Anglican Communion, are of vital importance to the preaching of the Gospel in its integrity, and that your current discussions will shape the future of our relations. It is to be hoped that the work of the theological dialogue, which had registered no small degree of agreement on these and other important theological matters, will continue be taken seriously in your discernment. In these deliberations we accompany you with heartfelt prayer. It is our fervent hope that the Anglican Communion will remain grounded in the Gospels and the Apostolic Tradition which form our common patrimony and are the basis of our common aspiration to work for full visible unity.

The world needs our witness and the strength which comes from an undivided proclamation of the Gospel. The immense sufferings of the human family and the forms of injustice that adversely affect the lives of so many people constitute an urgent call for our shared witness and service. Precisely for this reason, and even amidst present difficulties, it is important that we continue our theological dialogue. I hope that your visit will assist in finding constructive ways forward in the current circumstances.
(Rowan's greeting here.)

At the close of their encounter -- 25 minutes of which were spent one-on-one -- a "common declaration" was issued by the two leaders. A snip:
True ecumenism goes beyond theological dialogue; it touches our spiritual lives and our common witness. As our dialogue has developed, many Catholics and Anglicans have found in each other a love for Christ which invites us into practical co-operation and service. This fellowship in the service of Christ, experienced by many of our communities around the world, adds a further impetus to our relationship. The International Anglican - Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) has been engaged in an exploration of the appropriate ways in which our shared mission to proclaim new life in Christ to the world can be advanced and nurtured. Their report, which sets out both a summary of the central conclusions of ARCIC and makes proposals for growing together in mission and witness, has recently been completed and submitted for review to the Anglican Communion Office and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and we express our gratitude for their work.

In this fraternal visit, we celebrate the good which has come from these four decades of dialogue. We are grateful to God for the gifts of grace which have accompanied them. At the same time, our long journey together makes it necessary to acknowledge publicly the challenge represented by new developments which, besides being divisive for Anglicans, present serious obstacles to our ecumenical progress. It is a matter of urgency, therefore, that in renewing our commitment to pursue the path towards full visible communion in the truth and love of Christ, we also commit ourselves in our continuing dialogue to address the important issues involved in the emerging ecclesiological and ethical factors making that journey more difficult and arduous.
From the UK press, The Times reports one positive result from the first in-depth meeting between the two: "A source said that the two men, both highly intellectual academic theologians, had forged a strong bond." But the Telegraph, while praising Benedict XVI's ability to "emerge as a beaming pastor with possibly the finest theological mind in the Church," heads its lead comment piece with an ominous sentence: "The archbishop's days are numbered."

The report gives new airing to the rampant speculation in Anglican circles that, after a tenure of just over five years, Williams will leave office following the colliding planes of the communion enter into "formal schism" at the 2008 Lambeth Conference -- the decennial convocation of the bishops of global Anglicanism -- to be succeeded by the archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.

Tomorrow afternoon, the archbishop will preside at evening prayer in S. Maria sopra Minerva alongside the basilica's titular, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster. The vespers will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Rome's Anglican Centre. On Sunday, the visit will end with a flourish as the Canterbury prelate offers an Anglican "Festival Eucharist" in S. Sabina, the traditional home of the papal liturgy of Ash Wednesday.

Notably, word is that the Dominican mother-church was not always the envisioned venue: the service's initially proposed site was said to be the Patriarchal Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls.


PHOTO 1: Reuters/ACNS
PHOTO 2: AP/Alessandro Bianchi

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 22:30

Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Roman Rowan
On the ground in the Eternal City, the archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams kicked off his six-day Roman visit with a lecture earlier tonight, hosted by the Benedictines of Sant'Anselmo.

Shown here before the lecture with Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's top ecumenist, the Anglican supremo's talk was said to be a "great hit." Clearly not asked to doff his pectoral cross at the ateneo door, Archbishop Williams milled about afterwards, conversing with the natives.

In the morning: the meeting we've all been waiting for.


PHOTO: Reuters/Max Rossi

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 18:37

Not-So-Musical Cathedras
"What's up with this?" a cleric-pal asked the other day. "Is it true that Lake Charles and Birmingham are still open because no one wants to go there?"

On further review, it's a pretty widespread theory.

A couple weeks back, the hair-triggers did go off in Southwestern Louisiana, asking, hoping, begging, praying for confirmation that something was imminent after buzz on the ground that an appointment to the former -- vacant since Bishop Edward Braxton's transfer to Belleville in March 2005 -- had been completed, with an announcement in the offing.

Several bishops were likewise under this impression. And then... bupkus. At least for now.

Seemingly, the deluxe episcopal lodging in Lake Charles -- thank Braxton for that -- has shown itself an insufficient deal-closer; as has been buzzed about in recent months, the fullness of the priesthood is being declined these days at numbers unseen since the 1830s here in the States.

The Birmingham appointment is, of course, unique, and uniquely complicated, given the presence of EWTN on top of a sizable local church burgeoning with transplants and converts. On this account, it could be said that the vacancy there -- the state of affairs since Bishop David Foley's retirement in May '05 -- is a microcosm of the episcopacy in general: if you're keen for the job, it's not you they seek.

Unless, of course, you just happen to get a phone call.

And if you do, regardless of disposition or destination, be wise to recall the words of Benedict Flaget, the pioneer bishop of Bardstown. As he handed the papal mandate to a trembling, 33 year-old priest plucked from the Kentucky frontier to quell a revolt in the Northeast, Flaget uttered a sentence that speaks across the ensuing centuries to the chosen ones of our own day: "Receive the certificate of the cross you are about to bear."

The recipient of the document, and the quote, was Francis Patrick Kenrick, one of my historical favorites. In the city where his journey ended, his name returned to the papers last week.

Further proof that old bishops don't die -- their letters live forever.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 16:17

Last Man Sitting
Today marks the end of an era, as Cardinal William Wakefield Baum celebrates his 80th birthday.

Born on this date in 1926 and ordained a priest of Kansas City, the senior American prelate -- shown above at Wojtyla's farewell -- was elevated to the episcopacy in 1970, when he was named bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Promoted to the archdiocese of Washington in 1973, he was named a cardinal in advance of his 50th birthday in 1976, then brought to Rome four years later, when Pope John Paul II tapped him to serve as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

In 1990, Cardinal Baum was transferred to the helm of the Apostolic Penitentiary, where he dispensed indulgences and guarded the integrity of the internal forum until his 2001 retirement. (The office is currently held by another American, Baltimore native Cardinal James Francis Stafford, a former archbishop of Denver.)

His eyesight long failing, the last US cardinal created by Paul VI was but one of two electors in the conclave of 2005 who had participated in a prior papal election, having helped choose both John Pauls in the twin conclaves of 1978.

Of course, the other veteran elector was Joseph Ratzinger, for whom the third time was the charm, as you know.

Despite the prestige of his main posts, it could effectively be argued that Baum's greatest force was wielded in the other dicasteries where he enjoyed membership, particularly over his more than two decades on the Congregation for Bishops, where he was subsequently joined by his Missouri successor, who became Cardinal Law of Boston.

Together with the late Cardinal John O'Connor -- a close friend with whom Baum was present at the moment of his death -- the Americans, led by Baum, formed an unprecedented gang of three weighing in on Stateside appointments. They were later joined by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the former archbishop of Detroit recruited into the direct service of the Holy See. After O'Connor's transitus, in 2001 Stafford was named to Bishops and, last year, Cardinal William Levada joined, for an all-time high of five US cardinals on the panel that recommends episcopal nominees to the pontiff.

In accord with the norms of law and the constitution of Paul VI Ingravescentem aetatem, Baum's remaining curial memberships cease today, as does his prerogative of participating in another conclave. A frequent traveler between Rome and DC, he's likely celebrating the day at his primo Roman apartment overlooking St Peter's Square, his longtime, ubiquitous aide Msgr Jim Gillen ever dutifully behind-the-scenes.

Baum's superannuation leaves the number of voting cardinals at 115. Given Benedict XVI's keenness to keep the number at the Pauline limit of 120, and to keep the full complement regularly topped off, look for a consistory sometime in the late spring or early summer, by which time the number of cardinal-electors will fall to 107, just on account of more princes of the church hitting the big 8-0.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:05

Monday, November 20, 2006
On Divine Worship
Goodbye, BCL, hello, BCDW.

As part of the reconfiguration approved at last week's Baltimore meeting, the USCCB gave its formal blessing to tthe evolution of its Committee on the Liturgy into the Committee for Divine Worship. Once the realignment is completed, the new BCDW will be tasked with an expanded purview, including added oversight for such entities as shrines and the Charismatic movement which, until the consolidation takes effect, will have been handled by committees of their own, now suppressed.

Still running under the BCL moniker, the new edition of the office's Newsletter has been circulating, with a wrap on the November meeting and some other goodies.

As first reported here Friday night, launching a feeding frenzy in its wake, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has communicated at the "direction" of Benedict XVI that the rendering of the Latin "pro vobis et pro multis" in the liturgical consecration of the cup is to be rendered as "for you and for many" in future translations of the Missale Romanum.

An October 17 letter to the presidents of the episcopal conferences from the dicastery's prefect, Cardinal Francis Arinze, said that while, "indeed, the formula 'for all' would undoubtedly correspond to a correct interpretation of the Lord's intention expressed in the text," the national groupings of bishops were "requested" to lay the groundwork "for the introduction of a precise vernacular translation of the formula pro multis (e.g., 'for many,' 'per molti,' etc.)" in the next translation that they submit for approval to the Holy See.

Observant readers will remember that, when the new rendering of the Order of Mass was approved last June, proposed amendments from two US bishops advocating "for the many" as the revised rendering were held up by the BCL, citing the Holy See's "expressed intention" to address the pro multis question on its own in due course. Rome's recognitio of the Order of Mass is expected as early as next March, but the bulk of the project remains to receive final review and approval from the English-speaking conferences; namely, the Propers of Seasons and the Saints. Longtimers will also remember hearing that it's likely not the last change Rome will introduce to the amended text that's been sent their way.

While, in its entirety, the new Missal is eyed for a 2009 rollout at the parish level, several of the translation battle's marquee players are keen to see the first Mass using the new rendering -- "for many" included -- celebrated by the Pope himself when Benedict travels to Sydney to celebrate World Youth Day 2008. In the meantime, however, the bishops also remind that "Absolutely no changes" to the institution narrative or any other normative text as currently laid out "may be made until the new translation of the Roman Missal has been approved by the Bishops and confirmed by the Holy See" in full.

A recent consultation was reported on in Leeds between the top officials responsible for liturgy from the US, England and Wales and Australia as they begun planning an extensive joint catechetical outreach to prepare the faithful in those countries for the implementation of the new Missal. And, elsewhere, the committee clarifies the place of the Kiss of Peace at Mass, apparently having received "received numerous questions concerning [its] omission" by priest-celebrants in the US.

"The Order of Mass makes clear that the invitation to exchange a sign of peace is given 'if the occasion so suggests' (ex opportunitate)," the response says. "The Priest may, for example, omit the sign of peace when an exchange of a sign of peace would be difficult in the light of the physical condition or arrangement of those present, or if it would present a health danger."

At the same time, the clarification emphasizes that "the sign of peace should never be omitted due to the personal preferences of the Priest," citing the General Instruction of the Roman Missal's exhortation that "in planning the celebration of Mass, [the celebrant] should have in mind the common spiritual good of the people of God, rather than his own inclinations."

In said context, no comment was made, however, on those celebrants whose inclination is to offer three fingers to the faithful at the sign of peace, keeping the "consecrated digits" of thumb and forefinger to themselves.

(Yes, this happens. In the Pauline Rite. More often than you'd think. And you couldn't make it up if you wanted to.)

While it passed with the support of 88% of the Latin bishops in attendance in Baltimore, the newsletter reiterated that the Directory on Music and the Liturgy for the United States will not take the form of a repertory of texts or "white list," as "the practicality of such a task in the United States of America is questionable in the light of the number of published hymns and new compositions regularly commissioned." The new Directory, therefore, is geared toward "providing more global descriptions of principles and criteria" and will shortly be submitted to the Holy See for the necessary recognitio.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 22:38

The Bishop Gets Counseling
Closing a months-long investigation, no criminal action will be taken against Bishop Daniel Walsh of Santa Rosa for delaying report of abusive priest; California prelate to attend four-month "counseling diversion" program, prosecutor's decision panned by victims:

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said Monday the decision to offer diversion in lieu of filing charges was in no way letting Walsh off the hook for failing to immediately report the actions of Francisco Xavier Ochoa, a Sonoma priest wanted on 10 felony counts of sexual molestation.

Violation of the state’s mandatory reporting law of suspected child abuse, a misdemeanor crime, carries a potential penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. But Passalacqua said that since Walsh has no prior criminal record, he is entitled to the diversion program.

“We certainly hope that our decision involving Bishop Walsh will send a clear message to all mandated reporters of the importance of immediately reporting to law enforcement any child abuse or elderly abuse any injury of an assault,” said Passalacqua.

Walsh said Monday afternoon that diocese attorney Dan Galvin received a form, faxed from the District Attorney’s Office, that details the diversion program. Galvin then informed Walsh of Passalacqua’s decision.

“I’m just pleased that finally a decision was made,” said Walsh. “I said from the very beginning I acknowledged my mistake. And I said I would abide by whatever the decision the district attorney rendered after his investigation.”

Walsh has 21 days to formally agree to the diversion program, but he said Monday that he would complete the program.

Ochoa, who worked as a priest at St. Francis Solano Church in Sonoma, remains a fugitive, believed to have fled the country May 6, about a week after admitting to Walsh and other church officials of sexual improprieties with several children.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 20:39

Sunday, November 19, 2006
Speaking of Episcopal Plenaries....
The US bishops may gather every year, but the plenary of the CELAM -- the mega-conference comprising the bishops of the 22 Latin American nations -- comes but once every decade... and then some.

While you weren't looking, preparations have been quickening toward the body's fifth plenary assembly in its history: next May's gathering at Brasil's Marian shrine at Aparecida. The meeting will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of CELAM's founding.

Keeping with the tradition begun when Paul VI traveled to Medellin for the 1968 general assembly, Pope Benedict is planning a visit to open the church's largest regional gathering of bishops. (John Paul II is shown above at the opening session of the 1979 plenary in Puebla, Mexico; the late pontiff also attended the last CELAM general, held at Santo Domingo in 1992. The Aparecida meeting will mark the first in Brazil since the conference's founding assembly, which took place in Rio de Janiero in 1955.)

The member-bishops' recommendations for agenda items at the monthlong convocation are due by month's end. While previous meetings have hewed toward questions of social activism -- namely, the church's outreach to the poor and the resulting push for, then exorcism of, liberation theology -- two issues would seem to stand at the forefront of this moment of the ecclesial situation in the region: the rise of the "sects," which have palpably diminished the church's influence and numbers in Latin America, and a perceived crisis of the family, which senior prelates have found under threat given recent trends toward same-sex marriage in Mexico and the Chilean government's campaign for increased condom use, among other instances.

At its reunion, CELAM will also be electing a new president to serve a four-year term in succession to Cardinal Javier Errazuriz Ossa, the archbishop of Santiago de Chile. Viewed as papabile for a nanosecond in the run-up to the 2005 conclave, Errazuriz -- a onetime superior of the Schoenstatt Fathers -- was secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life before being named to Chile's marquee diocese in 1998.

As the CELAM is closely watched in Rome, and given the key role in the interaction of the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who also serves as president of the Pontifical Commission on Latin America, a change in the occupant of said post in advance of Aparecida would seem highly unlikely.

And while, as of this writing, a key post in the host country is vacant, to put a twist on an old saying, between now and then, Hummes providebit.


PHOTO: CELAM

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 02:37

Tribunal #1 -- First In a Series?
This week in Erie, The Church v. Charlie Kavanagh -- the first ecclesiastical tribunal for a sex-abuse case in the US -- wrapped.

As scribbled about previously, Kavanagh was the high-powered vicar for development of the archdiocese of New York until accusations against him were raised by a onetime high school seminarian, Daniel Donohue (above, with his sister), in June 2002. As the case was beyond the civil statute, and given the suspended cleric's protestations of innocence -- including wearing his collar to his 60th birthday party in defiance of the Dallas charter -- Donohue had his day in court last week, but not technically.

Canonically, the parties to the tribunal were lawyers for the archdiocese of New York, seeking to prove the guilt of the accused, and for Kavanagh, seeking to clear their client. The alleged victim was merely the "star witness" for the archdiocese.

In case there was any doubt, David Clohessy isn't happy with the tribunal process:

[F]or victims, he said, a church trial promises little satisfaction.

"They've been hurt by a predatory priest and a series of cold-hearted church bureaucrats," Clohessy said. "Why would they voluntarily submit to a secretive process run by a series of cold-hearted church bureaucrats?"
For what it's worth, Donohue -- just the voluntary submitter who was actually, you know, in the room -- found what Clohessy would call his "series of three cold-hearted church bureaucrats" neither cold-hearted, nor bureaucratic.

Before he answered any questions Friday morning, he said, he asked each judge to describe when they became aware of how pervasive sexual abuse was in the church, and what they did about it. Their answers were satisfying enough that he agreed to tell his story.

"I can say they understood," he said. "At that moment, in that room, there was a clear understanding of what was at stake."
(i.e. the ecclesiastical tribunal isn't guilty of making SNAP judgements.)

For his part, however, Donohue would not assent to keeping his experience and testimony under the customarily-requisite pontifical secret. As Gary Stern reports:

Donohue, now 42 and a father of four, said he refused to sign an oath of secrecy and told the panel of three priests that he opposed the closed nature of the trial.

"I spoke of why I would not give up my voice, my truth," he said by phone. "I told them that this secrecy caused my abuse."

Donohue said that when one of his sisters testified this week and refused to promise confidentiality, she was told that she could be subject to papal discipline.

"They wouldn't tell her what it meant," he said.
As the fifth anniversary of the avalanche of revelations from Boston approaches, the Erie trial -- moved there from New York at the request of the archdiocese, keen to tamp down on media attention -- returns the issue of the handling of abuse cases to the forefront.

In an emblematic example of the timeline of contested abuse cases and the speed with which they work their way through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Roman dicastery charged with processing them), while the accusations against Kavanagh were leveled in June '02, the trial was given the go-ahead only in January of this year, and the parties weren't notified of its place or time until about a fortnight ago. While the USCCB initially lent two of America's top canonists to aid the CDF's Discipline office in tackling its extensive backlog of abuse cases, but one currently remains: Msgr Bob Deeley of the archdiocese of Boston.

While significantly less prominent than the CDF's sex-abuse portfolio -- which even the new Grand Inquisitor, Cardinal William Levada, cited as a factor in his appointment to the post -- another Roman process which has experienced a significant uptick since the abuse eruption and subsequent episcopal response in the US is that of the "administrative" or "hierarchic recourse." In cases where a diocesan bishop deprives one of his priests of his lawful faculties, privileges or due compensation for reasons extant the "more grave delicts" (e.g. abuse of a minor, absolution of an accomplice, etc.) reserved to the onetime Holy Office, the sanctioned cleric has the right to appeal the decision to the Congregation for the Clergy.

Suffice it to say, more than ever have. The impending docket of these requests for review is massive; recourses filed 18 to 24 months ago still await replies, a significant number being overturned not on grounds of substance, but the procedures used (the latter said to be the Roman preference, wherever possible). It is important to note that once a recourse is filed, according to law the effects of the decision at issue are suspended until a finding is reached and communicated to the parties.

It's very possible that the role of Clero in the recourses played a part in the Pope's decision to name Cardinal Claudio Hummes as the dicastery's new prefect. Unlike his predecessor, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the outgoing archbishop of Sao Paolo is: 1. a religious and 2. not a canonist. Of course, this is balanced out by Hummes' 31 years dealing with secular clergy as a diocesan bishop, but his roots and choice of community cannot be discounted.

Given that background and the current situation, could it be said that Benedict XVI wants a more balanced, more pastoral, less technical approach to the bishop-priest relationship?

It's looking that way right now. However, as the proof's in the pudding and the backlog of recourses is long, let's revisit the question in two years.


PHOTO: Rich Forsgren/AP

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 02:01

Saturday, November 18, 2006
The Boss at 90
True story: When my maternal grandmother was two years old, she was almost left for dead.

An epidemic that had spread across Italy was thought to have claimed her. As she tells it, she was laid out in a coffin for the visitation when her father bent down to kiss the forehead of what he thought was his daughter's corpse... when his glasses fogged up.

To think what would've been if he didn't bend.

Thanksgiving always begins early for my mother's family -- which, from an orphan widowed when she was 39, now encompasses her seven children, 26 grandchildren, somewhere around 35 great-grandchildren, not to mention the assorted spouses, in-laws, and hangers-on who simply enjoy the parties. And the tradition continues again today as Gram, the Boss, marks her 90th birthday.

While her descendants are now so numerous that they've never all been in the same room simultaneously, almost everyone has returned to the matriarchal seat to celebrate and to make her happy in the way she loves best: by eating up, spending time and paying tribute with envelopes containing the big bills she grew up and grew a family without. (Her money quote: "Money makes the blind, see, and the lame, walk.") Keeping with this, I'll be making my donation, with thanks for graces received. But also, with eternal thanks, she'll be surprised with a special gift from the hand of our Holy Father.

As even she would tell you, my grandmother's story could fill several volumes. The overarching theme, however, would be the faith she's received, lived and taught. It is the guidepost of her life, her greatest source of consolation, fortitude and richness, and she maintains that the only way she could have ever joyfully traversed the difficulties of a life marked by poverty, loss, extreme hardship and the challenge of sailing to this country alone, knowing no English and possessing nothing but belief and the determination that comes from it, was with the help of God.

In sum, everything she's done and everything she is could best be summed up in the most powerful testament of the true Christian: she gave her life that others might have it more fully.

As veteran readers know, the last year has been a bit of a rough ride, as the Boss has endured various difficulties of age. Ever-stubborn, she remains in the saddle at the house where she's laid her head for the last 63 years. But in testimony to the values which she's lived and taught -- chief among them sacrifice -- at least one of her children has been with her around the clock since last December, rotating on 24-hour shifts. She can no longer make it up the steps to her bedroom, but we know that, for her, to leave her home and the place at the head of the table she's held for 50 years would be the one heartbreak she couldn't bear.

In her haler days, I once saw Gram walking through the woods behind my aunt's house in Virginia. As the terrain was steep, she was given one of the fallen tree limbs to keep her steady. All of 4'9", the limb was taller than she, and I couldn't help but keep the image in my mind of the Boss as our shepherd. Going further, given the word's roots in the offering of sacrifice, it could be said that in her example of selflessness, conviction, defense of her own and purity of heart, hers is the greatest priesthood we who have experienced it will ever know.

The long-standing charge of the church was to be especially solicitous of "widows and orphans," both of which she's been. Were it not for the Vincentian nuns who raised her in the orphanage and, after my grandfather's death, a weekly helping hand from the parish at whose altar four generations of us have marked our key moments of the journey, her life and ours would have been much different, much more difficult. It's a constant reminder that, for all its internal disputes, the church's place must remain with those who are without, those who struggle, those who believe while working themselves to the bone, those who look to us to serve as the uplifting and provident hand of God, whether emotionally, materially, or spiritually. Lose that, and we lose everything.

They say that I'm more like her eighth child than her 20th grandchild, as I spent my first days in her house and, seemingly in a direct line, have inherited what are distinctly her sensibilities, her values, her phrases, her intuition, affinities and distastes. She reads my mind well, and while the Scriptures say that grandchildren are the "crown of the aged," from her, this grandson has always received a mother's love. I am what I am -- or at least, I attempt to live as I do -- from the lessons I learned at her master-class of the virtues, given from a kitchen table by a professor with a formal education that ended at eighth-grade.

On a personal note, my favorite moment from this whole experience came over the summer, on taping the interview for NPR. I was asked if a member of my family could be interviewed for the piece.

Little did its religion correspondent imagine that she would find herself at the Boss' table.

Despite usually having a tough time with her short-term memory, the interviewee brought her "A-game," completely reveling in the experience of having a microphone in her face. And leaning against the kitchen counter, beaming, it took a lot to keep me from sobbing at the sight that, in her lifetime, she had gotten the validation of seeing -- her analogy -- a "branch" of her tree done good on the nourishment and endurance of its "trunk."

Her voice didn't make it on-air, but the experience of it remains the most meaningful gift, and that interview is one of the few recent things she's been able to recall. (The Boss often reads reader mail, especially when it's in Italian. She gets a real kick out of it.)

As her "branches" gather to celebrate the gift of Gram, I ask anyone who enjoys these pages enough to do so to please join me in a prayer of thanksgiving for the person whose faith, ethic, love of family and love of the church are my foundation. And please pray, too, that she may enjoy the blessing of health and the continued ability to share her wisdom. This student of hers has much, much left to learn, and I would be shattered if she left me an orphan just yet.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 13:44

Friday, November 17, 2006
"Pro multis" = "For many" = "Done Deal."

Get ready.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 17:50

Rowan and Benedict, Michael and Paul, Augustine and Peter
This coming Wednesday -- Thanksgiving Eve here in the States -- Pope Benedict will receive the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in private audience.

Williams attended the inaugural liturgy of Benedict's pontificate in April 2005 and was greeted briefly by the new pontiff at a semi-public audience for ecumenical representatives the following day. However fleeting and public, it was the first-ever meeting between the two theological heavyweights, and next week's meeting will mark the first one-on-one summit between the Catholic and Anglican leaders since Benedict's election.

However accustomed churchwatchers on both sides of the Vatican-Lambeth divide have become to visits between the primates of the two communities, it wasn't until 1960, when Bl John XXIII received Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher that the head of the Anglican Communion was welcomed back to the Vatican after a hiatus of 400 years, on account of the Reformation in England.

While the one-hour visit between the two marked a watershed, the relationship warmed even further six years later when Pope Paul VI gave Fisher's successor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, a brother's welcome, leading prayer services with the head of the church of England.

A piece in last week's edition of The Tablet expresses the feeling of the time from a then-seminarian at Rome's Venerable English College. As a gear-up to Wednesday, it makes for a well-worthy read:

Archbishop Ramsey arrived in Rome in March 1966 and, together with his colleagues, stayed with us at the English College. He was received as a friend and fellow Christian - a welcome that blew to bits many of the preconceptions of my upbringing.
I received an invitation to the service in the Sistine Chapel at which the pope and the archbishop presided together. You have to imagine the scale of something like this, in which we witnessed the pope in the Sistine Chapel sharing the presiding role with a non-Catholic. And I had a splendid vantage point. As young clerics, some of us enjoyed playing games in the Vatican, such as weaselling our way into the private areas without getting stopped. The way to do this was to walk around as if you owned the place and knew exactly where you were going. On this occasion, I noticed two spare seats in the second row with all the ambassadors, made for them with confidence and sat down.

I recall the end of the service. The pope stepped up to give his blessing, and clearly this part of the ceremony had not been rehearsed. He then signalled to Archbishop Ramsey, who was next to him at the altar, to give the blessing with him. Archbishop Ramsey was a bit nonplussed, and there may have been a language problem in the pope's request. The pope then calmly took hold of Archbishop Ramsey's arm and moved it into a blessing. The message got through!...

On 24 March a public service was held at San Paolo fuori le Mura. Again the service was presided over jointly by the pope and the archbishop. But it was the scene outside the church after the service that has stayed in my memory and that of many others who were there at the time. The church was packed. Not only were there the many representatives of the English Catholic and Anglican Churches, but also many Italians, who were keen to see the pope and this unknown English figure with whom the pope was spending a lot of time. I can picture now the scene in the massive courtyard of St Paul's as the pope and the archbishop left the basilica. They found themselves surrounded by thousands of enthusiastic and curious people. As he was about to bid farewell to the archbishop, the pope took off the ring he was wearing and placed it on the archbishop's hand. The pope was then swiftly whisked off into his car to take him back to the Vatican, leaving the archbishop standing alone in the midst of the crowd.
This simple gesture from the pope moved him to tears. Still surrounded by countless local people, the archbishop gave his blessing amid the tears. Later, we all gathered in the English College courtyard to bid farewell to the archbishop and his colleagues. The Senior Student asked the archbishop to give us his blessing. We all knelt down to receive it. As you read this you are probably thinking this was no big deal. But this was 1966 and here were 90 Catholic seminarians in Rome, all in their cassocks, kneeling down to receive the blessing from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I have to tell you we all felt a bit mischievous. Indeed we very much hoped the press would pick up on this event. We wanted our own bishops to see it, since at the time they were not "up to speed" on ecumenism. Like the students of the 1960s we were rebellious, and this felt like our own rebellion. Unfortunately, all the journalists were already at Fiumicino Airport awaiting the archbishop's arrival, so our misdemeanours went unreported.


To the last Vatican-Lambeth summit in 2003, Rowan Williams wore the papal ring given Ramsey to his first, and last, meeting with John Paul II. He also donned a pectoral cross the late Pope sent to the then-new archbishop as a gift on his enthronement in St Augustine's chair earlier that year. In the spirit of fair exchange, Williams gave a pectoral cross to Benedict at their greeting the day after his investiture with the Petrine pallium.


And while it'll be interesting to how the new pontificate's approach to the gifting custom stacks up against those of its predecessors, even moreso will be if there's a repeat of the 2003 farewell between the successors of Peter and Augustine. Williams genuflected to kiss John Paul's ring and, confined to his chair, Wojtyla shocked the assembled by returning the reverence.


A day for close watching, to be sure. As always, stay tuned.


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posted by Rocco Palmo at 01:32

Thursday, November 16, 2006
In On the Joke
Apparently, the papa tedesco and his secretary have become grist for the Italian humor mill:

They imitate Pope Benedict XVI's German-accented Italian, poke fun at his secretary and even have the pontiff shooting pigeons in St. Peter's Square.

The pope and the Vatican have long been favorite targets in a country where satirists hold little sacred, but Italy's Roman Catholic bishops and others now complain that the current crop of comedians is going too far.

"You can't joke about the Vatican," was the banner headline Wednesday in the left-wing daily L'Unita, which denounced a "crusade against satire" by Catholic media and conservative politicians.

"This is Catholic fundamentalism, a faithful mirror of certain Islamic fundamentalists who don't want cartoons about Allah," the paper wrote in an editorial, drawing comparisons to the uproar in the Muslim world by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish and other European newspapers earlier this year....

The Maurizio Crozza [pictured above in an unrelated 2005 file] satire on TV is stronger, with a hysterical pope shooting pigeons on his ledge over St. Peter's Square because they disturb "people who have work to do" or throwing burning candies to the "dear children" in the square.

Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference, said that Fiorello was "bravissimo, but even he has his off moments," while it termed Crozza's humor as "failed satire which is not without cowardice."

Many commentators, both left and right, partially backed the criticism of the satire saying that Italian comedians attacking the church were picking on an easy target, while staying clear of references to Islam.

"It would be easy and rightful to champion free satire if only it were exercised impartially, in all directions," the left-leaning daily La Repubblica wrote in an editorial. "You can't satirize one prophet and not the other, you can't satirize Christ and spare, out of fear, Muhammad."
The pontiff's private secretary, Msgr Georg Ganswein, lashed out at the papal satire in an interview with an Italian wire service. Admitting that he had never viewed the material, he said that he takes its existence as a "polemical act," expressing his hope that "broadcasts of this kind stop immediately."

"Satire's OK," Ganswein said, "but these 'things' have no level of intellect and offend men of the Church." "They are not acceptable," he said, going on to voice his finding that the sketches are of little "constructive" value.

The question of humor of the ecclesiastical kind is a very salient one to these days, a time when we've got too many people taking too many things too seriously. Just because our teachings and beliefs are serious business doesn't mean that, within reasonable limits, said gravity extends to every last thing church. Think about it: when the Good Lord was sitting at table, his dinner companions didn't communicate with him by singing Palestrina motets, nor was he waited on by solemn attendants clad in pleated lace albs and brocaded maniples.

(If that reality-check served to scandalize anyone, my apologies.)

The shortest verse of the New Testament may be "Jesus wept," but we can also be sure that, indeed, Jesus laughed -- a task he was able to accomplish even without the aid of scrolls advertising "Jokes Messiahs Can Tell."

Of course, there's a fine line between a healthy, reverent irreverence, and that which could be deemed offensive. Candor, humor, commentary and charity are a delicate balance, one at which many have failed (one which these pages continue to fail at, each and every day).

For an example of both bulls-eye and horribly wide of the mark, some of you will remember the June piece from The Onion on Pope Benedict's "journey" to Six Flags. While the first doctored photo that ran with the fictitious amusement park visit by The Man Called Fluffy -- featuring the pontiff on a roller-coaster -- rightly hit the funny-bone of all but the most hopelessly anal-retentive, the second, featuring the Pope with a superimposed Bugs Bunny, crossed the line not because of Bugs' presence, but as it distorted the image of the Pope on his powerfully evocative walk through the gates of Auschwitz the month before. (A setting notably kept out of the caption.)

Then again, look at the upshot -- and, yes, there is one. In a time when much of the church keeps bleeding credibility and its influence as cultural arbiter remains on the wane, its presence as a continued foil of the comic class is definitive proof that its cadences and customs are still universally recognized enough to be synthesized into a laugh-line or two, however biting in some corners.

What's more, to be able to laugh at oneself is a sign of self-confidence, and when we can't do that, we're in a bit of trouble.

As for one relevant example, look at the USCCB.

Alongside the bishop of Juneau keeping an eye on the BaltoSun's sports pages, one of the many striking things on the floor of this week's Baltimore meeting was the bishops' keenness to try and find something, anything, to get a chuckle from as they debated their way through the mine-ridden, high-stakes agenda. (This was especially the case during Tuesday's discussion on ministry to PWAHIs.) The attempts at laughter evidenced something that's been heard across several fronts of late: more than just a few veteran backbenchers feel the vacuum of humor among their current leadership, a void deemed weighty in light of the difficult exigencies of the current moment, especially as the laughter of the trenches has a history of uniting the conference, defusing much of the body's tensions in years past.

Of course, the last senior cleric revered for his light touch -- oft-accompanied with a Ricklesian flair for the loving (and, sometimes, not-so-loving) barb -- was the iconic figure of the eighth archbishop of New York, whose spirit was prominently conjured to great effect at Sunday night's liturgy in the nation's first cathedral.

While speaking of the historical legacy of the early American church, and the 1810 ordinations of John Carroll's first suffragans, Bishops Benedict Flaget of Bardstown, Michael Egan of Philadelphia and Jean Lefebvre de Cheverus of Boston, Cardinal William Keeler noted the one who didn't make it: Richard Luke Concanen, the Irish Dominican named as the first bishop of New York.

Consecrated in Rome, en route to America Concanen died and was buried in Naples without ever having seen -- let alone taken possession of -- his charge.

In his homily, when Keeler said of Concanen that "Cardinal O'Connor called him 'the most successful of his predecessors, because he never made a mistake on the job,'" the first part of the quip alone was enough to cause a prolonged, almost deafening, surely cathartic roar of hysterics from the bishops.

Far beyond the punch-line, though, the significance and subtext of the moment weren't lost on the high-hats. And when we speak of "restoring the light," said mandate involves recovering not just a Basilica, but another vaunted virtue of American Catholicism's confidence and excellence -- surely one less costly than unearthing the magic of Carroll and Latrobe's original plan, but by no means of lesser value.


PHOTO 1: AP/Luca Bruno
PHOTO 2: AP/Chris Gardner

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 21:46

"No Further Treatment" for Tucson Prelate
The prognosis seems dire for Bishop-emeritus Manuel Moreno of Tucson, who had emergency surgery on Tuesday after a cereberal hemorrhage:
Moreno's condition has worsened and family members, after consulting with his doctors, have decided not to continue further medical treatment.



That news comes from Moreno's successor, Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas, who was traveling to Phoenix this afternoon to be with him.

Moreno on Monday night had surgery in Phoenix to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding, and that had resulted in some relief, said diocese spokesman Fred Allison. But the bleeding returned two nights later....



His family and Kicanas are asking for continuing prayer for Moreno.


Meanwhile, Moreno is surrounded by his two sisters and two brothers, nephews and nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces and a couple of close friends, Kicanas said.
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posted by Rocco Palmo at 15:54

Gibson on Benedict
So I've long been meaning to plug David Gibson's The Rule of Benedict, a bit more candid of a look at the new Pope than we've been used to. Then again, given the author's experience as a veteran religion correspondent and onetime Vatican Radio staffer, the task was in sound hands.

After the wave of books on Benedict after his election, The Rule had the fortuitous timing of appearing in the midst of Regensburg and the Vatican's most concentrated hard-news prominence since the conclave.

(Full disclosure: yours truly was involved on the project as a consigliere to the author, a longtime friend and co-conspirator who first found the book's cover art here.)

Some snips from the BustedHalo interview with Gibson:

BH: You worked in the Vatican in the late ‘80’s when Cardinal Ratzinger was there. Had you come in contact with him back in those days?

DG: Yeah, I saw him pretty regularly. He always passed across St. Peter’s Square. He was coming from his apartment over to the Holy office and I was coming from the other direction, over towards my office at Vatican Radio. He was a very quiet man, always in his black overcoat and his little black beret and he’d say with his German accent, ‘bon giorno.’ Hello. And we met eyes at press conferences but very few people have interviewed him or have gotten to know him. He is a very quiet, private person. He’s not a real people person the way John Paul II was. As I think Paul VI once said, one cannot be friend with the pope or a cardinal like that. They don’t pal around. And so even some of his biographers have never interviewed him. He has given a couple book length interviews to a German journalist but that’s about the extent of it.

BH: You say in your book, than Joseph Ratzinger was the perfect candidate for the papacy because he was so intensely private.

DG: Exactly. And I really talk about the identity crisis of becoming a pope which I think is just a fascinating thing from a human point of view. Everyone wants to look at the pope from a political point of view. What’s this going to mean vis a vis America or Islam etc? And those are fascinating topics but to become a pope is an amazing thing. When you are first elected, you go to be vested in something called the room of tears, right off the Sistine Chapel because the it’s the first time you go in there and just the weight and the reality of this transformation bears down on you and you just weep. But it’s really a remarkable thing and, in a sense, there has been what I call this monasticizing of the papacy over recent decades in the last century or so where they want a pope who is really a spiritual leader, almost a type of Dalai Lama of Catholicism, who doesn’t have any ties. John Paul was also a perfect pope. He had no living relatives. No sisters, no brothers, no nieces….

BH: Do you think the cardinals were trying to send a message to the rest of the world or to the church? And now, a year and half into the papacy, has the message proven to be true? Who do you think the cardinals were trying to elect back then and what do you think they have gotten?

DG: Well I think to a great degree there was no sense that ‘we’re trying to do this.’ Again, I have had the advantage of a year to research the conclave and I detail for the first time that it was a bit of a campaign. Cardinal Ratzinger had the best organized campaign in the conclave. So I think a lot of the cardinals in the end just thought that they had to go along with what was happening because one of the big messages they wanted to send was stability. After this enormous outpouring of the death of John Paul II, the cardinals realized, ‘We’ve got to elect somebody who can stand up to this tsunami of outpouring and who can be their own person in their own right in the wake of this grief and all this enormous popularity for the Santo Subito, the saint right away that they wanted John Paul II to be. And Joseph Ratzinger, in that sense, was a no-brainer. We should have seen it coming. Here is a guy, older man, transitional pope, which I detail in the book as a term of art. He talks about how he has very little time left. But at 78, 79, who knows? He could be here 10 or 15 years. It’s stability. They wanted to send a message of continuity and stability. And I think they did that to a great degree. And I think you are right, you see a lot of conservatives who are lamenting that the Panzer cardinal did not become the Panzer pope. He hasn’t gone out there and cracked skulls and reinstituted the Latin mass and turned the altars around and that kind of thing. That may be coming, not the cracked skulls but the Latin mass.

BH: Really? You think that will happen?

DG: I think it eventually will. There will certainly be a greater use of it. One of his great efforts has been to reach out to the schismatic traditionalists on the right side. But, as I detail in the book, I think there are a lot of troubling aspects. However, I think the greatest hope in my mind is that he will appoint some better bishops. I think there have been some good signs. It’s fascinating. He really wants to depersonalize the papacy, to lower the profile of the pope. I think that is something that the cardinals also want very much. They want a little less intensity from the chair of Peter....

BH: You hear a lot of people saying they are “John Paul II” Catholics.

DG: And that's wonderful. You have to realize half the people alive on the globe today knew only one man as pope. That was Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II. And in a way I am one of them. I'm a 17 year old Catholic. I converted in 1989. So my first impression was first like, 'Holy cow. It's Joseph Ratzinger. I got that wrong.' And second was, 'What is he doing wearing John Paul II's clothes?' (laughs)

But really what I am is a Jesus Christ Catholic. It’s not about the pope. It’s not about Billy Graham or some leader of your faith. It's about the faith itself and yet the faith is made real by convincing personalities. So I'm torn between that and also, fundamentally, what my book gets down to is that it is not so much a crisis of faith.

Benedict is wonderful in his Christology and in talking about his love of Christ and why we should follow Jesus. But the question that remains unanswered is why we should remain Catholics, why the Catholic Church should be the container for our faith. His ecclesiology and his Christology overlap so much that they almost can't be separated. In his mind, if you talk about reforming the church or making any changes, you're talking about changing Jesus Christ himself, and that's a little too strict for me. He wants the faith to shine forth but the bottom line is that we can't ignore the incredible challenges that are out there that remain that have to be addressed. We can't just drift along just by preaching words without embodying them in deeds and having justice in the church as well as outside the church.
Part 2 coming tomorrow.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 14:50

"The Value of Celibacy"
Unlike the prior two interdicasterial summits, a statement was issued at this one's end:

"The value of the choice of priestly celibacy according to the Catholic tradition was reaffirmed, and the need for solid human and Christian formation was underlined, both for seminarians and for those already ordained," a brief Vatican statement said.

The Vatican encounter was triggered by the case of Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who recently was excommunicated after he ordained four married men as bishops without papal permission.

The Vatican statement, issued a few hours after the meeting, made no mention of Archbishop Milingo. It said the participants were given updated information on requests by priests for dispensation from the obligation of celibacy and on the possibility of readmission for priests who "meet the conditions foreseen by the church."

In recent years, the Vatican has approved the return to active ministry for some priests who left to marry in civil ceremonies, but who later divorced or were widowed and petitioned for readmission. Such readmissions follow a long process and require an expression of repentance from the petitioner, according to Vatican officials.

The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told Catholic News Service it was his understanding that the meeting did not consider major changes in the priestly celibacy rule. Instead, he said, the discussion appeared to focus on the pastoral situation of priests in those special circumstances seeking readmission to ministry.


PHOTO: AFP

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 14:42

Milingo Moves the Pope
At this hour, Pope Benedict is presiding at his pontificate's third meeting of the dicastery heads of the Roman Curia. While the first two gatherings dealt with various issues, most prominently a pulse-taking on questions surrounding a wider indult for the Tridentine Mass and the reconciliation of the Lefebvrist schism, the sole topic of this summit is clerical celibacy.

Ostensibly, the pontiff was acting on a letter sent to him earlier this month by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the controversial Zambian prelate who was excommunicated in late September after ordaining four clerics to the episcopacy at a Washington, DC ceremony. Milingo, who married a Korean acupuncturist in a 2001 mass wedding of the Rev Sung Myung Moon's Unification church, reconciled with the Holy See shortly thereafter.

However, the renegade archbishop vanished again from his Roman residence last June, only to resurface in July in the US capital, where he announced that he would return to his wife, Maria Sung, and would spearhead an initiative aiming to restore clerics who have left to marry to the priesthood and the church.

Though excommunicated and with the new ordinations deemed invalid by the Holy See, the group, "Married Priests Now!" now considers itself a personal prelature of the church, along the lines of Catholicism's sole licit organization of the kind, Opus Dei. In their letter, dated 4 November, Milingo and his bishops said that they "stand ready and willing to work with" Benedict on the issues of celibacy and married priests.

"The Faithful of the Church are now already reaching out to married priests in an enormous way," the group told the Pope. "A new Catholic Church is forming with or without your blessing. There is great urgency in this matter.

"If you sanction this approach to reinstating married priests and bishops, you will be preserving the unity of the church," the married clerics said. "The right time is now."

At the news of today's meeting, "Married Priests Now!" had scheduled a candlelight prayer vigil last night.

In its announcement of the meeting on Tuesday, the Holy See stated that the papal cabinet had been convoked "to examine the situation created following the disobedience of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and to complete a reflection on questions of dispensing from the obligation of celibacy and questions of the readmission to priestly ministry presented on the part of priests [who have] married in the course of recent years."

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:33

The Way Forward
The following is a transcribed text of the prepared-for-delivery remarks of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio in the United States, given to the USCCB's opening session on Monday morning.

Read closely.

********************

There is a “grace of office” and there is also a “grace of the place.” As we all gather here in Baltimore, the senior metropolitan See in the United States, we can feel this “grace of the place.”

In this city, some 200 years ago, the first Bishop of the United States, Bishop John Carroll – surrounded by enormous difficulties from both within the Church and beyond, laid the cornerstone of this Cathedral of the Assumption on July 7th, 1806, with great solemnity. At 71, an age considered particularly “old” at that time, the Bishop must have certainly considered that his eyes would never look upon the completed Cathedral and, in fact, that was the case. The first American Bishop would not be conditioned by age or difficulties: the Glory of God, fidelity to the mission entrusted to him by Jesus Christ, his service to the present and future of the Church, were all at the core of his great faith, tremendous courage and creative apostolic passion. These remarkable virtues have remained solid and firm, like the stones of this Cathedral which now has been restored by His Eminence Cardinal Keeler, and they continue to speak to the American Catholics of this day.

Cardinal James Gibbons wrote: "What the Temple of Jerusalem is to the Israelites, what Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is to the Faithful of the Church Universal, this Cathedral is to the American Catholic."

The name – “Baltimore” brings to mind the four General Chapters of the Clergy, the first Synod of Baltimore (1791), the meeting of the American Bishops in 1810, the seven Provincial Councils and the three Plenary Councils. These dates and events pass before your eyes with images of your predecessors, who were instruments of God for the rooting, expansion and consolidation of the Catholic Church in the United States.

We cannot forget the Baltimore Catechism – which for dcades, formed the religious, moral and civil conscience of American Catholics.

Like the Bishops of the past, you face difficulties which, although different, are equally serious and challenging: particularly the loss of credibility in the Church, which comes from a lack of orthopraxy and orthodoxy in a small, but very damaging number of its ministers and its faithful. Like those early Bishops, we must have the great humility, to put Jesus Christ at the center of our prayer, at the center of our lives and at the center of our pastoral actions.

Pope Benedict XVI has decided to dedicate the next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (5-26 October 2008) to the theme The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. Commenting on this decision, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said: “The Church is born from the Word of God whose fullest meaning is the Word of God Himself, the Incarnate Word – Jesus Christ. It is the word of the prophets, the word of the apostles and finally, the written word of the Bible. Being born from this Word, the Church is renewed, regenerated every time she returns to this Word. The Word of Sacred Scripture is in the hands of the Church, so that she will drink from it abundantly and be renewed by that contact. It is the Word of God that leads us to the will of God himself; to His desire to communicate with us. This Word tells us what God’s plan is, what he wants from us, what he wants from the Church, what our duty is and what our future is. Therefore, the Church is constantly renewed by drinking from the source of the Word of God, as she is renewed by being nourished in the Eucharist.”

All of us are familiar with the words of Saint Jerome – “the one who ignores the Scripture, ignores Christ. And he who ignores Christ, ignores the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24).”

It is my impression that the Bishops and the Faithful of the Church in the United states are thirsting to muster again the courage and to experience this Wisdom of God and this Power of God.

Toward achieving this goal, don’t the Bishops believe that it would be invaluable for all the dioceses to have a wave of proclamation of the Word of God, of evangelization with faith and courage? It is the Word of God – proclaimed and witnessed in fidelity that will restore the trust in the Church of God.

On this past October 28th, Pope Benedict XVI told the Bishops of Ireland: “Superficial presentation of Catholic teaching must be avoided, because only the fullness of the faith can communicate the liberating power of the Gospel. By exercising vigilance over the quality of the syllabuses and the course books used and by proclaiming the Church’s doctrine in its entirety, you are carrying out your responsibility to ‘preach the Word… in season and out of season… unfailing in patience and in teaching (2 Tim 4:2).”

I am not suggesting that the Bishops should be “watch-dogs” of the faith; I am speaking of something much more difficult: the “munus docendi” of the Bishop must lead the Faithful to live in gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of the Church, the gift of service, the gift of joy and the gift of fidelity.

In the same talk to the Irish Bishops, the Pope said – “Even though it is necessary to speak out strongly against the evils that threaten us, we must correct the idea that Catholicism is merely a ‘collection of prohibitions.’”

Evangelization needs the support of three agents:

1) The Family: Which shows future generations how the gift of faith becomes love, life, fidelity, mutual dedication and joy;

2) The School: During the synods of Baltimore, the Fathers of the Church in America intuited the great and important role that schools would have in the growth of the Catholic community, here in the States. Keeping in mind the words of the Holy Father – “only the fullness of the Faith can communicate the liberating power of the Gospel” – the Catholic school should give the students a top quality in teaching, a discipline for life, moral and human values which help them to choose what is better, more honest, more just and more beautiful;

3) The Mass Media: The first Catholic newspapers were born in Baltimore, where the necessity for them was truly seen. Today, Mass media has developed enormously. Media can cause damage, but can be used also for great good. With competent and well trained personnel, the Catholic Church should find ways to utilize the media more effectively for the service of the Gospel and in the service of humanity. We can only imagine how Saint Paul would have used the Mass Media of today.

A contribution that each Bishop should make to the future of his diocese concerns the quality and the quantity of priests. We not only suffer a great reduction of priestly and religious vocations; also a pastoral plan for vocations seems to be lacking intensity, clarity and determination. Today, Jesus Christ, with difficulty, will find in the family, in the school and in the Church someone who will lend Him his or her voice to call others to follow Him. Ten to twenty years from now, how many priests will there be to serve the Church in the United States? This is a pressing problem that we cannot ignore.

What type of priest or religious Brother or Sister is needed in the Church in these United States, today and tomorrow? This is a question with which every Bishop must be personally concerned. Speaking to the Bishops of Switzerland, this past November 7th, the Holy Father said: “one thing which causes us all concern, in the positive sense of the word, is the fact that the theological formation of future priests and of other teachers and announcers of the faith should be outstanding. We need, then, good theological faculties, good major seminaries and well-trained teachers of theology who can communicate not merely knowledge, but who can lead those seminarians toward an intelligent faith; in this way faith becomes intelligence and intelligence becomes faith.” [My translation.]

On the 21st of last September, the Holy Father told the newly ordained bishops that they should give special attention to their priests. He said: “May this be your first concern with regard to the priests. Always act towards them as fathers and elder brothers who know how to listen, accept, comfort and when necessary, also to correct; endeavor to collaborate with them and be close to them, especially at important moments of their ministry and their lives.”

Addressing himself to the Bishops of Ireland, who are living in a situation similar to ours, Pope Benedict said: “In the exercise of your pastoral ministry, you have had to respond in recent years to many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors. These are all the more tragic when the abuser is a cleric. The wounds caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged. In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes. In this way, the Church in Ireland will grow stronger and be ever more capable of giving witness to the redemptive power of the Cross of Christ. I pray that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, this time of purification will enable all God’s people in Ireland to "maintain and perfect in their lives that holiness which they have received from God" (Lumen Gentium, 40).

“The fine work and selfless dedication of the great majority of priests and religious in Ireland should not be obscured by the transgressions of some of their brethren. I am certain that the people understand this, and continue to regard their clergy with affection and esteem. Encourage your priests always to seek spiritual renewal and to discover afresh the joy of ministering to their flocks within the great family of the Church.”

The Word of God – rediscovered, loved and proclaimed, will give the Church in America a spirit of renewal and fidelity, new credibility among Her members and respect on the part of all. These same results will be attained by a clear and visible attitude of communion between the Bishops and the Holy Father, communion among the bishops and communion between the Bishops and the Faithful who have been entrusted to each of them.

This is expressed in the words of our Holy Father – Pope Benedict XVI, as he spoke to the Swiss Episcopate, this past November 7th:

“I consider it important that the Bishops, as Successors to the Apostles, on the one hand, bear true responsibility for the local Churches entrusted to their care by the Lord, so that there the Church of Jesus Christ may live and grow. On the other hand, they must open the local Churches to the Universal Church. Given the difficulties of the Orthodox with their autocephalous Churches and the problems that face our Protestant friends with regard to the disintegration of the regional churches, we must recognize the enormous significance of universality, how important it is that the Church opens herself to totality, truly becoming, in her universality, one Church. This is possible only if the local Church is alive. This communion must be fed by the Bishops together with the Successor of Peter in the awareness of the Apostolic Succession. All of us must continually make great effort to find in this mutual rapport the proper balance, so that the local Church might live with her own authenticity and, at the same time, the Universal Church may be enriched by the local Church, inasmuch as both participate in a give and take and in this way the Lord’s Church grows.” [My translation.]

"It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples” (Jn 13:35).

I pray that the “grace of the place,” the grace of Baltimore will bring you the faith, the courage and the vision of your predecessors.

Thank you.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 01:17

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
DomeFest '06
At the close of Sunday night's liturgy, I was asked if this week's meeting would have a closing Mass.

After replying that USCCB plenaries only have big Eucharists at their opening, I realized that, this year, it was an erroneous statement. Tomorrow afternoon, many of the bishops'll be boarding buses to the nation's capital for a Mass celebrating the dedication of the newly-completed "Redemption Dome" at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The 4pm liturgy will be celebrated by Archbishop Donald Wuerl with the chair of the National Shrine's iconography committee, Cardinal Justin Rigali, as homilist.

At least three other cardinals and a horde of bishops are slated to concelebrate, and 3,000 programs are being printed up for what's expected to be quite the crowd in "Mary's House," the nation's "patronal church."

Designed by Rambusch and made in Italy, the 3,780 square-foot dome is the first of three to complete the plans of the Shrine's architects in the adornment of its interior. Work is already underway for the second of the minor domes, with the theme of the Incarnation, and plans are in the offing for the "filling in" of the upper church's Great Dome with a mosaic of the Trinity, anticipated for completion in 2009, in time for the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the western hemisphere's largest Catholic church.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:42

Headline Hall of Fame
It seems the talking points prepared by the USCCB's Committee for Doctrine on yesterday's "persons with a homosexual inclination" document are in need of a massive circulation... whatwith banner ledes like this hum-dinger: "Catholic Bishops rule homosexuality not a sin."

They ruled that? Wow. So much for Bruskewitz's argument on the conference's lack of authority.

Just in case anyone hasn't yet seen them and wishes to, here are the documents approved the last two days.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:12

Everybody's Meeting in Leeds These Days
In advance of next week's private meeting between the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the Anglican and Catholic bishops of England have met collectively for the first time since the Reformation.

The two-day gathering wrapped today:

It was co-chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.
Described as being fraternal in character, the meeting was based on shared prayer, discussion and a desire for further development of shared Christian witness.

A joint statement from Dr Williams and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “This historic meeting, forty years on from the visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey to Pope Paul VI – the meeting from which the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission dialogue flowed – marks a further development in the warm relations that exist between the Anglican and Catholic Bishops in England and Wales.

“We recognise the importance of working together to present a shared Christian witness to our society, and acknowledge the importance of working with other Christian denominations, and with those of other faiths to take forward the common good in society.

“This meeting is a significant sign of our mutual commitment to dialogue and joint witness based on our common faith.

It added: “Our Christian faith is rooted in our common baptism. However, our communion remains imperfect.

“Our enthusiasm for dialogue means that we must be honest in addressing issues on which we disagree. This is possible when we hold to the Gospel. We trust in the Holy Spirit to inspire our pilgrimage to unity and common mission.”

PHOTO: Archdiocese of Westminster

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 09:01

Spreading the Mitres Around
Three hours' sleep, and back to the races.

As floated in the Italian press a couple weeks back, this morning the Pope elevated three veteran Curial superiors to the episcopacy: Fr Gianfranco Girotti, OFM Conv, the regent (#2 official) of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Msgr Antoni Stankiewicz, the dean of the Roman Rota, and Fr Raffaele Farina, SDB, the prefect of the Vatican's Apostolic Library.

Of these, the most notable is Girotti, 70 in April, who served for 33 years in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ending up as Cardinal Ratzinger's undersecretary before being sent to the tribunal that handles matters of the internal forum. The native Roman was the CDF's first point-man in the handling of the abuse allegations of three Mexican men against Fr Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, as illustrated in a 2001 NCR piece by Gerry Renner and Jason Berry, the authors of Vows of Silence:

[Canon lawyer Martha] Wegan advised the Mexicans to meet with an official at the congregation. She secured an appointment with Fr. Gianfranco Girotti, a Franciscan priest and one of Ratzinger’s three secretaries.

On Oct. 17, 1998, Wegan and the three men entered the Palazza [sic] Sant’Ufficio and went directly to Girotti’s office. As they entered the building, Ratzinger was having a conversation on a patio, perhaps 50 feet away.

The Mexicans spoke with Girotti in Italian, a language in which Barba and Jurado were fluent. Roqueñi speaks Italian, too, from his years of canonical study in Rome.

Girotti asked few questions as Wegan and Roqueñi outlined the case.

Finally, Girotti said, in Spanish: Porqué hora? Why, he wondered, were they raising the issue after so many years?

Barba told him about the full-page advertisements in 1994 celebrating Maciel’s 50 years as a priest. More than any single factor, they said, the newspaper advertisements had emboldened them to seek out journalists and tell their story.

Girotti seemed satisfied with the responses of Barba and Jurado, the men said later. The meeting lasted less than an hour. Near the end, Girotti said smilingly, “You must refrain from talking to journalists.”

“But Monsignor,” replied Barba, “we have already done so.”

Girotti understood that the abuse allegations had appeared in the press. But, Barba said, he wanted to prevent media coverage of their canon law appeal.

Wegan presented Girotti with a statement of accusation, citing Canon 977, (on the “absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment”); Canon 1378 (“absolution of an accomplice”); and Canon 1362, (“offenses reserved to the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”)....

In January of 1999, Barba telephoned Wegan to check the status of the case. She said that Girotti was receptive, Barba told NCR. Wegan also told him the congregation was having trouble finding Maciel, Barba said....

On Dec. 24, 1999, Martha Wegan wrote her clients, saying she had “sad news.”

“I finally succeeded in speaking with Fr. Girotti,” she wrote. “In fact, I spoke with him twice. But the result was not very good.

“For the time being the matter is closed,” her letter continued. “They looked into the matter and confirmed to me that some people have lost their jobs, that the cardinal of Mexico is the person who is, etc., etc.

“Sad news,” she wrote, “but on the other hand since this is such a delicate situation, time should be allowed to play its role, and who knows what will happen later on.”....

On March 1, 2000, Roqueñi wrote to Girotti and put his career on the line by suggesting that the congregation was not doing its job.

“The fact is that more than 17 months have gone by and the only notice that the claimants have, communicated by your attorney [Wegan], is that the matter is extremely delicate, [and] that there are other related claims. From Roqueñi’s point of view, Vatican officials were “weighing the scandal that a judicial resolution would cause, if condemnatory for the one accused, or favorable for the claimants....

Wegan arranged for Barba to meet with Girotti at 10 a.m. on July 31, 2000, and accompanied him to the meeting. Girotti asked his aides to escort the pair from a small room to a larger, more attractive parlor.

Barba said he told Girotti: “We want to be judged!”

According to Barba, Girotti responded by saying: “It is not you who have to be judged, but him [Maciel].”

Barba went on: “He said it was such a serious case, yet he seemed exasperated. I told him that the word we had given to keep silent with the media stops now. He asked, ‘Why?’ I said there were rumors in Mexico that friends of the Legion had given us money to keep quiet. I told him, ‘We have suffered too much.’ ”

Then, Barba said, something extraordinary happened. After two years of working their case through the ecclesiastical system of justice, Girotti suggested that they file a civil lawsuit against Maciel.
The case seemed to hit a wall but, as you know, time indeed played its role. As did the former Cardinal Ratzinger.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 08:31

Prayer After Communion
Well, what a (21-hour) day: great stories, smiling faces, but one meal and several vote tallies... all on two hours' sleep.

Whew.

There is, however, one moment that sticks out. Earlier in the evening, I happened across a friendly face from my hometown, one of our local greats: Philly's beloved Francis Bible Schulte, whose episcopal ministry culminated in 12 years as shepherd of the Crescent City.

Saying goodnight, the archbishop made a heartfelt request which reminded me of the place where, for all the deliberations here these last days, the church's presence is truly needed and cherished most in our land at this moment in our story; the place where many of our own -- the best of our own -- have heroically gone to serve, to lift, to help rebuild so many lives tragically damaged.

As I share his request with all of you, I ask that you join me in it: "Pray for Mother New Orleans."

Pray, too, for all those who've gone and continue to go, literally or otherwise, into the flood in Louisiana and Mississippi, that the protection and blessings merited by such generous sacrifice may be theirs, both now and long after their return home. And pray for all those intrepid souls who, in and out of season, continue the sterling legacy of the church's service across this country, and the many who continue to look to us for help and sustenance in the journey.

As always, it's our unsung heroes whose work will long outlast our words. And how soon we forget, eh?

So pray for Mother New Orleans. And goodnight from the Premier See.

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 02:52

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A Decade On
"Our brother Joseph is at peace."

Ten years ago this morning, that was the word from Chicago, where its eighth archbishop had succumbed to pancreatic cancer, aged 66.

Those who loved him wish he were still here to lead them; those who didn't wish he were still here to serve as their bogeyman, but both schools of thought speak to the same reality: Joseph Louis Bernardin was a titanic figure of the post-conciliar church in the United States.

Born in the South, the first Italian-American prince of the church came to national prominence in the Midwest, first in Cincinatti, and then in Chicago where, on the eve of his installation, he uttered simple words of great meaning, which have stood the test of a quarter-century:

"I hope that long before my name falls from the eucharistic prayer in the silence of death you will know well who I am. You will know because we will work and play together, fast and pray together, mourn and rejoice together, despair and hope together, dispute and be reconciled together. You will know me as a friend, fellow priest, and bishop. You will know also that I love you.

"For I am Joseph, your brother."
If any presbyterate heard words like that these days, they would need to be assured that they weren't having delusions. Then again, the first American cardinal created by John Paul II had a curious knack for being ahead of his time. What is more, far beyond the confines of the archdiocese he loved, many found in his example a template of how to live and how to die, how to believe and to serve, and the importance of being mindful both of the scourge of war and the challenge of peace.

Arguably, however, Cardinal Bernardin's greatest institutional legacy was in the episcopal conference, which he served as its first general secretary, as vice-president and, from 1974-77, its president. His advocacy for issues of human life and the Catholic mission in all its concerns is reflected still in its approach. It's another one of those great ironies, however, that on this anniversary, faced with exigencies unimaginable but a decade ago, the same conference -- led through its darkest days by one of his episcopal sons -- faces a vote to significantly curtail the structures whose building he championed.

Toward the end of his life, the man whose mother told him at his episcopal ordination to "Stand up straight and don't look so pleased" sought to take on one final ad intra concern. The term "common ground" may now be viewed by some as overly evocative of an ideological pole, but the importance of unity in the church that the term represents has become even more of an imperative in ecclesial life in the years since, particularly as the consequences of a divided secular polity in the United States have seeped into the life of the Body of Christ.

Yet again, the man was ahead of his time, but the work of unity -- which Benedict XVI termed the "will" of the Holy Spirit on the vigil of Pentecost -- belongs not to one prelate, diocese or faction, but is the mission of the whole church.

Structures rise and fall, but communion remains -- or, at least, is supposed to. And that's not something ten years can change.

-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 10:21

More from the Floor
The bishops have gone to sleep for the night, but even so, more than you'd think at this late hour are in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, reserved in an intimate chapel right off the floor.

While there, they're probably keeping one of the brethren in their thoughts. It was announced earlier this afternoon that Bishop Manuel Moreno, emeritus of Tuscon, was to undergo an emergency surgery for bleeding on his brain.

Moreno's successor, Bishop Gerald Kicanas, left town immediately at the news to be with his predecessor in Phoenix, where the retired bishop had been transferred for the procedure.

Moreno, who will be 76 later this month, had undergone a round of chemotherapy over the last six weeks for prostate cancer, according to Fred Allison, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.


Moreno was hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tucson today after complaining of a severe headache on Sunday.


He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix after no neurosurgery specialist was immediately available to operate on him in Tucson, Allison said. Moreno has received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and Dying and the Prayer of the Church.


Allison said Bishop Gerald Kicanas was in Baltimore today for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and asked the nation's bishops to pray for Moreno.


Kicanas left Baltimore for Phoenix, where he was to arrive at 7:40 p.m. to be with Moreno, who is unconscious. He will visit with Moreno's family at the hospital.

Moreno's sister and brother and their families are with him at Good Samaritan.
In other developments, as we approach tomorrow's votes, word's gone around that the meeting -- slated to end on Thursday afternoon -- could wrap up Wednesday night. The bishops are scheduled to be in executive session on Wednesday, followed by a Holy Hour and an opportunity for confessions.

The last nonliturgical business, however, will be an address from Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, chair of the USCCB's Committee on Child and Youth Protection. Topic: "The Bishop as Reconciler."

-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 00:23

Monday, November 13, 2006
Heard Along the Escalator
Greetings to one and all from Bishops' Central. I almost feel like I'm in Xanadu. Almost.

All this really is something, and I'm trying to process it for a fuller bit later on. It's somewhat easier when you're watching on TV, you see one frame, and thus are able to concentrate on the singular line of sight and sound.

They may be keeping the feed on in the Media Room, but there's enough else taking place in the thrill-a-minute kind of background happenings that distraction comes easily: voices you can hear at 80ft, the building stack of documents -- today's alone have tripled the weight of my laptop case, machine included (no complaints, though) -- and the faces you see bounding about.

Just so you know, the wide-eyed, dropped-jaw moment of the day came when the archbishop of New York popped his head into the Press Room in the middle of the session. If there was working wi-fi there, I would've dropped a note... whilst hiding under one of the tables. But there've been other fun vignettes amidst the glitches and chatter of this first day: doubling up on the lunch meetings, talking with a Yankee fan who's never seen The House That Ruth Built, and one bishop who yelled at another from a story below on the escalator: "I read about you every day on Whispers!"

Having been in earshot, it just doesn't get any weirder than that. Whatever the case, I'm humbled and overwhelmed -- not to mention a bit scandalized -- by the plug, so whoever said it, thank you... and, as for the rest, please try not to shoot the messenger.

In the meantime, I will leave you with some snippets of the opening remarks given this morning from Bishop William Skylstad, the USCCB president, and the apostolic nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi (peace be upon him).

"Sadly," Skylstad observed in his presidential address, "the harshness and divisiveness of contemporary society also influences members of the Church. I am sometimes pained to find even in Catholic media judgemental and uncharitable commentary which seems to come equally from all parts of the spectrum of the Catholic community. The point seems to be not to seek the truth or to build up the Body of Christ, but to strive for a sort of victory by overcoming others, preferably by crushing those who disagree. I find such attitudes to be rooted in certain presuppositions that are not compatible with our calling as followers of Christ. In particular, I often find that such discourse seems to presume the worst of intentions or motivations of others.

"It's a good time," the bishop of Spokane continued, to be reminded of the powerful witness of our late, beloved Pope John Paul II. The story is told of a meeting, in which he received significant personal criticism. His response? A simple embrace. No words needed to be expressed. That symbolic action is something that should radiate from the core of our being.

"We see every person as made in the image and likeness of God, and so we must look for good in them and in their intentions, even when they are mistaken, acting wrongly or in disagreement with us," Skylstad said. "We cannot overlook one of the most fundamental aspects of the task of the Church's mission of evangelizing. That is, that Christ, through us, seeks the conversion of hearts. Pope John Paul II reminded the Church and the world on numerous occasions of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, 'The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power'(Dignitatis humanae, 1)."

In his first November address to the bishops, Sambi took a different tack, including the significant step of acknowledging "the loss of credibility in the Church, which comes from a lack of orthopraxy and orthodoxy in a small, but very damaging number of its ministers and its faithful."

Drawing a link between the current American episcopate, its predecessors in history and the "grace of the place" which bring the two together this week, the nuncio said that, like those prelates who came before "we must have the great humility to put Jesus Christ at the center of our prayer, at the center of our lives and the center of our pastoral actions."

Known to be extremely keen about the role of media in Catholic life, the papal representative noted that the Catholic press was born here in Baltimore, "where the necessity for them was truly seen."

"Media can cause damage," he continued, "but can be used also for great good." He also asked "don't the bishops believe that it would be invaluable for all the dioceses to have a wave of the proclamation of the Word of God, of evangelization with faith and courage?" "

Good question; "It is the word of God," he answered, "proclaimed and witnessed in fidelity that will restore the trust in the Church of God."

Curiously, Sambi quoted Pope Benedict's recent ad limina address to the bishops of Ireland, saying that "superficial presentation of Catholic teaching must be avoided, because only the fullness of the faith can communicate the liberating power of the Gospel."

However, returning to his own voice he said that "I am not suggesting that the Bishops should be 'watch-dogs' of the faith; I am speaking of something much more difficult: the 'munus docendi' [teaching ministry] of the Bishop must lead the Faithful to live in gratitude to Almighty God for the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of the Church, the gift of service, the gift of joy and the gift of fidelity."

And that's your quote of the day.


PHOTO: AP/Chris Gardner

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 16:25

Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Gang's All Here
Greetings from the Big Dance.

There was no small amount of "Oohs" and "Aahs" from the bishops of the United States earlier tonight as they returned to the first home of American episcopal gatherings, the restored Baltimore Basilica. And they didn't even get to see it in the daylight. (By the by, the mother-cathedral made it onto NPR earlier today.)

In his first walk down the aisle of his pride and joy, Cardinal William Keeler was greeted with a rousing and thorough ovation during the processional, but the first of several through the course of the almost two-hour long liturgy, which began late as the buses of hierarchs didn't arrive on time. Despite the delay, as one bishop noted, the members of the USCCB "didn't get this kind of treatment in Washington," with full police motorcycle escorts and other such trappings of welcome.

With a first impression like that, who knows? The November Meeting might've just come home to stay.

While local boy done good Cardinal James Francis Stafford, the papal legate to the celebrations of the last week, served as principal celebrant of tonight's liturgy and occupied the cathedra, Keeler -- vested in the metropolitan's pallium -- served as homilist, greeter and offered post-communion remarks. The lovefest of the two cardinals of the Premier See continued as Stafford, referring to the 1858 decree of the Holy See granting this first archdiocese "prerogative of place" in the US church, said that Keeler enjoyed not only the honor born of seniority, but a "prerogative of esteem" among his people.

Quoting a Baltimore layperson, the major penitentiary said this was due to Keeler's preeminence as "the kindest, gentlest soul in the archdiocese." And another standing ovation was had.

The 13th successor of John Carroll responded in kind, that the city was "thrilled" to have its native son return to perform the dedication rites, and expressing his gratitude to Stafford -- who served as auxiliary bishop of Baltimore from 1976-82 -- for having taught him even more about the history of the archdiocese in the last week.

As those who know Keeler are well-aware of his affinity for things historical -- yet again, he donned Carroll's pectoral cross for tonight's Mass -- hearing more of the story

Postado por Pour toi Tarkan... mon amour... às 07:44 0 comentários



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Posted: Thursday, November 12, 1998

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The Secret Order of the Illuminati
(A Brief History of the "Moriah" and the Shadow
Government)
by Wes Penre, Nov 12, 1998. Extended: Nov 27, 2003





Table on Contents:

Introduction

The Illuminati and the Black Nobility

Secret Societies

The Bavarian Illuminati

The Black Magicians

The Anti-Christ

The Bilderbergers

The Trilateral Commission

The Council on Foreign Relations

The Committee of 300






INTRODUCTION





his whole thing with the Illuminati and a Shadow Government may be unreal to many people, but stay with me for a while and give it a chance. I encourage you to read this introduction, overview article before you read anything else from my website, unless you are already familiar with the Illuminati. Even then it would probably be refreshing to read it. This article is what I state that it is - an overview.

The evidence is not provided in this particular article; it only summarizes what is discussed on the rest of my website. So after you have finished reading this overview, you need to look for references and evidence among the rest of the articles in this huge web database. It is similar to laying a puzzle; you need to lay one piece at the time to fit it into the big picture. Sometimes you have to remove a puzzle piece, because you notice it did not fit 100%, and replace it with one that does. This is the way to finding the truth in an overload of Media lies, cover-ups and half-truths. It is not an easy task, but if we have the willingness and a certain amount of patience we can do it. I believe you will have information enough on this web site to get the whole picture of what is going on and who is pulling the strings, so if you look at it with an open mind, I think that after a while you will have little doubt that there IS a Shadow Government trying to create a New World Order above our heads, and that it is NOT to our benefit. I am not pretending to convince you that I have the whole truth and nothing but the truth in my hands, but I do say that I am very certain that an agenda to take over the world and create a super-socialistic state, much worse than the former Soviet Union, is being planned, is happening, and is well in progress.

Most of us can agree upon that something is very wrong with this planet. Civil wars, diseases, famine, ethnic cleansing, religious wars, different violations of human rights ... the list is long and it just goes on. Are all those bad conditions totally separated from each other, or do they have a common source?

All I ask from you is to think for yourself. Throw away everything "you've been told", things "you've learnt in school", what you've "heard on the radio", what you've "seen on Television", what "politicians have told you" etc. - just for a moment. Let's start thinking for ourselves for just awhile. It's not too often we have that opportunity. We are constantly fed with propaganda, bad news, opinions, lies and there are tons of untold secrets. Life is hectic; we have to earn a living, and we are afraid to be laid off work. Our survival is threatened on a daily basis, and this is the direction in which much thinking goes these days. So what is it that causes so much fear and uncertainty in our lives? Is life really this threatening, or is somebody creating this condition on purpose? Much of the fear and terror is spread through Media, which is owned by a few people at the very top of the society. And those people have their very own agenda.

The Illuminati (or Moriah Conquering Wind as they prefer to call themselves these days) is a very secretive group of occult practitioners who have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It is not a boys' club or a group of adults parents trying to get some excitement in life; this is something much bigger than that. This is a very well structured organization consisting of people in extremely High Places. Those people are the Super Wealthy, who stand above the law. Many of them don't even appear on the list of the wealthiest people in the world - it's that secret.

This web site has a certain purpose. First of all I will try to brief you on the current scene, especially the political one, in the world of today. When this is done, I will try to explain what is really happening, not the false information you get when you follow the news on Television or in the newspapers. I will try to comment on important things we are fed with through different Media and explain or debate them. All this based on the facts I am going to give you soon. I will also try to present a solution in a specific section of my site. This web site will be currently updated as new information comes in. But to understand it all, you have to be briefed on the scene of this planet, the version you were never meant to get - the truth certain people don't want you to know:


THE ILLUMINATI AND THE BLACK NOBILITY




The word Illuminati means 1. People claiming to be unusually enlightened with regard to a subject. 2. Illuminati Any of various groups claiming special religious enlightenment. Latin illmint, from pl. of illmintus, past participle of illminre, to light up. See illuminate. These definitions are taken from "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language".

Those people are the top players on the International playground, basically belonging to the thirteen of the wealthiest families in the world, and they are the men who really rule the world from behind the scenes (yes, they are mostly men, with a few exceptions). They are the "Black Nobility", the Decision Makers, who make up the rules for presidents and governments to follow, and they are often held from public scrutiny, as their action can't stand being scrutinized. Their bloodlines go back thousands and thousands of years, and they are very careful with keeping those bloodlines pure from generation to generation. The only way to do so is by interbreeding.

Their power lies in the occult and in economy - money creates power. The Illuminati own all the International banks, the oil-businesses, the most powerful businesses of industry and trade, they infiltrate politics and they own most governments - or at least control them. An example of this is the American election for presidency. It is no secret that the candidate who gets the most sponsorship in form of money wins the election, as this gives the power to "un-create" the opposed candidate.

And who sponsors the "right" candidate? The Illuminati do. More often than not they sponsor both sides to have a game going. They decide who will be the next president, and they see to that their man wins, even if they have to cheat like they did in Florida when President George W Bush "won" over Al Gore. Most president campaigns are financed with drug money, which is understandable if you know that the Illuminati run the drug trade industry as well. Elections are really not necessary, but they let us vote so we can have a game, and by letting us, they pretend to follow the Constitution.

But is the President really running the game? Not the least. The power does not lie with the politicians, but with the Illuminati, whose top members are mostly International Bankers. The leading candidates for Presidency are carefully chosen from the occult bloodlines of the thirteen Illuminati families, and if we research all the Presidents of the United States from the beginning and up to now, we will see that almost all of them are of the same royal bloodline, and they are all "family"; related by ancestry and family trees. Royalty is equivalent to the Illuminati.

So what are the goals of the Illuminati? The goal is to create a One World Government and a New World Order, with them on top to rule the world into slavery and fascism. This is a very old goal of theirs, and to understand it fully, one must realize that this goal isn't of a kind that's supposed to be obtained within one lifetime; it has been a goal that slowly is to be reached over a long period of time. However, they have accomplished more in this direction during the last few decades than they have done in hundreds of years due to industrialization and the Information Technology Era. Their immediate task is to lower the living standard of the developed countries, like the United States and Europe, to a low enough level, so the government can more easily control us (you can see this happening). The living standard in the third world countries will increase to the low level that is planned for the developed countries, so that it all evens out. To be able to accomplish a New World Order, the living standard must be similar all over the world. We can see this goal slowly being reached right before our eyes. The following article shows it clearly: Africa and Asia Push for 'New World Order'.

This goal has been planned away from the public's prying eyes, in secrecy within the Secret Societies. All Secret Societies with secret grades of initiation are owned and controlled by the Illuminati, and Freemasonry is maybe the best known. The powers that control the societies and the Illuminati are occultists and black magicians. Their God is Lucifer, "The Light Bearer", and by occult practices they manipulate and influence the masses. It doesn't matter if you and I believe in this or not, as long as they do. And they take it very seriously.

It's a thrilling thought, that this planet as a matter of fact is run with Black Magic - a planet where magic is not supposed to exist at all in any shape and form, except in the movies and in books, and if somebody tells you it does exist, he/she will most certainly be ridiculed. After people have watched movies like "Lord of the Rings" they wish there was more magic in their lives; little do they know ...

From the occult, mind control and Intelligence have developed. By taking over the Movie Industry, the Record companies, and by their control of the Fine Arts, they know how to influence the teenagers to dance to their tune and accept their kind of reality. This makes sense if you look at what kind of "entertainment" we are enforced to enjoy.

The music the teenagers have to listen to is often totally without quality and lead them into "robotism", apathy, violence and drugs. It's also used for mind control, as we shall see later. Real quality music is rejected by the big record companies in favor for those with lack of talent. Since Black Sabbath in the beginning of the 70:s and the Rolling Stones before them, occultism and Satanism has been promoted through the music industry. Many groups followed on the same track and have always been Hard Sale and heavily promoted and distributed.

The same thing goes with Hollywood, which is also controlled and created by the Illuminati. The "E.T"-movies, Dooms Day films and catastrophe-movies all align with the purpose to influence us in certain directions. Occult movies have also been made popular. All to prepare for days to come ...

I told you above that the men who control the Illuminati are members of thirteen wealthy families. Who they are have been a well hidden secret, and the leadership has gone from man to man over generations. Nevertheless, no secrecy is kept forever, and sooner or later there will be leaks, so also in this case. Not many people know who these families are exactly, but quite recently this has become known, due to people from Illuminati who have left the Order and revealed the most remarkable data. So here are the names of the 13 families - the Secret Government (and here is another link, in case one of the websites goes down, and here is yet another one).

1. Astor
2. Bundy
3. Collins
4. DuPont
5. Freeman
6. Kennedy
7. Li (Chinese)
8. Onassis
9. Rockefeller
10. Rothschild
11. Russell
12. van Duyn
13. Merovingian (European Royal Families)

The following families are also interconnected with those above:

1. Reynolds
2. Disney
3. Krupp
4. McDonald

Also, in addition to those four families, there are hundreds of others that are more remotely connected to the main 13 Illuminati bloodlines. Although significant, they are not mentioned here; they are considered less powerful and less "pure" by the 13 Elite Bloodlines.



All the families above can be studied in much more detail in Fritz Springmeier's excellent book: "Bloodlines of the Illuminati".


SECRET SOCIETIES


Click on the picture to enlarge

The Secret Societies have been present in the history of man for a very long time. It all started thousands of years ago with the "Brotherhood of the Snake", a secret society that refers to Satan (the Great Serpent) back in the Garden of Eden. The Illuminati consider Satan being to good God and the Old Testament God to be evil. Their opinion is that Satan gave man knowledge, while God tried to suppress the same. From this viewpoint Satanism was developed and is practiced within the secret societies up until this day.

There are different theories as of where the secret knowledge within the secret societies comes from, and I am going to mention the two most common theories:

In the Sumerian Scriptures, which go back at least 6000 years, the stone tablets tell us about the Anunnaki "they who from heaven came". According to researchers like Zachariah Sitchin, David Icke and William Bramley, the Anunnaki were the Gods mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, and they were aliens who came from another planet and created humankind as a slave race to serve them. The Sumerian Scriptures tell us about Anu, who was the king of the Anunnaki, and Ea (or Enki), who is equivalent to Satan. He is told to be the one who gave the knowledge to man in the Garden of Eden, and created the first secret society, the above mentioned "The Brotherhood of the Snake". The Anunnaki is said to have come here to exploit the resources of the Earth; especially gold, as this was something they were lacking on their planet, and they urgently needed it as an important ingredient in their atmosphere. Thus Ea, who was a brilliant scientist, created homo sapiens as a hybrid between a primitive earth life-form and the alien race (this is all according to those 6000 years old ancient Sumerian Stone tablets).

(NOTE: If you, the reader, have a problem accepting the alien part of this agenda, feel free to exclude it from the picture for now, and please continue to read. You will most certainly find the evidence overwhelming on this website with- or without the alien involvement. The truth speaks for itself. However, if you still want to research the alien/interdimensional part of it all, I suggest you visit the Disclosure Project Website and watch The Disclosure Project Video. Approximately 500 government employees testify about the alien agenda and that the aliens are among us, and they are all willing to go to court to testify further, in public. This video definitely convinced me, and many many others who were 100% sure the alien agenda was a piece of disinformation. Please continue to be skeptical while watching this video and exploring the website, but don't be skeptical beyond reason. The same goes for the information on this website of mine. The full testimonies of those 500+ government people are gathered in the book "The Disclosure Project", which can be ordered from their website. In the book are also actual classified documents, and "tons" of those can also be found at the Disclosure Project Website).


Enki (Ea) is sitting on the chair to the right

First homo sapiens were only meant for slave labor and couldn't breed. Later on this was changed. Although Ea didn't like how his created race was treated as an inferior race, he wanted to enlighten them by teaching them who they were and where they came from. He also wanted to tell them the well hidden truth that each individual is a spirit inhabiting a body and that after body death the spirit lives on and reincarnates on Earth.

David Icke, who has researched the Illuminati for decades, claims that the top Illuminati bloodlines are shape shifting reptilians, aliens not from space, but from another dimension, and that THEY actually are the Anunnaki "Gods". According to him, they are the ones in charge of the secret societies. Those entities have the ability to shape shift into human form, and he says he has hundreds of witnesses who have seen them shape shift back into reptilian form.

The Christian viewpoint on this is that the Anunnaki in fact were the Giants that walked the Earth, which the Bible is talking about. Those Giants were the nephilim, who rebelled towards God and were cast down to Earth from Heaven, together with their master, Satan. Christians explain the shape shifting theory by saying that the aliens in fact are demons and the nephilim. They mean that the persons that have been seen shape shifting are merely demon possessed due to their black magic practices, and sometimes the demons "bleed through" and show themselves, either in reptilian form or as the "grey aliens". Maybe the different conclusions are just different interpretations of the same thing?

Whatever the truth is, there is definitely something going on. There are too many witnesses, and in the era of the Internet it is easier for people to communicate world wide. This may be the reason why we hear so much about this phenomenon now, where there once was silence. There is no Media cover-up on the Internet. On the other hand, we cannot take everybody that steps forward on the Internet seriously, as things like these also can create psychological chain reactions. Some people may "believe" they have experienced something that they actually haven't. This is not meant to be a religious web site, so I will not argue too much about these things; especially as I don't have the answers myself. On the contrary, this site has as one of its' purposes to explain the world situation from an objective viewpoint - as objective as possible.

The truth is; in the background throughout all history there are secret societies. The original Brotherhood soon split up into cults, when certain people on top were in disagreement with each other. Different powers of control developed, where they fought against each other internally (which still is the case today), out of sight from an ignorant population. They invented the different religions and sects and cults so man would be busy doing something else instead of looking into what the Brotherhood actually was doing. They put themselves in charge of the churches to entrap people and to spread conflicts between different belief systems. Most wars throughout history have been religious wars.

Out of the original Brotherhood came Freemasonry, the Rosicrucians, The Knight Templars, Ordo Templi Orientis, Knights of Malta, Skull & Bones and more. Some people may object and say that Freemasonry, for example, is a charity organization and even a Christian society. Yes, that's what we're told and that is what most members of the secret society believe. The vast majority of people involved are good people, who are ignorant of what is practiced on the highest levels; unaware of that up there is Satanism and worship of the dark forces. They don't serve God, they serve Satan or Lucifer, and this is the key to what is happening in the world of today.


THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI

Adam Weishaupt (1748-1811), basically a Jew, converted to become a Catholic Priest and ended up starting a "new" secret society called the Illuminati. Actually it was not new at all; it's been there long before then under different names, but during Weishaupt's lifetime this organization was revealed in public. It's unclear if he was the master-mind behind it, but most researchers, including myself, are more or less certain that Weishaupt was just a puppet for the Freemasonic Elite.

The Freemasons had recently started a new branch of Freemasonry - Freemasonry of the Scottish Rite with its 33 degrees of initiation. It's still today one of the most powerful secret societies in the world, including members within high politics, religious leaders, businessmen and other for them useful individuals. Things point in the direction that Weishaupt was sponsored by the Rothschild's, who then were (and still are) the heads of Freemasonry worldwide.

The Illuminati had its own grades ABOVE (or rather beside) the 33 degrees of Freemasonry. Even persons who were initiated to the higher degrees of Freemasonry had no knowledge of the Illuminati grades - it was that secret. Weishaupt planned to take over the world, and he made up distinct strategies to create a One World Government and a New World Order. All this was written down into something called the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", written in a way to put the blame on the Jews if the secret plan would leak.

And it did leak! An emissary for the Illuminati was struck by lightning when he rode over a field, carrying the Protocols, and they were found and revealed to the world. This was in the 1770's. Weishaupt and his Illuminati "Brothers" had to flee and work underground, due to that their organization was banned. It was decided by the Brotherhood that the name Illuminati should never again be used in public; instead front groups should be used to fulfill the purpose of world domination. One of the front groups were the Freemasons, who had a better reputation.

It is believed that Weishaupt was killed by his Freemason Brothers, as he was unable to keep his mouth shut and still continued to use the name Illuminati. There could also have been other reasons.

The secret goal, however, survived Weishaupt and the Rothschild's were now heads of the Illuminati (and still are today). A good help in the effort to reach the goal came from the Freemason Cecil Rhodes, whom in the 19th Century tried to build a One World Government with the British Empire on top. This agenda was sponsored by the Rothschild's and it was also Rhodes who created the Round Table, a secret society in itself, named after King Arthur's Round Table, where the Brotherhood Elite is gathering up to this day.

World War I and II were both attempts to take over. After the Second World War people were so tired of all the killing that they welcomed the United Nations, when it was founded. The official policy of the UN was to safeguard the peace, so nothing like WW II would ever happen again. But indeed the UN was another important front organization for the Illuminati, to unite the countries of the world into one. Here is a typical example of how the Brotherhood works: "problem-reaction-solution". By starting two world wars they created a problem. This in turn created a reaction from the population, who wanted a solution to the wars. So the Illuminati created a solution to the problem they themselves started by founding the United Nations; one step further toward a One World Government. This eventually led to the EU project, which anyone, with his eyes open, can see goes right into the direction of the biggest fascist state known to man, where each country gets less and less power and sovereignty, and Europe is put under the reign of a few, in a centralized government. And who are running EU? The Freemasons and the Illuminati.

Next on the Agenda are the North American Union, (which is already being built as we speak, with Bush working on erasing the borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada and merge them into one, also starting to build a Super Highway running through these three countries), the South American Union, The African Union and the Asian Union. Finally, all these "Unions", including the European Union, will merge into one big Union, which will be run by a One World Government.

By creating galloping inflation, the International Bankers (read the Illuminati) have succeeded in making us believe that the only solution is a One Currency - the EMU. When that project is safeguarded, the Central European Bank (Illuminati) has all the power over the economy in Europe and can lead us in whatever direction they want. Some politicians are just ignorant and power hungry, while others are aware of facts and work for and with, the Illuminati. The innocent people, being deceived, are the ones who will suffer the most. This is a betrayal beyond comprehension.

The secret societies and the Illuminati believe in the power of symbols. The world is full of their magic- and black magic symbols. However, we are so used to seeing them everywhere, that we don't even think about it. The Illuminati believe that the more symbols around, the more magic power to them. The insignia of the Illuminati and the New World Order is the "Pyramid with the All-Seeing- Eye", which you can study on the back of the U.S. One Dollar Bill (some years ago this symbol was also on a series of stamps released from the Vatican). The All-Seeing-Eye is the Eye of Horus, which is the Eye of Lucifer, and goes back to the Egyptian era. The One Dollar Bill was designed by President Roosevelt's administration, and the below letter from 1951 tells us that the President had a lot to do with its' design:


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"In 1934 when I was Sec. of Agriculture I was waiting in the outer office of Secretary [of State Cordell] Hull and as I waited I amused myself by picking up a State Department publication which was on a stand there entitled, "The History of the Seal of the United States." Turning to page 53 I noted the colored reproduction of the reverse side of the Seal. The Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum impressed me as meaning the New Deal of the Ages. Therefore I took the publication to President Roosevelt and suggested a coin be put out with the obverse and reverse sides of the Seal.

Roosevelt as he looked at the colored reproduction of the Seal was first struck with the representation of the "All Seeing Eye," a Masonic representation of The Great Architect of the Universe. Next he was impressed with the idea that the foundation for the new order of the ages had been laid in 1776 but that it would be completed only under the eye of the Great Architect. Roosevelt like myself was a 32nd degree Mason. He suggested that the Seal be put on the dollar bill rather than a coin and took the matter up with the Secretary of the Treasury.

When the first draft came back from the Treasury the obverse side was on the left of the bill as is heraldic practice. Roosevelt insisted that the order be reversed so that the phrase "of the United States" would be under the obverse side of the Seal... Roosevelt was a great stickler for details and loved playing with them, no matter whether it involved the architecture of a house, a post office, or a dollar bill."

– Wallace's letter to Dal Lee
February 6, 1951


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Other common symbols are the pentagram (five-pointed star), the hexagram (six-pointed star - The Star of David), the Swastika reversed (the way Hitler used it) and the pyramid in general.


Hexagram (click on the picture)

Pentagram (click on the picture)



THE BLACK MAGICIANS

The secret societies, controlled by the Illuminati, have secret grades of initiations - a pyramid structure where people on one level of the pyramid do not know what the people on the level above them know. In Freemasonry you can't just become a member; you have to be recommended by at least two persons who are already members, and the applicant should be examined of his record before he is able to join. If only one person in the council says no to membership, the suggested person will not be initiated. Each person is very carefully examined to determine if the Brotherhood may have any use for him. That doesn't mean that they are selecting only "bad" people; quite the opposite:

Officially most societies are charity organizations. This, and the propaganda that organizations like the Freemasons are Christian, is why most people join. These organizations are instead extremely esoteric with secret grades of initiations, where each member has sworn loyalty foremost to the Brotherhood. This means that if this person has a specific post in society (like being President for example), his first loyalty is to the Brotherhood and second to his post as President. So he has in fact double loyalties. A Brother in good standing should always be protected and cared for, as long as he is useful to the organization and follows its' rules. If he fails or doesn't keep the secrets, he will be made a horrible example of (sometimes even killed). It is extremely important that the secrets are kept. If not, the Brotherhood loses its power over the people and the whole pyramid falls apart. The Illuminati are terrified to be revealed; afraid that the public will kill them in fury when they find out about their crimes.

Many Freemasons on the lower grades are actually very pleased to being members. It is a tight "belonging-feeling" and they will learn a few secrets of this universe, which are not taught in school, and they are often enthusiastic and fascinated. One Freemason said: "Beside my wife, Freemasonry is the most important thing in my life ..." His wife, by the way, must never know anything about what her husband is doing within the society, as it is supposed to be kept secret, and women most often are not allowed into the societies (however, there ARE a few societies especially for women, like the Freemasonic "Eastern Star"). One can then speculate in how come that women are treated as being of lesser value in the society than men, with lower wages for the same job etc. It's a man's world - it's the world of the man dominated Secret Societies.

With the purpose to create a positive front, the Brotherhood is very eager to recruit good people (celebrities and people in positions where they are admired by the population in general are extremely valuable to recruit) to speak good of the cult and defend it when necessary. And the less those people know about the real agenda, the more truthful this person will sound in his defense of the organization. This also goes for religious cults of any sort, as they too are connected to the network of secret societies in one way or the other.

With time, some of the members (but far from everyone) will enter higher and higher grades within the secret society, until they reach the upper, significant levels. But up there, a very careful selection takes place. Before entering the upper grades in the cult, a Brother of a higher level asks the apprentice to spit on the Christian cross. If the person refuses due to his Christian belief, the higher initiated Brother tells him he did the right thing and has showed his loyalty to his religion. But that person will never be admitted into the highest grades. He will always be met with excuses from the council why he can't continue. On the other hand, if the person does spit on the cross, he is showing his loyalty to the Brotherhood first, and is considered trustworthy enough to be admitted to continue up the grade chart. He will now have access to the "secret libraries", where the wisdom from long gone ages are gathered, and he is allowed to take part of it and the magic rituals. He will be more and more involved in Black Magic/Satanism and prepared for the "Big secrets", which among others are the following:


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1. The secret society is in communication with alien life-forms, which are the real powers behind the society. This may be beings from another dimension, or Satan and his demons - perhaps the two are the same.

2. The purpose with the society is to create a One World Government with them in charge over mankind, but above them in the Hierarchy is the Luciferian, "alien" force.

3. The way to control the masses is through mind control and occult power, used with the intent to manipulate. This also means that the occult idea of reality will be planted into the society through Media, music, Hollywood and otherwise (currently happening on a daily basis).

4. The reward will be power and money, in exchange for selling the soul to the above forces (click here to find out how Black Magic is practiced, written by Manly P. Hall, a famous 33° Freemason). Demons will possess the practitioner and help him accomplish his goals, but the bargain is that the Demon owns his soul after physical death (a high price to pay for "success").


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In 1922 Lucifer's Trust was created in London, but later changed its name to Luci's Trust, as the first name was too obvious. The Trust is non-governmental and officially recognized by the United Nations. It is also an extension of the Theosophical Society, another secret society which influenced Adolf Hitler in developing his doctrine about the Arian Super Race. Luci's Trust is sponsored by among others the occultist Robert McNamara, former minister of Defense in the USA, president of the World Bank, member of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Thomas Watson (IBM, former ambassador in Moscow). Luci's trust sponsors, among others, are the following front organizations: United Nations, Greenpeace Int., Greenpeace USA, Amnesty Int., UNICEF. Luci's Trust has its only "religious" chapel, the Temple of Understanding, where Satanism is practiced, in the UN headquarter in New York[1]. Interesting is the fact that Luci's Trust openly declares that a secretive group of illuminated, New Age notables is now running the planet from behind the scenes.


Manly P. Hall & Albert Pike

Below is proof coming directly from the horse's mouth that Freemasonry is not a Christian organization, in spite of what their lower grade members think, and the higher grade members say. These quotes are taken from the works of Manly P. Hall, who was a famous 33° Freemason, and frequently read especially on the higher echelons of Freemasonry; Albert Pike, the icon of Freemasonry, also he a 33°, who wrote the book "Morals and Dogma"; and a few other significant sources:


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Manly P. Hall:
"Man is a god in the making. And as the mystic myths of Egypt, on the potter's wheel, he is being molded. When his light shines out to lift and preserve all things, he receives the triple crown of godhood." (Manly P. Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 92)
"European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government for the signature of the mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United states of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass of occult and Masonic symbols chief among them, the so-called American Eagle. ... the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalised phoenix..."

"Not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for A PECULIAR AND PARTICULAR PURPOSE known only to the initiated few." (Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, pp. XC and XCI)

* * *

"Masonry makes no profession of Christianity.. but looks forward to the time when the labor of our ancient brethren shall be symbolized by the erection of a spiritual temple.. in which there shall be but one altar and one worship; one common altar of Masonry on which the Veda, Shatra, Sade, Zeda-Avesta, Koran and the Holy Bible shall at who's shrine the Hindu, the Persian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Mohammedan, the Jew and the Christian may kneel."
[ "The Kentucky Monitor" Fellowcraft Degree p. 95 ]

".... the literal meaning (of the Bible) is for the vulgar only."
[Albert Pike "Digest of Morals and Dogma," p. 166 ]

"What is True to the philosopher, would not be truth, nor have the effect of truth, to the peasant. The religion of many must necessarily be more incorrect than that of the refined and reflected few.. The truest religion would in many points , not be comprehended by the ignorant.. The doctrines of the Bible are often not clothed in the language of strict truth, but in that which was fittest to convey to a rude and ignorant people.. the doctrine."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 14th Degree, p. 224 ]

"The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahweh reversed; for Satan is not a black god.. for the initiates this is not a Person, but a force, created for good, but which may serve for evil. It is the instrument of liberty and free will."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," Master Mason / 3rd Degree p. 102 ]

"Masonry is a search for light. That light. That search leads us back, as you see, to the Kabala. In that ancient and little understood (source book) the infinite will find the source of many doctrines; and (he) may in time come to understand the Hermetic philosophers, the Alchemists, all the Anti-papal Thinkers of the Middle Ages, and Emanuel Swedenborg."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 28th Degree p. 741 ]

"All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabala and return to it; everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of the Illuminati, Jacob Boeheme, Swedenborg, Saint Martin, and others is borrowed from the Kabala; all Masonic associations owe to it their secrets and their symbols."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 28th Degree p. 747 ]

"Though Masonry is identical with the ancient Mysteries, it is so only in this qualified sense: that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy, the ruins of their grandeur .."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma Fellowcraft Degree p.22 ]

"Masonry, successor to the Mysteries (Babel, Mythras, Tummuz, Whicka,etc.) still follows the ancient manor of teaching."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma Fellowcraft Degree p.22 ]

"These two divinities (Sun and Moon, Osiris and Isis, etc) were commonly symbolized by the generative parts of a man and a woman; to which in remote ages no idea of indecency was attached ; the Phallus (penis) and the Cteis (vagina), emblems of generation and production, and which, as such appeared in the Mysteries (I believe Masonry is the revival of these). The Indian Lingam was the union of both, as were the boat and mast and the point within the circle." (key Masonic symbols)
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 24th Degree, p. 401 ]

"If your wife child, or friend should ask you anything about your invitation - as for instance, if your clothes were taken off, if you were blind folded, if you had a rope tied around you neck, etc, you must conceal.. hence of course you must deliberately lie about it. It is part of your obligation ..
" [ Ibid p. 74 ]

Question: "what makes you a Freemason ? Answer: My obligation."
[question and answer from the Entered Apprentice/First Degree]

".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea, a cable length from the shore where the tide.."
[ from the oath of obligation Entered Apprentice/First Degree ]

".. binding myself under no less penalty than having my left Breast torn open, my heart plucked out, and given to the beasts of the field and fowls of the air as prey."
[from the oath of obligation , Fellowcraft/Second Degree]

".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken out and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven.."
[ from the oath of obligation, Master Mason / Third Degree ]

" .. in willful violation whereof may I incur the fearful penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to thru center with a three edged blade, my feet flayed and forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile shores of the red sea until the flaming Sun shall strike with a livid plague, and my Allah the god of Arab, Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same."
[ from the oath of obligation, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ] ("Shriners")

"You must conceal all the crimes of your brother Masons... and should you be summoned as a witness against a brother Mason be always sure to shield him.. It may be perjury to do this, it is true, but your keeping your obligations."
[ Ronayne, "Handbook of Masonry" p. 183 ]

"We shall unleash the Nihilists and atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirit will from that moment be without a compass (direction), anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the pure light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."
-Albert Pike, on a plan for world conquest, written in a letter to Mazzini dated August 15, 1871.

"..Thirty-third degree Freemason Albert Pike (1809-1891), the man destined to develop the Luciferian Doctrine for the Masonic hierarchy, could not accept the Lucifer and Satan were the same personality. While teaching his beliefs to a select few in the Supreme Council, Pike became the most powerful Mason in the world. Although an obscure general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, he was hardly inconspicuous in Freemasonry. From 1859 until his death in 1891, Pike occupied simultaneously the positions of Grand Master of the Central Directory at Washington, D.C., Grand Commander of the Supreme Council at Charleston, S.C., and Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry. He was an honorary member of almost every Supreme Council in the world, personally receiving 130 Masonic degrees. Pike also was one of the most physically and morally repulsive individuals in American history. Weighing well over three hundred pounds, his sexual proclivity was to sit naked astride a phallic throne in the woods, accompanied by a gang of prostitutes. To these orgies he would bring one or more wagon loads of food and liquor, most of which he would consume over a period of two days until he passed into a stupor. In his adopted state of Arkansas, Pike was well known as a practitioner of Satanism, Portraits of his later years show him wearing a symbol of the Baphomet around his neck."
-Scarlet and the Beast, John Daniel, vol 1

"Masonry gives rogues and evil-minded characters an opportunity of visiting upon their devoted victim, all the ills attending combined power, when exerted to accomplish destruction. It works unseen, at all silent hours, and secret times and places; and, like death when summoning his diseases, pounces upon its devoted subject, and lays him prostrate in the dust. Like the great enemy of man, it has shown its cloven foot, and put the public upon its guard against its secret machinations."
-CAPT. WM. MORGAN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF MASONRY, 1827.

"Membership of secret societies such as freemasonry can raise suspicions of a lack of impartiality or objectivity. It is therefore important the public know the facts. I think it is the case that the freemasons said they are not a secret society but a society with secrets. I think it is widely accepted that one secret they should not be keeping is who their members are in the criminal justice system."
- Home Secretary Jack Straw, 1997 Home Affairs Committee England

"It is generally agreed that the biggest single influence in the modern expansion of ritual magic, and the occult explosion in general, in the Western world, was the Golden Dawn. This magical fraternity, founded by Freemasons at the end of the 19th century, developed a complex ritual system with ten degrees of initiation relating to the Cabalistic Sephiroth." (World renown witches, Janet and Stewart Farrar, authors of A Witches Bible Complete)
- Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Life and Times of A Modern Witch, Phoenix Publishing Company, p. 121[2].



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The reason good intended people stay members of such destructive organizations is probably because of its non-democratic structure and chain of commands. The lower-grade Brother is not entitled to know what is on the grade above and curiosity drives him into the mystic. Also, the discipline and secrecy is very strict and punishment can be severe if one fails to comply. In this manner the very few evil men at the top can control the many innocent and ignorant people below. It is probably that simple, and of course a basic form of mind control. Any religious cult works in the same manner and has a similar structure.

It was Socrates (an illuminatus) who came up with the idea of Democracy. Personally I am not sure that democracy is the best option for a society. It has always showed to fail, as it requires political involvement from the public, who is supposed to be the real power. Groups of people have shown to be easily manipulated and controlled throughout history and made to believe they live in a democracy when in fact the real power has covertly changed to the favor of the politicians (or rather those who pull the strings on the politicians). The true definition of democracy is when politicians are elected and employed by the people to achieve the needs and goals of common man. The true meaning of Democracy seems to have been buried and forgotten.

The United Nations is nothing else but the World police for the Illuminati, founded to be able to step in and take military control over a country or a region which is countering the Agenda. Don't think it is a coincidence that the Temple of Understanding is positioned in the UN headquarters.

Socialism is the political system the Black Order uses to enslave the people on Earth. The red banner is the private symbol of their biggest sponsors - the Rothschild's - and is actually their family-banner. You can see the red banner swaying from the top of their big mansion. This family has since the 1700's worked on bringing about socialism. The banker Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) was the first member of this family who worked for, and financed it. Today the Rothschild's own the F-U Central bank, but few people know that many of the European Banks were founded by the Rothschild's and owned by them. Central banks is a basic thesis for the upcoming of socialism.

The Rothschild's have invested plenty of money into the Environmental Movement to counter the nuclear-power industry, which wanted to build up its own free energy through nuclear power. National independency and sovereignty are things the Illuminati are up against. And when the oil resources come to an end, the nuclear power will replace the oil, and therefore the Rothschild's have bought 80% of the world assets of Uranium. This way they will have world control over energy, which means it will never be free ...


THE ANTI-CHRIST


Marduk


As a part of the plan is the uprising of a new AntiChrist. The rumor is spread that he already is here. His name is the Maitreya Buddha and has been given publicity since the 70's. He is supposed to be the one written about in the Bible and will officially come as a "man of peace", but will show to be a false Messiah, and when he has convinced the peoples of different religions around the world that he is the one they have been waiting for, he will turn into be an oppressive dictator - the AntiChrist in the Bible. He has been seen together in public with among others the former President of the United States, George Bush Sr. So, are the predictions from the Bible correct? Well, they might be. Personally, I am not convinced that Maitreya is the Antichrist. (Please click here to read more about Maitreya. Be sure to follow all the links ...!)

What makes more sense is that the AntiChrist will be an Anunnaki reincarnated into a human body, possibly the Rothschild or Rockefeller family. If we interpret the Bible differently from what most Christians do, I would suggest that Ea (Enki) is the Biblical Satan, who tempted "Adam and Eve" (symbols for the early homo sapiens) to eat the forbidden fruit, which in its turn is symbolic for having humans initiated in his Secret Society, "Brotherhood of the Snake" [see above], to give them hidden knowledge. Therefore, Satanists claim that Ea (Satan/Lucifer) is good and God (Enlil/Yahweh) is bad, because Enlil/Yahweh wanted to protect the secrets of the Universe as the Anunnaki knew them, from humankind to keep them enslaved, while Ea/Satan wanted to educate them. If we look at it superficially, we might agree to what the Satanists think, but if we only think a little deeper, we realize that it doesn't matter whom we support - Enlil/Yahweh or Ea/Satan - because whomever will be in charge, humankind will be enslaved. This is obvious, if we care to read the Sumerian Scriptures, which pre-date the Bible and are the origins of the Old Testament. Ea/Lucifer/Satan only gives access to this hidden knowledge to a very few "elite", whom he wants to help his son, Marduk, the AntiChrist, to become the CEO of the New World Order and the One World Government. To read more about Marduk, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk.

The following is another quote from Manly P. Hall, 33° Freemason; one of the greatest authorities on secret societies in general, and Freemasonry in particular:


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'There exists in the world today, and has existed for thousands of years, a body of enlightened humans united in what might be termed, an Order of the Quest. It is composed of those whose intellectual and spiritual perceptions have revealed to them that civilization has secret destiny..

The outcome of this 'secret destiny' is a World Order ruled by a King with supernatural powers.

This King was descended of a divine race; that is, he belonged to the Order of the Illumined for those who come to a state of wisdom then belong to a family of heroes-perfected human beings.'

Manly P. Hall 33° Mason, The Secret Destiny of America[2]


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THE BILDERBERGERS

One of the most powerful front groups of the Illuminati, which also works as a secret society in itself, is the Bilderberg Group. This is a group which was created in the beginning of the 50's by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (former SS-officer) and the Polish socialist Joseph Retinger, one of the founders of the European movement. These two persons decided meetings on a regular basis for the European foreign-ministers.

Their first meeting occurred in Hôtel Bilderberg in the Dutch Oosterbreck between the 29-31 of May 1954, thus the name of the group.


The first Bilderberg conference in Oosterbreck, 1954

The core of the group consists of an Elite of people, counted to 39, called the Steering Committee. They are not elected and was originally led by Prince Bernhard, a close friend to the British Crown.

Since 1954, meetings have been arranged at least once a year on different locations every time - very secret. The members are around 120 persons from the high finance circles of Western Europe, the US and Canada. Although the meetings are very hidden and nothing, or very little leaks to the international media (which is natural, as most of the Media Moguls are Bilderbergers; so much for free press), the independent news-magazine "Spotlight" has been able to report from the meetings. The reporters have successfully been able to hide listening devices in certain areas, so some of the information around the meetings can be exposed to the public.

Invited are also political leaders from different countries. Their flight-tickets are paid by the Committee, and there is free food and drinks etc. The purpose of the group is a World Government by the year 2012 and a global army through the UN. The take-over is partly planned to involve computers. Bill Gates, connected with the Illuminati and the Director of Microsoft, has been reported to have a satanic lodge inside the huge Microsoft Headquarters building.

The Bilderberg Group is also called the "invisible world government". Because of the character of the meetings it is clearly bribery on the behalf of the politicians who are taking part. Here they are suggested to betray their own countries by selling out their sovereign states to the EU by deceiving their own people ... This is what many of our elected politicians secretly are doing behind our backs - it is High Treason.



THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION



David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Trilateral Commission (click here for membership list), officially founded in June 1973[3] by David Rockefeller (Illuminati) and Zbigniew Brzezinski (Illuminati), was created because the already established organizations, like the UN, were too slow in establishing a World Government. This commission consists of the industrial and commercial giants of the "trilateral nations"; USA, Japan and Western Europe. The members all are of the Elite, coming from different branches of Freemasonry world-wide to give the Bilderbergers a broader political basis. The 200 members are permanent and in this case different from the Bilderbergers, who are invited, except for the Steering Committee.

The Trilateral Commission controls through the CFR members (see below) the whole U.S. economy, politics, military, oil, energy and media lobbies. The members are chairmen of different companies, bankers, real estate agents, economists, scientists, lawyers, publishers, politicians, union leaders, presidents of Foundations and newspaper columnists.

If you still don't believe that these people want a World Government and destroy America and sovereignty in general, please read David Rockefeller's Biography, Memoirs [2002]. In this book he says, among a lot of other interesting things:




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"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it [my emphasis]."


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THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS (CFR)

This semi-secret organization was established in 1971 and the members of this secret society are exclusively Americans and Canadians. Today the CFR[4] holds a tight control over the countries of the Western World, with help from sister-organizations and its mother-organization in Britain, the "Royal Institute of International Affairs" (RIIA), with Queen Elisabeth II at the top, her being one of the top Illuminatus on Earth. The CFR is in its turn controlled by the Rockefellers and also works for a Global Government. The inner core is the dark Order of Skull & Bones, where George HW Bush and George W Bush. are members, as well as John Kerry, the two latter both admitting to it in interviews. Just click on their names, respectively, and watch the video clips for proof.


THE COMMITTEE OF 300


The Committee of 300, by Dr. John Coleman

This is a very old secret society, founded in 1729 by the Black Nobility[5] through the British East India Company to deal with international banking and trade problems and to support the opium trade. It is run by the British Crown. It comprises the whole world banking system and the most important representatives of Western nations. Through the Committee of 300, all banks are linked to the Rothschild's. The Committee is a very important part of the Illuminati, and is placed high up in the Political Pyramid. Dr. John Coleman wrote a book called: 'Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300'[6], which extensively explains the connection. It also includes a list of the 21 main targets of the Illuminati and the Committee of 300[7].


Interview With An Ex-Vampire



"This is a true story. Bill Schoebelen has been high up in the hierarchy of almost EVERY prominent secret society, and been deeply involved in the darkest of the darkest of the occult. He once was a true Satanist and a REAL vampire, totally addicted to blood, until he managed to break out about 20 years ago .

This is a 9 HOUR interview, and I guarantee you I could not stop watching! I intended to watch one DVD per night, but couldn't stop until I had watched 6 of them in a row. The night after that I watched the last 3. Amazing guy with astonishing information! Click on the DVD cover above and find out how you can order the 9 set DVD interview with Bill Schoebelen. I highly recommend them!" Wes Penre, Illuminati News



GOOD NEWS!!!

You can now download the FIRST HOUR OF "INTERVIEW WITH AN EX-VAMPIRE" for ONLY 99¢!!!

Please click here and follow the link under "Order/Contact Info" to find out more!








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Footnotes:

[1] Source: Police High school Library, Satanism, A 205 Basic Course II police High school autumn 1991; authors: Ingela Göransson and Lena Martinsson, Sweden.

[2] Quotes borrowed from the following source: http://www.conspiracyarchive.com

[3] The Trilateral Commission was in fact secretly founded in 1972, not in 1973.

[4] An excellent reference is James Perloff's book: "The Shadows of Power" which can be ordered from www.amazon.com .

[5] Good references on the Black Nobility: http://reactor-core.org/black-nobility.html; http://www.sdnl.nl/shimura/blacknoble.html.

[6] The book can be ordered directly from Mr. Coleman by calling his office, or write to him: 1 (800) 942-0821, W.I.R., 2533 North Carson St., Suite J-118, Carson City, NV 89706.

[7] This list is published online with the author's permission: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/300.htm.


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Bibliography:

Baddeley, Brian: Lucifer Rising

Bramley, William: The Gods of Eden

Coleman, John: Conspirator's Hierarchy: The Committee of 300

Cooper, William: Behold a pale horse

Helsing, Jan van: Secret societies and Their Influence in the 20th Century

Icke, David: And the truth shall set you free; The Biggest Secret

Perloff, James: The Shadows of Power

Sitchin, Zacharia: The Twelfth Planet

Springmeier, Fritz: Bloodlines of the Illuminati

Sutton, Antony C.: America's Secret Establishment

Different documents, magazines, books, and the Internet

Interviews with Mind Control Survivors and former occultists.


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Wes Penre is the owner of the domain Illuminati News and the publisher of the same. Please also check out his MySpace website: http://www.myspace.com/wespenre.


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This page may contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.



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Vatican Corruption — Book Overviews
http://www.trosch.org/bks/rvw/supporting-bks.html

Printer-Friendly Financial Assistance Requested


Vatican Corruption — Book Overviews
Index with Linked Excerpts
The first seven books listed below, in association with existing
web pages, form the foundation for the following assertions:

Infiltration, Corruption, and the taking Control of the Catholic Church by Freemasons.
Masonic initiates have been recruited from among the multitude of Homosexuals
in Roman Seminaries and from Effeminate Clerics in Vatican offices.
Most current Cardinals and Bishops have been appointed by the authority of Pope John Paul II.

Let us pray: God named Simon bar Jonah Rock and made him head of the visible Church. Peter was to be the solid foundation upon which unity in the one true faith would rest.
O God, Give us moral successors to Peter that will defend us against being deceived, even as was done with Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Let us have faithful vicars to keep Your Word safe from Satan's false teachers. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
P - May the Divine assistance always remain with us.
- And may all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.



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Osama bin Laden (if he is not already a dupe for the Freemasons), al Qaeda, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization – Yasar Arafat, an off-limits person), the IRA (Irish Republican Army), other terrorist organizations, and also individuals acting in opposition to legalized abortion (murder of the most innocent – the unborn), while perhaps in some degree to be of good intent –but often misdirected– may be looking at the wrong enemies. The book overviews given below, and linked to excerpts, clearly illustrate –when intellectually combined– the strong influence and even control by Freemasons of much of what is taking place and has taken place throughout the world. Conflicts profit Freemasonry financially and foster their goals of world control.

Freemasonry is a self-serving secret organization that has at its higher levels the full intent to control the world, largely in association with religion. Contrary to the opinion of many, even at the Blue Lodge levels (the first three stages of Freemasonry), it is not a Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or Hindu organization. It is a conglomerate of all religious beliefs including Satanism. It is a Luciferian worshipping organization bent on domination of the world.

Freemasonry has become a religion unto itself with developed rituals that omit reference to particular beliefs and focusing upon an indifferent god called The Great Architect of the Universe (GAOTU). For instance, one may not pray in the name of "Jesus." If a Christian lodge does so, and it is reported to the grand lodge, it can be closed. Nor, supposedly, can one pray to Allah or in the name of any other god or goddess—though pagan gods are often symbolized.

Benevolence is not a goal of Freemasonry. Benevolence is a method of mollification used to promote goodwill for an organization that through prior criminal activity had lost its public esteem. The development of the Shriners and Masonic charitable organizations –no matter how good the charitable works they do– are used to enhance the image of Freemasonry — a major arm of the Illuminati and associated organizations.

Its secret oaths bind its members to come to the aid of a brother, to lie when necessary, to protect a brother even if he has committed a great criminal act. Masonic judges are bound to set their brothers free should it at all be possible or at least to give them the lightest sentence applicable to the crimes committed. Police officials will not arrest or at least will do whatever they can to protect fellow Freemasons. Keep in mind that the higher the rank in civil government, police agencies, and in the military the more likely it is that the person is a Freemason. They see to the promotion of their own members.

Prime ministers and other civil government leaders are bound to pardon or otherwise set free Freemasons, including war criminals, when deemed opportune. When a Freemason is in need, or the opportunity avails itself, government benefits are showered upon him. Government contracts are awarded to fellow Freemasons. Among qualified astronauts a Freemason is apt to be selected. Revolutions, Rebellions, World Wars, and World Organizations (example: League of Nations) are often associated with or even fomented by Freemasons.

Collusion among Freemasons is rampant in society, government, and religion of all faiths. Muslims, Jewish, Catholics and others cooperate when it is to their advantage to do so and will even finance each other when it is profitable or serves Masonic goals. Prisoners of War who are Freemasons are given special treatment by captor Freemasons. Injustices in regard to non Freemasons by Freemasons are commonly overlooked. It must be kept in mind that Masonic oaths and their other practices are self-serving. They are not favorable to non-members who are seen as pawns to be either used (canon fodder) or disposed of at will.

Discrimination by Freemasons is required. No one can be a Freemason who is not a person of status, does not have quality of looks, is a negro, is not physically sound, is not above average in intelligence, or is not of financial worth. Higher levels of Freemasonry require one to be of greater wealth and have a home of substantial value. Being willing to entertain has added value in this hedonistic society with a focus upon sex worship at its highest levels.

The papacy seems to currently meet all of the requirements of Freemasonry. World religions are dealt with as much as possible as equals—without blowing the Masonic cover. It has been involved with financial scandals. Cardinals and bishops are a highly protected species. Homosexual priests –including the madonnos– are of course protected by their sexual companions. In the United States alone this protectionism has cost the Catholic Church over a Billion dollars with the amount still rapidly increasing.

Osama ben Laden and others would do well to look at Freemasonry as the source of injustice and other evils in the world. Unfocused terrorism in the long term benefits only those who profit by conflicts. Freemasons control much of the world's wealth. They are the ones who benefit from wars. They are the ones who benefit from oil production, control of mining and industry. Keep in mind that the poor are no more than stepping stones for wealthy Freemasons. Whether one is a pope, prime minister, sheik, rabbi, tycoon, or mafioso one is in an elitist group when a part of Freemasonry. Such a person truly cares only about himself and other Freemasons.
Exposure of Freemasonry and individual Freemasons is a must if their evil goals are to be thwarted. Lists of Freemasons may be compiled by photographing members as they enter or leave meetings. Their meeting halls are well publicized in phone directories in the United States, and places of meeting elsewhere in the world can be easily found. Memberships in the Rotary and Lions Clubs can also lead to Masonic meeting locations. — Freemasons themselves realize that the loss of secrecy will eventually bring about their dissolution.

To get complete information concerning Freemasonry it may be beneficial to infiltrate Masonic Lodges, even to the Grand Lodge level. (One should be aware in advance of the oaths, rituals, and requirements of Freemasonry. True Christians do not take oaths that compromise their faith. Converting someone who is presently a high ranking Mason would be very advantageous.) That one may not be caught up in any subsequent actions relating to Freemasonry one should make periodic reports to one or more trusted persons who can certify your activities if the need arises. A trustworthy religious leader of any non-Satanic religion may be one's best choice. NOTE: the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons (AKA: Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints) and their offshoot organizations have their origins in Freemasonry (Luciferianism). Their religious leaders should not be considered trustworthy.


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Freemasonry in the Vatican by Vicomte Léon de Poncins — 1968 A.D.
From Back Cover — WHEREAS before the war it was little known or discussed, Freemasonry today commands an ever-growing and informed audience which has called forth much serious literature and has even provoked television documentary films which have aroused widespread interest.

Freemasonry and the Vatican is the latest book dealing with an entirely new phase in the orientation of Masonry in the modern world. There is at present in Catholic circles a constant, subtle and determined campaign in favour of Freemasonry. It is directed by the progressive element which is currently enjoying a great influence in French and American Church circles and beginning to show its hand in England too. Its avowed object is to obtain from the Vatican the revision or even annulment of the various condemnations pronounced by the Popes upon the Craft since 1738. This element consists of a number of priests, including a Jesuit, Editors of Catholic newspapers and several writers of note.
In this new work, Vicomte de Poncins emphatically reinforces the Church's condemnations of Freemasonry, which, as he shows, have been renewed more than six times since the Second World War and he quotes from authoritative Masonic documents, hitherto unknown to the English reader. Although the author is mainly concerned with Grand Orient Freemasonry, he treats in some detail the question of Masonic Regularity and Irregularity and the oft-disputed relationship of the Anglo-Saxon with the Grand Orient Obediences, and brings to light startling and valuable new evidence on the origins of Anderson's Constitutions and the Grand Lodge of England.
The most important part of the book is concerned with Freemasonry's relationship with politics and in particular its connection, often quite unconscious, with Communism. The author shows the peculiar and disturbing nature of this role in the light of the highest Masonic authorities, and reveals its activity in the French Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War, the Cartel des Gauches in France in 1924 and then in the Spanish Civil War.
Freemasonry and the Vatican reveals for the first time that it was the Grand Orient Freemason, Dr. Benes of Czechoslovakia, who influenced the Masonic President Roosevelt to place blind faith in Stalin with the disastrous results to Christian civilisation now known to the World. The reader will be appalled at the extent to which secret and Masonic forces influenced such conferences as that at Yalta and are operating in international politics at the present time. Vicomte de Poncins quotes in full a document discovered by the Spanish Government-known as the 'Zabrousky Letter,' and written by Roosevelt to the Jewish liaison officer between himself and Stalin. Written in 1943, it reveals how Roosevelt declared his intention of abandoning virtually the whole of Europe and Asia to the Soviets.
Problems as profound as these are not readily capable of solution, and it is a mark of the author's success, that throughout the forty years he has studied them, the documents and authorities on which his conclusions are based have never been challenged and that he himself has won world wide renown for the penetrating depth of his knowledge. Freemasonry and the Vatican is his latest and perhaps the most brilliant and comprehensive study he has written.
Excerpts: Freemasonry and the Vatican

THE FINAL CONCLAVE by Malachi Martin — 1978 A.D.

Behind the closed doors of Conclave 82, a handful of robed men meet and debate. Some are ruthless politicians, some conspirators, some holy men. All are heirs to the accumulated corruption and directors of a multinational conglomerate with a collateral wealth of over two trillion dollars. These Cardinals will select the next Pope.

A Crisis of Truth by Ralph Martin — 1982 A.D. Symptoms of the crisis gain attention and cause anger and scandal. Seminary professors publish books and articles condoning adultery, fornication, and other sexual sins. A scripture scholar equates Hindu religious writings with the Christian Bible. Catholics form groups to promote abortion and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle.


The Deadly Deception by Jim Shaw & Tom McKenney — 1988 A.D.

Most of us see only the exterior of the building, usually an unattractive, forbidding exterior with a locked door and no windows. It is a grim fortress of mystery, saying to the rest of the world, "Stay away ... your profane eyes and ears may not see or hear what we do in here." Behind that door are men you know and see regularly, many of them good men, some of them Christians, and all of them victims ... victims of a deadly deception.
Through that door unsuspecting men step, blindfolded, into a vast and powerful system which will control their lives, to varying degrees, from that moment on. The vast majority will never proceed beyond the local lodge. A small minority will "go higher" into the degrees of the York and Scottish Rite. And, within this small minority, only a committed few will take it all seriously, studying and learning, making the endless search for "light" the center of their lives. Jim Shaw was such a man.
Totally committed to Freemasonry and its lessons in morality and religion, Jim went quickly to the top, not only winning Masonry's highest honors, but in record time. There, at the top of the Masonic mountain and thinking he already had everything he needed, he found the light of the world and was set free.
Now you can come, with Jim as your guide, behind that locked door. See for yourself this deadly deception which is victimizing multitudes of sincere men even as you read these words. Come inside the secret place, see for yourself what really happens in there, and learn what the participants never learn ... its true meaning. Excerpts: The Deadly Deception
From Shroud of Secrecy — 2000 A.D.: the story of corruption within the Vatican.
Published in Italy in 1999 under the title Via col vento in Vaticano by the Millenari.

The measure of any critical work is the extent to which it is willing to question the status quo and suggest serious reform.
Without subtlety and compromise, this work denounces the practices of the Vatican and attempts to cleanse what has become a festering wound. . . .
In the humblest of voices, this book exposes how those at the heart of the house of God have failed to follow the words and obey the Gospel, and how the hierarchy and politics of the Catholic Church must undergo reform and renewal.
Fly Leaf — Shroud of Secrecy offers an insider's account of intrigue, sex, and corruption within the Vatican. It is the first treatise of written protest from within the Church since 1517, when Martin Luther posted his historic 95 theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Written by a small group of Vatican prelates who call themselves the Millenari, its publication breaks a code of silence that has allowed impropriety and hypocrisy within the Catholic Church to flourish.

The Millenari's main concerns are rampant careerism within the Vatican hierarchy, a secretive and corrupt selection process for bishops, Freemasonry within the Vatican walls, and the lack of an employee union. Their charges are supported by extensive anecdotes. Consider the priest who smuggled a suitcase of cash into Switzerland; the priest who was married by Papal sanction to the sister of a Vatican official and then boasted about his access to secure information; the priest who engaged in homosexual acts and was moved and promoted to cover up the scandal.
T H E M I L L E N A R I are a group of Vatican prelates who wish to remain anonymous due to their fear of repercussions from this book's publication. The only author to come forward is 72-year-old retired Vatican prelate Monsignor Luigi Marinelli [ mysteriously now dead ]. Marinelli worked for many years in the Vatican department of the Congregation of Eastern Churches. He was recruited to the writing team by an unnamed Vatican official who had heard Marinelli criticize the inner workings of the Vatican. Excerpts: Shroud of Secrecy
The Changing Face of the Priesthood by Donald B. Cozzens — 2000 A.D.

The priesthood is in a state of crisis. 60% of the students of one seminary identified themselves as gay and 20% were confused about their sexual identity. About 20,000 priests have left the priesthood, most in order to marry. The number of "gays" has proportionately increased.

Goodbye! Good Men by Michael S. Rose — 2002 A.D.
Q. Why did Archbishop Curtiss charge that the priest shortage was "artificial and contrived?"
A. The very officials who are responsible for promoting and fostering vocations to the priesthood in the Catholic Church have been turning away qualified candidates for decades!

In this explosive new book, investigative reporter Michael S. Rose reveals how deliberate discrimination against traditional, or "orthodox," men has been effected by well-placed ideologues who want to change the Catholic Church in America to suit their personal tastes and politics. Also find out:
How seminary "gay subculture" and its "heterophobia" drive away healthy heterosexual men
How traditional expressions of the faith and acceptance of the Church's teachings often disqualify a candidate
How psychological counseling is unethically used to expel healthy men from their seminary
Why orthodoxy begets vocations

How to eliminate the "vocations crisis" and put an end to the priest shortage Excerpts
"Few books in the past 30 years have shed more light
on the continuing crisis in the Church."
James Hitchcock – Author, The Pope and the Jesuits
"Goodbye! Good Men has the shocking answers!"
Rod Dreher – National Review

Roman Catholic Faithful – A leader among organizations opposing homosexuality in the priesthood –often including bishops– and other liberal undertakings now open and prevalent throughout today's very liberal Catholic Church. Knowledgeable Catholics accept that corruption in the Church has been around since day one. This is not really new as corruption existed in the predecessor Jewish religion now defunct in the sight of God.



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Facts Concerning Pope John Paul II's
World Church that Fits All Beliefs
Following in the Footsteps of Pope John Paul II Archbishop Lipscomb's Friends



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The Church Impotent The Feminization of Christianity by Leon J. Podles — 1999 A.D.


Under Development
Excerpts


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Death Penalty – Index Pope & Bishops – Index
Freemason – Index Homosexual – Index Feminism – Index



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Suffering in Hell Relating to God God is Love
Entry Page HOME Site Map E-MAIL: Editor



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Postado por Pour toi Tarkan... mon amour... às 07:41 0 comentários



Opus Dei And The Da Vinci Code
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/journals/J2902/index.php


Opus Dei
And The Da Vinci Code
Part i
By Lee Penn

SCP JOURNAL 29:2-29:3
















The Da Vinci Code


an Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, has given worldwide notoriety to an influential, growing Roman Catholic religious movement: Opus Dei (which means "the work of God"). Is it true, as Brown claims, that Opus Dei is a powerful, ruthless, secret cult within the Catholic Church?
Brown begins his novel with a tantalizing promise: that his tale is solidly based on facts. The novel's first page says: "Fact: The Priory of Sion--a European secret society founded in 1099--is a real organization. ... The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification.' Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."1
Immediately thereafter, the action begins: Silas, an albino monk from Opus Dei, attacks a Louvre curator (a member of the Priory of Sion) in order to get the secret location of the Holy Grail--a treasure that would make the head of Opus Dei "the most powerful man in Christendom."2 The monk then shoots the curator in the stomach, and says these parting words to the fatally wounded occultist: "Pain is good, monsieur."3 Having murdered four people so far that night, Silas returns to his Opus Dei dormitory to do penance for his sins.
Brown's tale highlights the hypocrisy and twisted sensuality of this fictional zealot: "When Silas hung up the phone, his skin tingled with anticipation. ... I must purge my soul of today's sins. The sins committed today had been holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured. Even so, Silas knew, absolution required sacrifice. Pulling his shades, he stripped naked and knelt in the center of the room. Looking down, he examined the spiked cilice belt clamped around his thigh. All true followers of The Way wore this device--a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ's suffering. The pain caused by the device also helped counteract the desires of the flesh. ... Exhaling softly, he savored the cleansing ritual of his pain. Pain is good, Silas whispered, repeating the sacred mantra of Father Josemaría Escrivá--the Teacher of all Teachers. ... Silas turned his attention now to a heavy knotted rope coiled neatly on the floor beside him. The Discipline. The knots were caked with dried blood. Eager for the purifying effects of his own agony, Silas said a quick prayer. ... He whipped it over his shoulder again, slashing at his flesh. Again and again, he lashed. Castigo corpus meum. Finally, he felt the blood begin to flow."4 After this sacrifice, Silas puts on his hooded monastic robe and heads out to his next errand, during which he will beat a liberal nun to death with a candle stand from the altar of the Church of Saint-Sulpice.5
Throughout the rest of the book, Brown sets out his allegations against Opus Dei: its wealth and global influence, the coincidence between its billion-dollar gift to the Vatican's "bank" (the Institute for Religious Works) and its recognition in 1982 by Pope John Paul II as a "personal prelature," the hasty canonization of Escrivá (the founder of Opus Dei), the cult's secretiv eness and deceptive recruitment practices, its $47 million headquarters in New York City, its discrimination against women, its bishops with a queer taste for jewels and religious finery, and the damaging espionage by Robert Hanssen (a devout Opus Dei member) on behalf of the Soviet Union. Brown also advises readers of a real organization, the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN), an anti-cult/survivor group. Brown even provides readers the ODAN web address, www.odan.org.6
Along with his brief against Opus Dei, Brown offers an anti-Christian revision of the last 2000 years of history. As he tells it, the early Church followed Christ as a moral leader, but did not worship him as the Son of God. Only by a vote at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did the Church recognize the divinity of Christ. It was the Roman emperor Constantine, a pagan, who directed what was to go in the Bible, and what was to be suppressed. In came patriarchy, guilt, and oppression; out went the true (Gnostic) gospels, equality and the "divine feminine." The hidden secret of the Holy Grail, according to Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, fathered a child, and that their descendants became the Merovingian kings of France. This royal blood line persists, in deepest secrecy, to this day.
At the end, Brown's feminist Gnostics win their battle. The novel concludes with one of its heroes worshipping on his knees at the tomb of Mary Magdalene, beneath the inverted glass pyramid at the Louvre. The book's last sentences describe the devotee's rapture: "For a moment, he thought he heard a woman's voice . . . the wisdom of the ages . . . whispering up from the chasms of the earth."7 Meanwhile, Opus Dei's murderous monk Silas is dead, and its money-loving bishop had to confess his part in the crimes to the police. Furthermore, the cult faces suppression by the Catholic Church, under the direction of a liberal Pope. It turns out that Opus Dei's death-dealing quest for the Grail secret was done under the covert direction of the Priory of Sion, itself the custodian of the treasured knowledge. With cunning, and by playing on the fear and power-lust of the head of Opus Dei, the Priory had "implicated Opus Dei in the plot that would soon bring about the demise of the entire Church."8
The Da Vinci Code is a novel for our times, a clever fantasy that appeals to those who are ignorant of (and nevertheless resent) Christian teaching. The Code's account of Jewish and Christian history contains many easily refuted errors. Jews did not believe that the male God resided with "Shekinah," his female consort, inside the Holy of Holies. Christians worshipped Jesus as the Son of God from the time of the Resurrection; this belief was not the result of a "relatively close vote" 9 in the Council of Nicaea. Jesus did not marry, have children, and begin a hidden royal dynasty. The Templars were orthodox Catholics, not covert devotees of "sacred sex" and the "divine feminine." The proto-Masonic Priory of Sion described by Brown is not a secret society dating back to 1099; it is a hoax perpetrated by a French charlatan in the mid-1950s.10
Is Brown's criticism of Opus Dei any more reliable than his comic-book version of Christian theology and Church history?
Here, the story becomes complicated. On the one hand, some of Brown's charges about the movement are correct. As this article will show, Opus Dei fully deserves its reputation as a cult within the Catholic Church. Members of the cult's inner circle, the numeraries, do indeed punish themselves with the whip and the cilice. However, Brown's truthful accusations against the movement are mixed with glaring errors. Opus Dei is not a religious order. It has no monks--especially, none who wear hooded habits. Opus Dei seeks its leaders among the social and intellectual elite; it is most unlikely that an escaped convict (such as Brown's "Silas") would be taken with open arms into the inner circle of the movement.
Brown offers his truths and falsehoods about Opus Dei within a novel that attacks the Christian faith at its roots. Therefore, most traditionally minded Christians who read The Da Vinci Code may be prone to reject all of the criticisms of Opus Dei as lies, just as they (rightly) reject Brown's false accounts of Christian history and doctrine. One axiom of marketing is, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." With the publication of The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei is now known to more than 18 million readers worldwide.11 When the film version of Brown's book is released next year, millions more will learn of the movement. That's a lot of free advertising, and the kind of ad that may make conservative readers in all confessions say, "if that liberal idiot Brown is criticizing Opus Dei, they can't be all bad. Indeed, they might be just what the Church needs now."
Could it be that Brown has performed a service to Opus Dei, knowingly or otherwise?12 Could this explain why Brown acknowledges getting "generous assistance" from--among others--"three active"13 members of Opus Dei? Opus Dei member Bernardo Estrada, who teaches the New Testament in Rome, took a calm view of the book in an interview with the Washington Post: "Anyone with a historical and religious base can refute it. I rather liked it, it's a good thriller."14 In early 2005, the British press spokesman for Opus Dei said, "Ten million people have now heard of Opus Dei thanks to The Da Vinci Code. That can only be a good thing--2005 is going to be the year of Opus Dei."15
The Da Vinci Code's Italian publisher, Mondadori, was founded by a man who was "an admirer of Opus Dei."16 In 1994, the same publisher had released a Papal best-seller--Crossing the Threshold of Hope, an extended interview done by a pro-Opus journalist. Mondadori also has published a "big print-run edition" of Escrivá's The Way.17
Opus Dei is giving "exclusive access" 18 to Great Projects Film Company and to the distributor CABLEready to produce a TV program about the movement, "Decoding Opus Dei." It will be released in May 2006, "in conjunction with the worldwide premiere of Ron Howard's feature film based on the novel and starring Tom Hanks."19 The TV producer from Great Projects says, "Thanks to the access we've received from the group, we'll be able to provide viewers with a fair and honest account of the organization."20 Churchmen can advertise, just as businessmen can; churchmen have known about the dialectics of propaganda, mass movements, social change and political power long before these techniques were taken up by Marxists.
At this point, we can leave behind Dan Brown (and his confusing alloy of truth, exaggerations, and falsehoods about Opus Dei), and set forth the facts about this fast-growing, influential new religious movement.21

Just the facts about "The Way"
Fr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-1975) founded Opus Dei in Madrid, Spain on October 2, 1928, in response to what his followers call a "celestial vision."22 On that day, according to the biography prepared for his beatification, Escrivá was on a religious retreat in Madrid, and "God saw fit to illuminate him; he saw Opus Dei, as God wanted it, and as it would have to be, over the course of centuries."23
The movement was initially all-male, but began admitting women in 1930. The world headquarters is in Rome; it "has no religious name, nor has it been placed under the protection of some saint or title of Mary, as is customary for Catholic orders, congregations, and institutions."24
As of 2004, Opus Dei had 84,541 members, including 1,875 priests (2.2% of the total).25 This represented an increase of 13% from the 1991 total membership of 74,710. The number of Opus Dei priests grew 35% from the 1991 level,26 during a period in which the total number of Catholic priests worldwide was virtually unchanged.27 (These priests, members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, are selected and trained from among the laymen in Opus Dei.) Another 2,000 diocesan priests are associated with the movement.28
More than half of all Opus Dei members, about 49,000, are in continental Europe; there are about 26,000 in Latin America, about 5,000 in Asia and the Pacific islands, and about 1,600 in Africa.29 Opus Dei is "established" now in 60 countries, and says that in the last decade, it became active in Croatia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Uganda.30 As soon as Communism fell, Opus Dei opened its "pastoral centers" in Poland, and supplied funds and staff to "help establish an effective Roman Catholic Church" in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic.31
There are 3,000 Opus Dei members in the US.32 The movement has been in this country since 1949, and has centers in 14 states, with "activities in many other states."33 In the US, there is one Opus Dei college (Lexington College, "the only all-women's college of hospitality management in the United States"34), 5 high schools, 60 centers for retreats and spiritual formation, and many tutoring programs for high school and college students.35 Forbes magazine reports that the movement can "easily raise $49 million or so every year in this country"36--which works out to a fundraising yield of $16,000 per American Opus Dei member per year. Opus Dei in Britain has about 520 members, and a net worth of about 20 million British pounds37--in dollar terms, about $35.4 million, or $68,000 per member.
There are different levels of membership in Opus Dei. Prospective members ask to join Opus Dei, and make a mutual commitment--in writing--with the movement. This may be an annual contract, or--after at least five such renewals--a lifetime agreement, the "fidelity." An Opus Dei book says that "the Opus Dei faithful bind themselves to put into practice the ascetical, formative, and apostolic commitments specified in the Prelature's own statutes, to fulfill the disciplinary norms regulating Opus Dei's life," and to support themselves, their families, and the movement through their own profession.38
* At the top are the numeraries, lay men and women who live in separate sections of Opus Dei houses, hold jobs in the secular world, and are celibate. (As Escrivá said in The Way, "Marriage is for the rank and file, not for the officers of Christ's army."39) They turn over most of their salaries, administration of their property, and their wills to the movement.40 About 20% of Opus Dei members are numeraries. One qualification for this membership level is having, or showing the ability to obtain, a doctoral degree.41
In addition to their jobs, members have religious tasks: daily attendance at Mass, a half hour of mental prayer in the morning and again at night, daily spiritual reading (including the New Testament and other movement-approved books), daily recital of the Rosary, a nightly examination of conscience, a day per month of spiritual retreat, and an annual retreat of several days.42
* Women numerary assistants are responsible for housekeeping in Opus Dei centers.43 Of their work, Escrivá said, "the work of one of my daughters in Opus Dei who works in domestic employment is just as important as that of one who has a title. In either case all I am concerned about is that the work they do should be a means and an occasion for personal sanctification and the sanctification of their neighbor."44
Associates, about 10% of the membership, are celibate and live outside the movement's centers.
Supernumeraries, about 70% of Opus Dei members, are men and women who live on their own, pursue their own careers, and center their religious life on the movement. Most are married.
In addition, there are "tens of thousands" of cooperators who support the movement with prayer, money, and time.45 Since 1950, Opus Dei has allowed non-Catholics--and, indeed, non-Christians--to be cooperators. A pro-Opus Dei journalist says, "Opus Dei is the first institution in the Church that calls for the organized collaboration of non-Catholics, non-Christians, agnostics, and atheists."46
Since 1982, Opus Dei has been a personal prelature, the only such Catholic organization. A personal prelature is like a global diocese, a semi-autonomous "church within the Church." Opus Dei members are under the spiritual direction of the head of the prelature, rather than of the bishop of the diocese where they live. With this structure, the movement can promote its "distinctive spirituality and more effectively deploy its priests across national and diocesan boundaries"47--and can do so without interference from local bishops. Opus Dei is governed worldwide from Rome by its Prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarría. The head of the movement in the US, the Very Rev. Thomas Bohlin, reports to the Prelate,48 who reports to Congregation of Bishops--a Vatican department that reports to the Pope.
Opus Dei says that it aims "to help people live by the Gospel in their daily activities and make Christ present in every endeavor. Opus Dei focuses on work and daily life as an occasion for spiritual growth and an opportunity to contribute to a better world. Opus Dei also emphasizes divine filiation, unity of life, prayer and sacrifice, charity, apostolate, and fidelity to the Pope."49 (Divine filiation is confident awareness of being a child of God.)
The movement explains, "The chief activity of people in Opus Dei is personal effort to grow in holiness, be apostolic, and improve society. In support of these efforts, Opus Dei provides spiritual direction, prayer and study circles, evenings of recollection, retreats, classes, and workshops. These activities take place in an Opus Dei center, or in a church, office or private home. People in Opus Dei also join with each other and non-members in organizing educational, charitable, and cultural activities, which frequently include spiritual formation carried out by Opus Dei. Examples in the United States include The Heights and Oakcrest schools near Washington, D.C., and the Metro and Midtown Achievement Programs for inner-city youth in Chicago."50 The movement sponsors universities in Rome, Spain (most notably, the University of Navarre), and Latin America, and enjoys "prodigious success in fund-raising for its works."51
Fr. McCloskey, an Opus Dei priest who has brought several prominent politicians and media stars into the Catholic Church, offered a 12-point program for spiritual growth for the well-off. It included these points: "Live modestly, given your wealth and position. ... Give and give generously--now--following the suggestion of Mother Teresa: 'Give until it hurts.' ... Leave very little money to your children. .... Have a big family; you can afford it! ... Throw out or give away what you don't need. ... Live order and neatness in the care of material items. ... Avoid impulse buying, whims, and caprices. ... Avoid occasions of sin, remote or proximate, in respect to buying and shopping ... Make time for at least one corporal work of mercy each week ... Follow the Way of the Cross and meditate often on our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. ... Make poverty, detachment, and generosity a regular topic in your sacramental confession and spiritual direction."52 This advice seems to combine St. Francis with Benjamin Franklin.
When its goals and works are described thus, Opus Dei seems to be a benign organization, one that any faithful Christian could accept. However, the movement and its followers apply these principles in ways that have nothing to do with Gospel teaching. In this respect, the stated goals of Opus Dei are akin to the Charter of the United Religions Initiative--glittering generalities that can be interpreted by the movement's leaders and allies as they wish, in furtherance of their own religio-political agenda.

A Rising power in the Catholic Church

The power of Opus Dei is growing in the Vatican and in the Catholic Church worldwide.
There are now two Opus Dei cardinals: Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima Peru (since 2001), and Julián Herranz Casado, the president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (since 2003).53 The movement's supporters are rising in the congregations of the Curia, while opponents are marginalized or made to retire.54 As John Allen noted, "Opus Dei does seem disproportionately represented in the Roman curia" for an organization of its size.55
There are 18 active Opus Dei bishops worldwide: the movement's own prelate, 1 in Africa, 3 in Europe, and 12 in Latin America.56 The US now has one Opus Dei bishop--José H. Gómez, Archbishop of San Antonio, formerly the president of the National Association of Hispanic Priests and vicar of Opus Dei in Texas.57 Of the 18 bishops, 13 were consecrated in 1990 or later58--further evidence of a rising Opus Dei presence in the Catholic Church. Other hierarchs who are not members--Cardinal George Pell of Australia,59 among many others--approve of the movement.
The founder of Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá, was canonized (declared to be a saint) by John Paul II in October 2002. The Pope described him as "the saint of ordinary life,"60 and said that Escrivá's message was "to raise the world to God and transform it from within ... spread in society, without distinction of race, class, culture, or age, the awareness that we are called to holiness ... force yourselves to be saints, cultivating an evangelical style of humility and service."61 On the day after the canonization, John Paul II said Escrivá taught that "we are in the world to save it with Christ. ... This saintly priest taught that Christ must be the apex of all human activity. ... His message impels the Christian to act in places where the future of society is being shaped."62 Cardinal Harranz said that Escrivá "will be a saint who embodies the Second Vatican Council," which emphasized the role of the laity in the Church.63
Escrivá was granted sainthood only 27 years after his death, the fastest canonization in the last 500 years.64 Escrivá's supporters covered the "more than $350,000" costs for the canonization investigation.65 Critics of the beatification (which occurred in 1992, and is the step before canonization) allege that opponents were not allowed to testify to the investigators, and that the process was not halted when two of the nine judges asked for this to be done.66 It appears that the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints held that "ex-members of orders and associations always produced negative evidence in such cases but that the policy of the Congregation was to ignore it."67 Nevertheless, one-third of the world's Catholic bishops had petitioned Rome to beatify Escrivá.68 One of these supporters--according to a pro-Opus Dei journalist--was Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was martyred in 1980 at his cathedral's altar in 1980 by right-wing assassins.69
The Vatican backs up this canonization with the claim that it is an infallible decision. A 1997 decree by Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says that "truths connected to revelation by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively" by Catholics include "the canonizations of saints (dogmatic facts)."70 Catholics must assent, based on "faith in the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Magisterium and on the Catholic doctrine of the infallibility of the Magisterium."71 A pre-Vatican II theological manual explains that "if the Church could err in her opinion" that "a member of the Church has been assumed into eternal bliss and may be the object of general veneration," "consequences would arise which would be incompatible with the sanctity of the Church."72 So, the Vatican now says that whoever "denies these truths"--including the accuracy of canonizations--"would be in a position of rejecting a truth of Catholic doctrine and would therefore no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church."73
The leader of the cause for Escrivá's canonization claims that there have been "more than 120,000 testimonies of spiritual and material favors received through the intercession of St. Josemaría Escrivá" from his death in 1975 to his canonization in 2002, and he has placed 200 of these into a book, Favors We Ask of the Saints.74 Journalist Vittorio Messori says that the "'favors,' 'graces,' and 'prodigies' obtained through the intercession of Monsignor Escrivá" since his death are "unprecedented in the annals of the Church."75
In March 2004, the Vatican opened an investigation to determine whether Escrivá's successor as head of Opus Dei, Bishop Álvaro del Portillo, should be canonized. Cardinal Camillo Ruini "spoke of the notable cures and the thousands of other spiritual and material favors attributed to the intercession of Bishop del Portillo, which demonstrate the 'spread of private devotion to the Servant of God'."76 Additionally, Opus Dei is seeking the canonization of seven other members.77
It seems that Opus Dei is trying to earn a Guinness Book of World Records prize for cranking out "saints" and "miracles." The open question is: if so much spiritual grace and light is produced through this movement and its avatars, why is the world (including Opus Dei's home country, Spain) heading into a moral abyss?
Opus Dei was in favor under Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958. During 1943, with World War II at its height, it took less than 6 months for the Vatican to approve creation of Escrivá's "Priestly Society of the Holy Cross" as an adjunct to Opus Dei.78 In 1947, less than 12 months after the founder made the request to Pius XII, the Pope made Opus Dei and its priestly affiliate a "secular pontifical institute." This gave the movement what Opus Dei historians describe as "universal juridical standing" and "convenient internal autonomy," protecting it from "incomprehension and persecution."79 In 1950, Pius XII made the "pontifical institute" status permanent, and approved the movement's charter and statutes; in 1952, he appointed Cardinal Federico Tedeschini as "Protector" of Opus Dei.80 Tad Szulc, a biographer of John Paul II, notes that "very quietly, Opus Dei was acquiring influence all over the world, at strategic points in Church establishments and ... very discreetly in political and business circles." 81
However, the movement and its founder were at arms length (at best) with Popes John XXIII (1958-1963) and Paul VI (1963-1978). As an Italian newspaper notes, "Between 1967 and 1973, when Opus Dei already numbered 40,000 Catholics, Pope Paul VI refused even to meet Escriva, wanting to draw a clear line between himself and the regime of General Franco in Spain."82 A Catholic journalist, Michael Walsh, has said, "Popes before the present one [John Paul II, at the time Walsh wrote] can hardly be said to have been enthusiastic in their endorsement of Opus, and for every bishop who welcomes Opus into his diocese it is clear that there are many who either will not accept them, or are unhappy at finding them installed in their jurisdiction when they take up their appointments."83 During his lifetime, Escrivá never became a bishop; the four Popes who reigned from 1928 to 1975 (from the establishment of Opus Dei until the founder's death) did not grant this promotion to him. Escrivá repaid these popes with public obeisance and private derision. He said of Pius XII, "Let's see if he leaves us in peace once and for all, and the Lord God in his infinite mercy takes him to heaven," and referred to John XXIII as "a hick," and called Paul VI "an old Jesuit"--which was not a compliment.84
With the election of Pope John Paul II in October 1978, Opus Dei came in from the cold.
George Weigel said, "Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had long been sympathetic to the Work and had spoken to one of its student centers in Rome during the 1970s. Opus Dei's stress on sanctifying the workplace through apostolically committed professional men and women paralleled his own understanding of one of the key themes of Vatican II."85 Opus Dei returned the favor, and began sending funds to Wojtyla's Polish archdiocese before 1978.86 They also published a collection of the speeches that the Cardinal had made when visiting Opus Dei centers.87 When Wojtyla went to Rome for the 1978 conclave that would elect him to the Papacy, he went to the Opus Dei headquarters and prayed at Escrivá's tomb.88 (This was one of numerous Roman shrines that he visited.)

* The Pope granted Opus Dei's long-stalled request for "personal prelature" status in 1982, granting global freedom of action to the movement. He was fulfilling a promise that he had made secretly to the movement on November 15, 1978--within the first month of his reign.89 The Pope made this decision in the face of negative votes by Italian and French bishops, and opposition by 55 of the 64 Spanish bishops.90
* That same year, John Paul II made Álvaro del Portillo, Escrivá's successor as head of Opus Dei, a bishop. (Portillo was head of the movement from 1975 until 1994, and had been Escrivá's closest collaborator for 40 years.91) Portillo's successor, Javier Echevarría, was raised to the episcopate in 1995, the year after he became the head of Opus Dei.
As noted above, John Paul II hastened Escrivá's canonization. By recognizing him as a saint, John Paul II stated that Escrivá is in Heaven, and that his life is a worthy example to the faithful, and that people have gained miraculous results from his intercession on their behalf. At the least, the beatification and canonization of Escrivá blunts criticism of Opus Dei within the Catholic Church.
* In 1984, John Paul II selected Joaquín Navarro-Valls (a lay Opus Dei numerary since 1960) as his press secretary. He was part of the Papal inner circle, and (along with Papal secretary Dziwisz) had day-to-day, direct access to the Pontiff.92 In April 2005, the press secretary said, "I have been fortunate to be next to him day after day, in his apartment as well as traveling with him--including during his vacations. Many of the photographs that are in circulation where he can be seen in the country, in the latter part of his life, were taken by me."93 Navarro-Valls has been an actor, a psychiatrist and a journalist. His first non-medical publication was a book, Manipulation in Advertising; this was followed by "two essays in evolutionary psychology."94
Sandro Magister--an experienced, orthodox Catholic reporter--wrote, "As an editorial promoter, Navarro thought up and in 1994 launched the most widely read and translated book by John Paul II: the interview conducted by Vittorio Messori entitled Crossing the threshold of hope."95 The book was published simultaneously in the major world languages.96 In 1997, Massimo D'Alema, the leader of the Italian Democratic Party of the Left (the current "moderate" incarnation of the Italian Communist Party) said that Crossing the Threshold of Hope was the one book on his bedside table.97 D'Alema--who would go on to become Prime Minister of Italy in 1998-2000--said that he had been impressed by the Pope's analysis of the fall of Communism and his insistence that "the society of the future" had to be built around a "quest for values."98 (In the book, John Paul said, "it would be simplistic to say that Divine Providence caused the fall of Communism. In a certain sense Communism as a system fell by itself. It fell as a consequence of its own mistakes and abuses. It proved to be a medicine more dangerous than the disease itself. It did not bring about true social reform, yet it did become a powerful threat and challenge to the entire world. But it fell by itself, because of its own inherent weakness."99)
The Papal press secretary has used his skills to manage the news from the Vatican. Journalist Stefania Rossini says that Navarro-Valls "relies upon his proficiency in conversation, his artfully crafted allure, and the mastery of communication that has allowed him to transform the murky, homespun Vatican press office into a smooth media machine."100 Anglican journalist Ruth Gledhill said of this office, "It is all about spin and control. ... It works very much like any political press office. Access is very much given to people who can be trusted to toe the line."101 Navarro-Valls gave preferential treatment to TV reporters; journalists Bernstein and Politi say, "On the TV screen, as the pope and Navarro-Valls well understood, glory would invariably overshadow problems, emotion would overwhelm insight. And uncomfortable questions from print reporters would be drowned out."102
* During the Pope's final year, Cardinal Herranz, an Opus Dei member, "emerged as one of the five or six prelates closest to John Paul."103
It's a given that that Benedict XVI will continue the prior Pope's strong support for "The Way."
* A post-Conclave report indicates that Opus Dei support was critical to Ratzinger's election this spring: "According to aides to two non-American cardinals, Ratzinger entered the conclave with significant backing: Julian Herranz of Spain, head of the Vatican's department for interpreting legislative texts; Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia, head of the department in charge of the clergy; and Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. All three have ties to the conservative renewal movement Opus Dei."104 Two months before the Conclave, an orthodox Catholic reporter on Vatican affairs had predicted this outcome: "the Opus Dei cardinal most active in view of the conclave is Julián Herranz ... Ratzinger's leap to the top of the list of candidates for the papacy is also due to him; it took shape at the suppers for cardinals that Herranz organized at Opus Dei's heavily guarded villa in the Roman countryside."105
Opus Dei remains prominent in the Pope's inner circle. Ratzinger's personal secretary is a Bavarian priest and expert on canon law, Georg Gänswein.106 He has been on Ratzinger's staff since 1996, and has been his personal secretary since 2003. (Gänswein also had been "a trusted confidant of the last Pope, who made him a chaplain in 2000."107) Until 2005, Gänswein "taught at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the Rome university of Opus Dei,"108 although he is not a member of the movement.109 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith includes three Opus Dei advisors, one of whom (Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz) is the movement's vicar-general, its second in command.110
Benedict XVI has retained Navarro-Valls as his press secretary, even though he does not have "the direct and osmotic relationship that he had with John Paul II. He can no longer permit himself to model and amplify the pope's gestures, statements, and performance."111
On September 14--the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a solemn Catholic remembrance of the Cross as the sign of Christ's victory--Benedict XVI blessed a 16-foot statue of Escrivá that has been placed in a niche on the outside wall of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.112 The statue bears coats of arms for John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and joins the 400 saints' statues that are already at the Basilica.113
Without the support of the two most recent Popes, Opus Dei would not have risen to its present influence in the Catholic Church.


Opus Dei influence in Washington DC and worldwide
Opus Dei is prominent in Republican circles in Washington DC. Opus Dei priest Fr. C. John McCloskey baptized conservative columnist Robert Novak into the Catholic Church in 1998. In 2003, he received Judge Robert Bork into the Catholic Church (but not into Opus Dei); Bork's sponsors included John O'Sullivan, the head of United Press International.114 A recent report says, "McCloskey is also believed to have brought other high-profile Washington conservatives into the group, including book publisher Alfred Regnery, Republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, and Novak's former CNN colleague, Larry Kudlow. No prominent Democrats are known to be members of Opus Dei."115 Among others who "have been pegged as Opus Dei sympathizers or friends" are Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa).116 One of the volunteers at the Catholic Information Center, where McCloskey has worked, is Linda Poindexter, "the wife of Iran-contra figure and Bush administration official John Poindexter."117
The neo-conservative guru George Gilder gave the movement extravagant praise in 1994: "Baring a secret sword of goodness and truth, Opus Dei is the most important spiritual movement of our time."118 In 2003, Deal Hudson, the then-publisher of Crisis (a conservative, Republican-Party oriented Catholic magazine) said of Opus Dei, "It has called people to serious spirituality and given them a deeper understanding of the Church at a time when few pe ople have a real grasp of the faith. ... It looks radical from where we are as a culture, but from the point of view of the Church, it is a call to friendship with God."119
The movement's influence is worldwide.
In Spain, according to a late-1980s report from journalist Peggy Lernoux, "Opus Dei followers are strategically placed in the Spanish press, and Spanish sources claim that members control more than 1,500 companies and financial entities. The 'Work' also has followers in the police and the military, center-right parties, particularly the Alianza Popular, and the court of King Juan Carlos."120 Reuters describes the movement's continuing power there now: "Opus founded Spain's most prestigious business school, IESE, and executives at some of the country's top companies are said to be sympathisers. Spain's third largest bank Banco Popular donated 21 million euros [about $25 million in US dollars] ... last year to charities linked to Opus. Opus' Navarre University has been responsible for producing some of the country's highest achievers. Its respected journalism school claims to have produced more than half of the editors of Spain's national newspapers."121 Archduke Otto von Habsburg "reportedly became one of Opus Dei's most treasured Old Guard supernumeraries."122
Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of Education in the Blair government in the United Kingdom, is an Opus Dei supernumerary.123 She responded to her critics--those alarmed by her membership in the movement--by saying "I have a private spiritual life and I have a faith. It is a private spiritual life and I don't think it is relevant to my job."124 (Such a separation between work and faith is totally contrary to Opus Dei's stated aim of sanctifying all of society through members' work.)
Lech Walesa, the Solidarity union leader who had cooperated with John Paul II to weaken the Communist regime in Poland, attended the canonization of Escrivá in 2002. Walesa said, "At last we have a saint for the workers."125 This homage reflected Walesa's debt to Opus Dei. From 1980 onward, the Vatican, Opus Dei, and the CIA had cooperated to get funds, intelligence, and supplies across the Iron Curtain to Solidarity, the anti-communist union that Walesa headed.126 In 2005, Walesa told the Polish parliament that Solidarity had paved the way for globalization: "Irrespective of today's judgment and the price we had to pay in this generation, we were able to close an epoch of divisions, different blocs and borders, opening the way for an era of globalization."127 In reply, "Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist, said Walesa and other Solidarity leaders deserved the gratitude of all Poles for ushering in the democracy that led to Poland becoming a NATO and European Union member."128
Opus Dei members in the Philippines include Francisco Tatad, a senator129 and former cabinet member and government press secretary during the Marcos dictatorship,130 and Jose Cuisia, the former governor of the country's central bank.131 Opus Dei is "slowly gaining influence among the Catholic clergy in India," including among the bishops in Mumbai and New Delhi.132
Opus Dei has its non-Catholic admirers, as well. Stephen Schwartz, a Jewish neoconservative convert to Sufi Islam, recently urged creation of "a Muslim equivalent of Opus Dei--reinforcing a conservative and traditional view of faith while embodying contemporary capitalist principles, modernizing education, and fostering the common good."133 Angel Kreiman, an Opus Dei cooperator who is international vice-president of the World Council of Synagogues and a member of the executive committee of the International Council of Christians and Jews, said in 2002,"Many of Josemaría Escrivá's concepts call to mind the Talmudic tradition and reveal his profound knowledge of the Jewish world, as well as his passionate love, as he openly repeated, for two Jews, Jesus and Mary. ... Moreover, that which most likens his teachings to Judaism is the vocation of man to serve God through creative work, perfecting creation every day, through perfection in work."134 Inside the Vatican reported in 2002 that "although there are few Catholics in China, Opus Dei has many co-operators ... in the country. An entire youth group made the journey from China for the canonization [of Escrivá] and not a single one was Catholic."135


Opus Dei:
to last "until the end of time"?

Escrivá expected Opus Dei to persist and grow until the end of history. In 1966, he told the New York Times, "The task that awaits us is immense. It is a sea without shores, for as long as there are men on earth, no matter how much the techniques of production may change, they will have some type of work that can be offered to God and sanctified. With God's grace, Opus Dei wants to teach them how to make their work an act of service to all men of every condition, race, and religion. Serving men in this way, they will serve God."136 In 1968, Escrivá predicted that Opus Dei "will never have any problems of adaptation to the world: it will never find itself in need of being brought up to date." 137 In the newsletter Crónica he said, "Not only will the Work never die, it will never grow old." 138
Opus Dei followers assign the same eternal significance to their movement. Escrivá's successor said in the early 1990s: "our founder's message and example are not just for a few but for millions of men and women until the end of time."139 A pro-Opus Dei journalist said that the October 2, 1928 foundation of the movement is "celebrated the world over by the me mbers of Opus Dei, not so much as the anniversary of a foundation or revelation of a divine project, but as an 'instrument of sanctification' issuing from the unfathomable depths of eternity and destined to last as long as the Church--until the end of time when faith waits for the victorious and glorious return of Christ."140


Cultic practices

The movement's defenders say that Opus Dei is misunderstood and slandered; they cite The Da Vinci Code as the most recent instance of this. Instead, Opus Dei supporters urge us to attend to the movement's holiness, orthodoxy, and good works. In 1966, Escrivá avowed his love for freedom: "We detest tyranny, especially in the exclusively spiritual government of Opus Dei. We love pluralism."141
For decades--in Europe, the US, Latin America, and elsewhere--a different story has emerged from former Opus Dei members. These witnesses independently testify to abusive, cultic beliefs and practices in Opus Dei--teachings and actions that have been integral to the movement since its beginning. The testimony comes from--among many others--Fr. Vladimir Felzmann, a Catholic priest in Great Britain (an Opus Dei member from 1959 to 1982 who had been a personal friend of Escrivá),142 John Roche, of Linacre College at Oxford143 (who had been an Opus Dei member for 13 years, 1959 to 1972),144 and María del Carmen Tapia (a Spanish woman who had been an Opus Dei member for 18 years, from 1948 to 1966, was head of the women's section in Venezuela for 10 years, and lived for several years at the movement's Rome headquarters).145
In a laudatory essay about Opus Dei, the author of a book about the teachings of John Paul II confirms that the movement is "recruiting membership among the professional classes, with a preponderance of upper middle class members."146 María del Carmen Tapia, who joined Opus Dei in 1948, described the appeal that the movement had for young Spaniards in the 1940s: "Father Escrivá offered the great adventure: to give up everything without getting anything in return; to conquer the world for Christ's church;" he challenged students to excel in their work "with the aim of attaining a high position in the intellectual world, and then offering it to Christ."147 In The Way, Escrivá said, "In order that he [Christ] may reign in the world, it is necessary to have people of prestige who with their eyes fixed on heaven, dedicate themselves to all human activities, and through these activities exercise quietly--and effectively--an apostolate of professional character."148
The 1950 constitution for the movement emphasized the importance of "public office" for the movement's mission: "A particular means of apostolate of the Institute are the public offices, especially those which carry the exercise of leadership."149 The 1982 canon law governing Opus Dei says that members should "have special concern for intellectuals, those of high office or status, because of the great weight they carry in civil society."150 They are practicing what Escrivá taught: "Men, like fish, have to be caught by the head. What evangelical depth there is in the intellectual apostolate!"151 Recruitment, then, is to begin with intellectuals and continue on to other groups.
As journalist Michael Walsh notes, Opus Dei's U. S. headquarters building in New York City is on "some of the most expensive real estate in the world"--and the 17-story skyscraper has separate entrances for men and women.152 Auto parking is sex-segregated, as well.153 (Opus Dei says that the separate entrances exist because the building is divided into sections--one is a residence for celibate women, and the other is a residence for celibate men.154)
Journalist Jonathan Kwitny described movement recruitment practices, tactics that seem to come from a Moonie operations manual: "Recruitment is aggressive and covert. The target is not told at first why someone is suddenly befriending him, or the nature of the 'center' where he is invited for a lecture, or what is entailed in joining."155 Opus Dei states that no one can make a "temporary commitment" to join the movement before age 18. Making a "permanent commitment" cannot be done before age 23, and requires "more than 6 years of systematic and comprehensive instruction as to what membership entails."156 Do the math: someone who joins Opus Dei on their 23rd birthday would have begun training by their 17th birthday.
"Evangelization" starts with young teenagers. A recent report from Scotland notes that "In Scotland, both the male and female centres in Glasgow operate sport and activity clubs for children. The Dunreath Club has a junior section for boys aged between ten and 12 and a senior section for those 13-16. Many of those who attend are the children of members, and those who are not require parental permission. The centre's library is available to pupils for private study, which encourages teenagers to become more involved with the group. However, the parent of one teenage boy, who was pursued to join Opus Dei, described its methods as 'spiritual grooming.'"157
For the movement, the next step is to get people to ask to join, in writing. "Saying yes is the beginning of climbing the three rungs on the ladder leading to full Opus Dei membership. First comes 'whistling'--writing a letter asking to join (at which there is much rejoicing in Opus Dei houses). Second, there is the 'admission'--a short ceremony with an Opus Dei priest and an Opus Dei lay director in which the new member agrees to 'live in the spirit of Opus Dei.' Then there is the 'oblation,' which comes a year and a half after whistling, and during which the new member commits his or her life to Opus Dei so seriously that to leave afterward would be a 'grave matter.' Finally, there is the 'fidelity,' five years after the oblation, when the initiate becomes a full member of Opus Dei and is encouraged to make out a will with Opus Dei as the beneficiary. Obviously, all of this presented at one time would not be the sort of thing to put young people in a sign-me-up-right-away frenzy. But when the right doors are opened at the right time and the revelations are gradual, all things are possible. And they're especially possible with the very young: Opus Dei permits children a mere 14 years of age to make an initial commitment. Not only that, but they're allowed to 'whistle' at a mere 16 and a half and make the oblation at 18. They can thus become a full fidelity member at a mere 23."158
An Opus Dei priest said in 1981, "when a youngster says he wants to join we do advise them not to tell their parents. This is because the parents do not understand us."159 Once recruited, young members are kept away from their families.160 These restrictions are especially stringent for women, since Opus Dei fears that should they "be exposed to family events, ties of affection would quickly be restored. Attendance at baptisms and weddings is regarded as particularly dangerous."161
In his biography of Pope John Paul II, Kwitny summarized some of the constraints upon Opus Dei numeraries: "All incoming and outgoing mail must be read by a spiritual director, who also must approve any courses members take, and even what they may read."162 Numeraries sprinkle their beds with holy water before lying down to sleep, as a means of promoting the "difficult virtue" of chastity.163 Women numerararies are to sleep on boards, to curb sexual appetite.164 Male numeraries are to sleep on the floor once a week.165 Additionally, since the late 1960s, numeraries face the "spoliation" each year on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. "On that day the director can come into a numerary's room and remove any object to which the numerary is thought to have become over-attached. 'This could be a teddy bear or a pair of gold cufflinks, but if it happens to be a watch given to you by your mother it hurts,' a former numerary explained."166
An apologist for the Legionaries of Christ (an authoritarian new religious movement in the Catholic Church that competes for the same market niche as Opus Dei) defends such practices as commonplace in "consecrated life in the Church": "The opening of mail, however, is a practice in communal religious life that dates back centuries; it is an expression of the freedom and openness of Christians in community with no secrets from one another."167
In Opus Dei education, members are expected to shun books which the movement considers heterodox or dangerous--an application of one of Escrivá's maxims in The Way: "Books. Don't buy them without advice from a Catholic who has real knowledge and discernment. It's so easy to buy something useless or harmful."168 As a result, students in the philosophy program at Navarre University, the flagship Opus Dei university in Spain, found that Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Hegel, and other philosophers were off-limits.169
On a weekly basis, all members must "talk familiarly and in confidence with the local director" of Opus Dei.170 These are to be detailed revelations--including of "their sex lives and problems."171 As Escrivá said in The Way, "Foolish child, the day you hide some part of your soul from your director, you will have ceased to be a child, for you will have lost your simplicity."172 These mandatory disclosures occur outside the sacrament of Penance, without the secrecy that protects penitents from public exposure of their sins.173 There is no requirement that the directors hearing these revelations be clergy, or that they have received training in counseling. This practice, also known as the "manifestation of conscience," was banned by the Catholic Church under sec tion 530 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law--the code that was in force when Escrivá made the "confidence" one of the duties of his followers in the movement's 1950 constitution.
Additionally, members must gather weekly in a circle (or "chapter of faults") to "accuse themselves of faults against religious discipline and the common life."174 In the circles, members also describe their own progress in recruiting and training new followers; insufficient zeal in proselytizing earns a reprimand. These practices are reminiscent of the "criticism/self-criticism" sessions for members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Members must confess weekly, and only to Opus Dei priests.175 Even though canon law allows Catholics to confess to any priest, if an Opus Dei member confesses to a priest outside the movement, he is accused by his superiors of lacking "good spirit."176 As Escrivá said, those who do this are "on the way to listening to the advice of bad shepherds."177 He also said, "the first sacrifice is not to forget, in our whole life ... the dirty clothes are washed at home. The first manifestation of your dedication is not being so cowardly as to go outside of the Work to wash dirty clothes. That is if you want to be saints. If not, you are not needed here."178 In a reference to the long-standing feud between the Jesuits and his own cult, the Founder said, "I would prefer a million times that a daughter of mine die without the Last Sacraments than that they be administered to her by a Jesuit."179
All of these practices--the "confidence," the circles, and the in-house confession--can be used to manipulate and control the membership.
Some people can leave Opus Dei with little trauma, but others encounter great pressure from the organization. A priest who left Opus Dei after 22 years as a member said that it was very difficult to make the break: "Opus Dei and God were identical in my mind, I was pretty screwed up inside. I was hurting. When I first said I wanted to leave, I was put under huge pressure. I was told that I was being tempted by the Devil. They took me to see the grave of a former member who was so depressed after he'd left that he stopped taking the medicine he was supposed to for his heart condition. It was a passive suicide. I was told that I should pray for his soul. It was their way of warning me. Rule by fear."180 After a 19-year career as an Opus Dei numerary, Miguel Fisac had left the movement in the 1950s, married, and had children. At the funeral for Fisac's third child, two Opus Dei priests (including his former confessor) offered condolences. However, they "made gestures of horror and let it be understood that what happened was God's punishment for having left Opus Dei;"181 Fisac showed the door to the unwelcome comforters.
As Michael Walsh reports, numeraries have "been brought up to believe that in breaking ranks they are committing the most heinous sin possible for them. Salvation is mediated through Opus. Without Opus the former numerary is damned."182 Members were taught, "you must ask God for death before failure to persevere" in the movement.183 (In the same way, members of the Legionaries of Christ are taught the slogan, "lost vocation, sure damnation.")184
In 1981, Cardinal Hume, Archbishop of Westminster in the United Kingdom, gave credence to charges against Opus Dei by directing that in his diocese, they must refrain from enlisting members under 18 years of age, that they allow young people who wish to join Opus Dei to discuss the matter with their family, that people remain free "to join or leave the organization without undue pressure being exerted," that members have the freedom to choose a spiritual director inside or outside of the movement, and that Opus Dei activities be clearly advertised as such.185 It's most unlikely that the Cardinal would have issued such directives if these practices were not common within Opus Dei.
Almost 25 years after the Cardinal spoke, Michael Walsh (a journalist who has monitored and criticized Opus Dei activities since the 1980s) said, "The letter of these 'recommendations' has no doubt been observed, but perhaps not the spirit."186 Cardinal Hume's successor accepts the movement, and has turned a British parish over to one of its priests.187


Secret documents

In various ways more characteristic of Masonry than of a traditional Christian religious movement, secrecy and "discretion" are standard procedure for Opus Dei. Its 1950 constitution remains in force, except where it is specifically superseded by the 1982 charter approved by John Paul II.188 The 1950 constitution was long treated as a confidential document by Opus Dei--unlike most religious orders, whose constitutions are public, and available in the vernacular. In the late 1940s, Opus Dei obtained agreement from Rome that in dioceses where it functions, the movement did not have to give the text of the entire constitution to the local bishop, that the bishop could be required to maintain the secrecy of this and other confidential Opus Dei documents, and that Opus Dei did not have to disclose all Opus Dei residences and activities to the bishop.189
Several of the 1950 constitution's provisions explicitly call for secrecy:190

§ 189: "In order for the Institute to reach its proper end more effectively, it wishes to live as hidden, therefore it abstains from collective acts and does not have a name or common denomination by which its members are called. Given the character of the Institute, which externally does not desire to appear publicly as a society, it is not appropriate that its members should engage collectively in certain manifestations of cult like processions.
§ 190: By virtue of this collective humility, which is proper of our Institute, whatever is done by the members is not attributable to itself; but rather, whatever good is attained by them is attributable to God alone. Consequently, even membership in the Institute admits no external manifestations. The number of members is kept hidden from outsiders; and indeed our people do not discuss these things with outsiders.
§ 191: This collective humility leads our people to live the life which they consecrate to God with the same discretion which is most suited to the desired fruitfulness of the apostolate. The lack of this discretion can constitute a grave obstacle to exercising apostolic work or create some difficulty in the environment of one's natural family or in the exercise of their office or profession. Thus the Numerary and Supernumerary members should know they are to live a prudent silence regarding the names of other members; and that they are never to reveal to anyone that they themselves belong to Opus Dei, not even to spread the Institute, without express permission from their local director."

Other elusive Opus Dei documents include "Praxis, a book that lays down in the most minute detail how members are to lead their lives. According to one former member it even regulated the number of handkerchiefs and pairs of underpants someone might possess."191 Crónica, a teaching journal, circulates privately within the movement;192 the Ceremonial Book193 and the Internal Rules for Administration are also treated as classified.194 The 500-question Opus Dei catechism, which members learn by rote during their indoctrination, has also been kept under wraps.195 María del Carmen Tapia notes an ironic result of her training: "as a result of his emphasis on learning the Catechism by heart, one retained it so well that years after having left Opus Dei, one is able to retrieve it literally point by point."196
Even the defenders of Opus Dei acknowledge that "certain aspects of it are secret. For example, Opus Dei publishes no membership lists and discourages members from announcing their membership. The reason, they would say, is not because anything bad is going on, but out of a sense of humility and obedience to the Gospel. Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew (see 6:1-18) instructs his followers to live in holiness but to do so almost in secrecy."197 An Opus Dei spokesman recently said, "We have just built a 17-storey headquarters in New York. ... How can you operate a secret society from a skyscraper at 34th and Lexington?"198 Opus Dei critic Walsh agrees that "One can now study its constitution. ... it is less secretive than it was."199
Against the belief that such cultism is good for the soul, there is this warning from Christianity Today in 2003: "Jesus reminds us constantly that the life he intends for us, here and now, will utterly transcend the externals. 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' Tim Kellor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church points out that the contrast Jesus draws in the Sermon on the Mount is not between the religious and the irreligious person. It's between the outwardly religious and the one whose heart has been transformed by grace. 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' Jesus promised, 'for they shall see God.' Faith-based social conformity does not produce the pure in heart. Boundary markers can't inspire steadfast love and obedience to Christ. The outcome of that approach to spiritual life--the method of the Pharisee--is always the same: It crushes the soul."200
Michael Walsh, a Catholic, issues a similar warning: "Opus, with its rules and regulations, its censorship, its control of the minutiae of members' day-to-day living, its class-related structures, its association with élites of wealth and power ... could not claim to be a force for liberation. And to the extent that it fails this test, it is not merely, as a sect, less than Catholic. It is less than Christian."201


Modern-day flagellants

Dan Brown got one fact right about Opus Dei. Its numeraries, the most committed members of the movement, do use the discipline, a knotted rope, to flagellate themselves on the buttocks once a week.202 A former member says that they were told to administer the 33 blows "with energy and vigor."203 They also wear the cilice, a spiked chain, around their thigh. A former Opus Dei member who had played a tennis game with Navarro-Valls said that when they took a post-game shower, he saw that the Pope's press secretary "had a brown mark around his thigh. It was the mark of the cilicio, the chain-mail band that he wore for up to two hours a day. That's a requirement for members. It's got pointed metal spikes fixed to it; they scratch the skin and make you bleed. It's supposed to be worn tight during Lent."204
Opus Dei is one of the few Catholic religious movements that retained these practices after Vatican II. In The Way, his 4-million-copy best-seller, Escrivá gave the rationale: "Deny yourself. It is so beautiful to be a victim!"205 "In our poor present life, let us drink to the last drop from the chalice of pain."206 "Give thanks, as for a very special favor, for that holy abhorrence that you feel toward yourself."207 "Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain. Glorified be pain!"208 "Treat your body with charity, but with no more charity than you would show to a treacherous enemy."209 Escrivá began using the cilice and the whip upon himself at age 16--ten years before he founded Opus Dei.210 He continued to punish himself with zeal, to the extent that "the walls of his bathroom were said have been constantly bloodstained because of his feverish self-flagellations with a meter-long whip, similar to a cat-o-nine-tails."211
Catholic writer Amy Welborn justifies such self-inflicted sufferings: "it might be useful to note that bodily mortification, as a spiritual practice, is found in every world religion in some form or another ... Bodily spiritual mortification, including the use of these particular devices, was not invented by Opus Dei, either. If you read the lives of the saints, you find that many felt called to these practices. Why? Some sought to draw closer to Christ by sharing in his sufferings. Some used them as a means of penance for their own sins or the sins of others. Others saw them as an effective means of growing in self-discipline. ... One who has experienced spiritual growth would argue that 'no pain, no gain' applies to the spiritual life, too, at least for them."212 Opus Dei itself says that the cilice and discipline are "types of mortification that have always had a place in the Catholic tradition because of their symbolic reference to Christ's Passion," and that "anyone with experience in this matter knows that these practices do not injure one's health in any way."213
Such apologetics for Opus Dei ignore some obvious challenges. Just because a religious practice is widespread and ancient does not prove that it is spiritually healthy, or that it has Scriptural approval. It may be that self-punishment was detrimental to the saints who practiced it, and that they achieved holiness and communion with God despite, rather than by means of, these practices.
Combining sexual abstinence with bodily punishments raises the possibility that the practitioner may eroticize his sufferings and pervert his own sexuality; masochism is not a spiritual step up from normal married life and intercourse. Since masochism and sadism are complementary perversions, the zealous flagellant may feel impelled to punish others who do not meet his own standards of "holiness"--for their own good, of course. As Escrivá wrote, "To punish for the sake of Love: this is the secret that raises to a supernatural plane any punishment imposed on those who deserve it. For the love of God, who has been offended, let punishment serve as atonement. For the love of our neighbor, for the sake of God, may punishment never be revenge, but a healing medicine."214 The history of corporal punishment in religious institutions--and Opus Dei's own affinity for repressive regimes--shows this dynamic in action.
When all else fails, Opus Dei defenders say that these mortifications are "the free, voluntary choice of free adult persons."215 Ironically, this "consenting adults" defense is the same one that supporters of the Sexual Revolution use to defend their own favorite vices and indulgences.
A large Roman Catholic web site, Catholic Culture, has taken upon itself the job of rating the orthodoxy of other Catholic-related sites. It gives a green "excellent" rating to Opus Dei, while giving the anti-cult Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN) a yellow "caution" rating. In Catholic Culture's reply to ODAN, one can see how "The Way" and its friends respond to criticisms such as are in this article: "Both the organization and its site seem to be a misguided attempt to use personal grievances against Opus Dei or one of its members and isolated incidents to malign the organization as a whole. Many of the Prelature's best characteristics, such as its strong evangelization efforts, the total commitment of its members, and their sense of self-sacrifice and mortification, are taken out of context in an attempt to make Opus Dei look evil. However, the beauty of the great work of Opus Dei shows through, even in the writings of those who would eradicate it. In trying to malign the whole organization, this site is a prime example of Christ's assurance that those who truly follow Him will be persecuted."216



Escrivá's teachings: "another gospel"

The writings of Opus Dei's founder are central to the way his followers understand the Gospel. Escrivá's teachings quote the Scriptures and profess zeal for Christ. However, there are subtle--but grievous--divergences between The Way taught by Escrivá and the Way of Christ set forth in Scripture.
In The Way (which an Opus Dei defender describes as "Father Escrivá's first and most popular book, in which one can find the spirit of Opus Dei"217), the priest said, "When a layman sets himself up as an arbiter of morals, he frequently errs; laymen can only be disciples."218 Escrivá and his successors have put this principle into practice; although Opus Dei characterizes itself as a lay movement, it is controlled by its clergy.
And the clergy are not to be criticized: "A priest--whoever he may be--is always another Christ. Though you know it well, I want to remind you again that a Priest is 'another Christ,' and that the Holy Spirit has said, 'Nolite tangere Christos meos'--'Do not touch my Christs.'" 219 Escrivá appeared to counsel what the Catholic bishops have often done with their abuser-priests: "Like the good sons of Noah, cover the weaknesses you may see in your father, the priest, with a cloak of charity." 220
For Escrivá, holy zeal is essential. "The plane of the sanctity our Lord asks of us is determined by these three points: holy steadfastness, holy forcefulness and holy shamelessness."221 "Steadfastness is not simply intransigence: it is 'holy intransigence.' Don't forget that there also exists a 'holy forcefulness.'"222
With holy zeal comes approval of religious coercion. Escrivá said, "If, to save an earthly life, it is praiseworthy to use force to keep a man from committing suicide, are we not allowed to use the same coercion--'holy coercion'--to save the Lives (with a capital) of so many who are stupidly bent on killing their souls?"223
Strict obedience is essential for Opus Dei members. As the Founder said, "Who are you to judge the rightness of a superior's decision? Don't you see that he has more basis for judging than you? He has more experience; he has more upright, experienced, and impartial advisers; and above all, he has more grace, a special grace, the grace of his state, which is the light and powerful aid of God."224 "Obey, as an instrument obeys in the hands of the artist--not stopping to consider the why and the wherefore of what it is doing. Be sure that you'll never be directed to do anything that isn't good and for the greater glory of God."225 "You have come to the apostolate to submit, to annihilate yourself, not to impose your own personal viewpoints."226 "Obedience, the sure way. Blind obedience to your superior, the way of sanctity. Obedience in your apostolate, the only way: for, in a work of God, the spirit must be to obey or to leave."227 "Your perfection consists in living perfectly in the place, occupation, and position to which God, through those in authority, has assigned to you."228
Criticism of the movement is out of bounds. "That critical spirit--granted you mean well--should never be directed toward he apostolate in which you work nor toward your brothers." 229
With unity and discipline, there is to be strength of will: "Leaders! Strengthen your will so that God will make a leader of you."230
The soldiers in the Opus Dei crusade were to know how to keep secrets. "Be slow to reveal the intimate details of your apostolate. Don't you see that the world in its selfishness will fail to understand?"231 "There are many people, holy people, who don't understand your way. Don't strive to make them understand. It would be a waste of time and would give rise to indiscretions."232
For Escrivá, orthodoxy meant wholesale rejection of Enlightenment thought--even, it seems, the moderate forms that gave rise to the American Revolution. He said, "Come on! Ridicule him! Tell him he's behind the times: it's incredible that there are still people who insist on regarding the stagecoach as a good means of transportation. That's for those who dig up musty, old fashioned 'Voltairianisms' or discredited liberal ideas of the nineteenth century."233 The Founder wrote this in the 1930s, when "liberal ideas of the nineteenth century" were being replaced worldwide by collectivism and dictatorships.
Then, there is the Founder's pragmatic, acquisitive attitude about money. He said, "It is human nature to have little appreciation for what costs but little. That is why I recommended to you the 'apostolate of not giving.' Never fail to claim what is fairly and justly due to you from the practice of your profession, even if your profession is the instrument of your apostolate."234
The preceding items are all drawn from The Way, which friendly and hostile observers alike agree is essential to Opus Dei theory and practice. The spirit of Opus Dei and the maxims of The Way are alien to the Sermon on the Mount and to the teachings of the Apostles as recorded in the New Testament. Consider these questions:235 would Jesus call only--or primarily--the wealthy and those with worldly skills, position, or intellect? Would Jesus be dishonest, or encourage his followers to be "discreet"? Would Jesus limit his followers' free will, or demand blind obedience? Would Jesus propose that one group's viewpoint trumps the guidance of the Holy Spirit for all believers? Has Jesus kept secrets to an inner circle or did he, through Scripture and tradition, reveal all truth to all his followers? Did Jesus limit salvation to members of one sect, or did he offer it to all? Did Jesus propose that his followers engage in political maneuvers to take over the Temple or the Roman Empire?

END OF PART I
Lee Penn, a convert out of atheistic Marxism, attended Harvard university, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1974 and graduated cum laude 1976. He moved to California in 1983 to get an MBA and an MPH from UC Berkeley; earned those degrees in 1986 and has worked since in health care information systems and financial analysis. Lee is one of SCP's premier allies and associate writers.
Sources
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2 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 107.
3 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 5.
4 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, pp. 13-14.
5 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, pp. 135-136.
6 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 30.
7 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 454. The ellipses are as given in the text.
8 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 412.
9 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 233.
10 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, pp. 107-108. There was a real Catholic monastic order of this name, with its headquarters at the monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Zion. After moving from Palestine to Sicily, it ceased to exist in 1617, and became part of the Jesuits. The Priory of Sion "does not exist today as a legitimate order, Catholic or otherwise." (Robert Richardson, "The Priory of Sion Hoax," Alpheus, 2001, http://www.alpheus.org/html/articles/esoteric_history/richardson1.html, printed 09/20/05.)
11 Daniel Williams, "Top Italian Cardinal Is Out to Break 'Code'," Washington Post, March 17, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42022-2005Mar16.html, printed 09/01/05.
12 The M+G+R Foundation, "The Real Decoding of Brown's Da Vinci Code ... May be Found in the Real Purpose of the Book," http://www.mgr.org/TheCode.html, printed 07/20/05.
13 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, "Acknowledgments."
14 Daniel Williams, "Top Italian Cardinal Is Out to Break 'Code'," Washington Post, March 17, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42022-2005Mar16.html, printed 09/01/05.
15 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
16 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, March 26, 2004, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word032604.htm, printed 09/06/05.
17 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 348.
18 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
19 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
20 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
21 For noncontroversial points of fact, the rest of this article makes frequent use of the Wikipedia article on Opus Dei, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei, printed 08/29/05.
22 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 303.
23 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 68.
24 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 11.
25 "Personal Prelature of Opus Dei," http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
26 "Personal Prelature of Opus Dei," http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
27 The total number of Catholic priests worldwide (diocesan and in religious orders) grew less than 1% from 1990 to 1995. (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, "Frequently Requested Catholic Church Statistics," 2005, http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/, printed 09/06/05).
28 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
29 Computed from data given by Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, p. 22, and the Opus Dei Fact Sheet, and CatholicHierarchy.org.
30 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
31 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, pp. 358-359.
32 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
33 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
34 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Overview of Opus Dei in the United States," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=1187, printed 09/10/05.
35 "Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva to be celebrated," Catholic San Francisco, June 13, 2003, p. 3.
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37 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
38 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, foreword, p. 11.
39 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 28 from The Way, p. 6.
40 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 310.
41 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 121.
42 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 94; Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 148.
43 Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, pp. 21-22.
44 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 168.
45 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
46 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 104.
47 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 450.
48 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
49 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
50 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
51 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, pp. 449, 450.
52 Fr. C. J. McCloskey, "Living the Rich Life," Catholic World Report, January 2001, pp. 53-55.
53 The date of these cardinals' elevation is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org, a comprehensive and current database on Roman Catholic bishops and cardinals.
54 Sandro Magister, "Vatican Letters ­ The Pope and His Court ­ A Thousand Curial Maneuvers," L'espresso, www.Chiesa, http://213.92.16.98/ESW_articolo/0,2393,41939,00.html, viewed 06/09/04.
55 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," "Opus Dei: No surprise it gets top billing in this papacy," National Catholic Reporter, November 9, 2001, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word1109.htm, viewed 06/09/04.
56 The list of Opus Dei bishops is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
57 Roxanne King, "Bishop-elect Gomez named rector of Cathedral," Denver Catholic Register, February 21, 2001, http://www.archden.org/dcr/archive/20010221/2001022102ln.htm, printed 09/23/05.
58 The dates of consecration of Opus Dei bishops is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
59 "Mysteries of the divine right," smh.com.au (Australia), http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/mysteries-of-the-divine-right/2005/09/11/1126377206863.html, printed 09/12/05.
60 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
61 John Paul II, "We Are Called to Holiness," homily during the canonization of Escrivá, October 6, 2002, Inside the Vatican, p. 18.
62 Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, p. 23.
63 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
64 Several medieval saints (Clare and Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Thomas Becket) were canonized less than three years after they died. (Thomas J. Craughwell, "Sainthood Now!," Inside the Vatican, June 2005, pp. 32-33.)
65 CWR Staff, "What Lies Ahead?," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 23.
66 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 11-12.
67 Gordon Urquhart, The Pope's Armada: Unlocking the Secrets of Mysterious and Powerful New Sects in the Church, Prometheus Books, 1999, p. 416.
68 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 28.
69 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, pp. 121-123.
70 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 11, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
71 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 8, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
72 Dr. Ludwig Ott, "The Infallibility of the Church," Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960, p. 299.
73 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 6, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
74 Zenit News Agency, "Book Recounts Testimonies of St. Josemaria Escriva Leading to His Canonization," July 30, 2003, http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=39644, printed 09/07/05.
75 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 28.
76 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Del Portillo canonization cause," March 5, 2004, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=2008, printed 09/06/05.
77 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Del Portillo canonization cause," March 5, 2004, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=2008, printed 09/06/05.
78 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 190.
79 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
80 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
81 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
82 "Pope Unveils Opus Dei Statue," Ansa.it, 09/14/05, http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-09-14_1264282.html, printed 09/14/05.
83 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 185.
84 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 269.
85 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 450.
86 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 358.
87 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 35.
88 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 358.
89 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, pp. 303, 305.
90 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 455.
91 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, foreword, p. 8.
92 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 449.
93 Interview with Navarro-Valls, April 17, 2005, published in the Spanish newspaper ABC and excerpted by the M+G+R Foundation, http://www.mgr.org/JNVedited.html, printed 08/15/05.
94 Stefania Rossini, "The Pope's Spokesman, in his own words," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 44; see also Navarro-Valls' resume on his web site, http://www.navarro-valls.info/biography.html, printed 09/15/05.
95 Sandro Magister, "The Vatican and Vaticanologists. A Very Special Kind of Journalism," www.chiesa, June 7, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=32668&eng=y, printed 06/08/05.
96 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 736.
97 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, pp. 804-805.
98 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 805.
99 John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, on-line edition, "Was God At Work In The Fall Of Communism?," http://www.catholic.net/RCC/POPE/HopeBook/chap20.html, printed 09/27/05.
100 Stefania Rossini, "The Pope's Spokesman, in his own words," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 42.
101 Julia Day and Jason Deans, "Slick PR operation accompanies Pope's passing," MediaGuardian.co.uk, April 6, 2005, http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1453219,00.html, printed 09/02/05.
102 Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi, His Holiness, Penguin Books, 1996, p. 400.
103 Tony Barber, "Rise of Opus Dei has liberals concerned over succession," Financial Times, March 5, 2005, http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c80da488-8d1c-11d9-9d37-00000e2511c8.html, printed 03/05/05.
104 Paul Wilkes, "When in Rome," BeliefNet, April 20, 2005, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/163/story_16397_1.html, printed 09/10/05.
105 Sandro Magister, "Lent in the Vatican: The Pope, the Curia, and the Conclave," www.chiesa, February 11, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/printDettaglio.jsp?id=22533&eng=y, printed 09/17/05.
106 Paul Badde, "Georg Gänswein: Soul- & Bodyguard," Inside the Vatican, July 2005, p. 38.
107 Luke Harding and Barbara McMahon, "Thou Shalt Not Drool," UK Guardian, August 23, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1554309,00.html, printed 08/25/05.
108 Sandro Magister, "The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style," www.Chiesa, July 15, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=36194&eng=y, printed 09/10/05.
109 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, July 15, 2005, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word071505.htm, printed 07/15/05.
110 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, July 15, 2005, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word071505.htm, printed 07/15/05.
111 Sandro Magister, "The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style," www.Chiesa, July 15, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=36194&eng=y, printed 09/10/05.
112 EWTN News, "POPE WILL RETURN TO ROME ON SEPTEMBER 28," August 31, 2005, http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=60108, printed 09/10/05. The statue is 5 meters tall.
113 "Pope Unveils Opus Dei Statue," Ansa.it, 09/14/05, http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-09-14_1264282.html, printed 09/14/05.
114 Paul Bedard, "Washington Whispers," USNews.com, July 22, 2003, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/archive/july2003.htm, printed 09/17/05.
115 Radar Online, "Novak's Sect Appeal," http://www.radaronline.com/fresh-intelligence/2005/08/09/index.php, printed 08/18/05.
116 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
117 Charles P. Pierce, "The Crusaders," Boston Globe, November 2, 2003, http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/11/02/the_crusaders/, printed 08/26/05.
118 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, back cover endorsement.
119 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
120 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 320.
121 Reuters, "Opus Dei shuns Da Vinci Code image," July 12, 2005, http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/print/0,1478,3342175a12,00.html, printed 09/23/05.
122 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 154.
123 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
124 Matthew Paris, "Why Ruth Kelly's faith and her politics cannot be separated," London Times, January 29, 2005, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1065-1461005,00.html, printed 08/25/05.
125 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Canonization of Josemaría Escrivá and Mass of Thanksgiving," October 8, 2002, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=4684, printed 09/05/05.
126 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 356-359.
127 Ela Kasprzycka, "Walesa: Pope Inspired Me to Defy Poland," UK Guardian, August 29, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5240549,00.html, printed 09/17/05.
128 Ela Kasprzycka, "Walesa: Pope Inspired Me to Defy Poland," The Intelligencer, August 29, 2005, http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articlePrint.cfm?id=533834, printed 09/17/05.
129 "Passage," Asiaweek.com, August 25, 1995, http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/95/0825/feat4.html, printed 09/23/05, and
130 Marguerite A. Peeters, "Development with a conscience" (interview with Francisco Tatad), Catholic World Report, February 1998, p. 47; "The Martial Law Years," http://www.geocities.com/pinoytv/martiallaw.htm, printed 09/23/05.
131 Victor Agustin, "Squeezed-ia," Inquirer News Service, November 21, 2004, http://money.inq7.net/columns/view_columns.php?yyyy=2004&mon=11&dd=22&file=6, printed 09/23/05.
132 Ashley D'Mello, "Mumbai follows Da Vinci Code," The Times of India Online, September 23, 2004; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arthcleshow/msid-860470,prtpage-1.cms, printed 09/24/04; no longer on-line.
133 Stephen Schwartz, "An Islamic Opus Dei?," Tech Central Station, July 12, 2005, http://www.techcentralstation.com/071205C.html, printed 07/12/05.
134 ZENIT.org News Agency, "How a Rabbi Views Blessed Escrivá," January 14, 2002, http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=22719, printed 01/14/02.
135 Andrea Seton Kirk, "Urbi et Orbi: Rome, Home of the Universal Church," Inside the Vatican, December 2002, p. 59.
136 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, pp. 85-86.
137 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 114.
138 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 126.
139 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. xi.
140 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 67.
141 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 67.
142 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 10.
143 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 5.
144 John Martin, "Leopards in the Temple: Opus Dei, Escriva, and John Paul's Rome," The Remnant Newspaper, June 30, 2002, http://www.odan.org/media_leopards_in_the_temple.htm, printed 09/20/05.
145 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, pp. 1, 4.
146 Fr. Michael O'Carroll, "Opus Dei," in Pope John Paul II: A Dictionary of His Life and Teachings, JMJ Publications, 1994, p. 58.
147 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 9.
148 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 347 from The Way, p. 84.
149 Opus Dei Awareness Network (trans.), 1950 Constitution of Opus Dei, Article 202, http://www.odan.org/Statutes_OD_1950.rtf, printed 09/22/05.
150 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 98. This is a reference to article 116 of the Codex Iuris Particularis Operis Dei.
151 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 978 from The Way, p. 249.
152 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
153 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
154 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
155 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 304.
156 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
157 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
158 John Martin, "Leopards in the Temple: Opus Dei, Escriva, and John Paul's Rome," The Remnant Newspaper, June 30, 2002, http://www.odan.org/media_leopards_in_the_temple.htm, printed 09/20/05.
159 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 121.
160 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, pp. 312-313.
161 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 164.
162 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 304.
163 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 5.
164 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 309.
165 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 189.
166 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 170-171.
167 Jay Dunlap, "Are There Cults in the Catholic Church," LegionaryFacts.org, October 2002, http://www.legionaryfacts.org/cults.html, printed 10/24/03.
168 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 339 from The Way, p. 82.
169 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 123.
170 Information in this paragraph is from Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 112-113.
171 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 113.
172 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 862 from The Way, p. 217.
173 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 54.
174 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 113-114.
175 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 306.
176 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 114-115.
177 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 115.
178 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 119.
179 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 37.
180 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 112.
181 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 146-147.
182 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 173.
183 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 259.
184 Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, 2004, Free Press, p. 168.
185 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 199.
186 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
187 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
188 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 52.
189 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 58-59.
190 Opus Dei Awareness Network (trans.), 1950 Constitution of Opus Dei, Articles 189-191 http://www.odan.org/Statutes_OD_1950.rtf, printed 09/22/05.
191 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 105.
192 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 106.
193 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 194.
194 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 64.
195 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, pp. 50-51.
196 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 53.
197 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, p. 117.
198 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
199 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
200 Joseph Loconte, "How to Really Keep the Commandments in Alabama ­ and Elsewhere," Christianity Today, September 3, 2003, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/135/31.0.html, printed 09/18/05.
201 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 197.
202 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 110-111.
203 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 55.
204 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 111.
205 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 175 from The Way, p. 39.
206 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 182 from The Way, p. 40.
207 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 207 from The Way, p. 45.
208 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 208 from The Way, p. 47.
209 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 226 from The Way, p. 50.
210 Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, 2004, Free Press, p. 243.
211 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 111-112.
212 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, pp. 116-117.
213 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
214 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 424 from The Way, p. 104.
215 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 37.
216 Catholic Culture, "Site Review for Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN)," July 28, 2005, http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=2205, printed 09/17/05.
217 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, p. 115.
218 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 61 from The Way, p. 14.
219 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxims 66, 67 from The Way, pp. 15-16.
220 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 75 from The Way, p. 17.
221 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 387 from The Way, p. 95.
222 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 398 from The Way, p. 97.
223 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 399 from The Way, p. 97.
224 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 457 from The Way, p. 110.
225 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 617 from The Way, p. 153.
226 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 936 from The Way, p. 239.
227 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 941 from The Way, p. 239.
228 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 926 from The Way, pp. 235-236.
229 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 53 from The Way, p. 11.
230 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 833 from The Way, p. 209.
231 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 643 from The Way, p. 160.
232 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 650 from The Way, p. 161.
233 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 849 from The Way, p. 214.
234 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 979 from The Way, p. 249.
235 These questions are derived from the analysis by the MGR Foundation, "Simple questions to ask yourself ... before joining an overly zealous religious group," http://www.mgr.org/SimpleQuestions.html, printed 08/27/04.
236 John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Spire Books/Fleming H. Revell Co., 1972, ch. 5, p. 67
237 C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1946, p. 288.

Postado por Pour toi Tarkan... mon amour... às 07:38 0 comentários



Opus Dei And The Da Vinci Code
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/journals/J2902/index.php


Opus Dei
And The Da Vinci Code
Part i
By Lee Penn

SCP JOURNAL 29:2-29:3
















The Da Vinci Code


an Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, has given worldwide notoriety to an influential, growing Roman Catholic religious movement: Opus Dei (which means "the work of God"). Is it true, as Brown claims, that Opus Dei is a powerful, ruthless, secret cult within the Catholic Church?
Brown begins his novel with a tantalizing promise: that his tale is solidly based on facts. The novel's first page says: "Fact: The Priory of Sion--a European secret society founded in 1099--is a real organization. ... The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification.' Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."1
Immediately thereafter, the action begins: Silas, an albino monk from Opus Dei, attacks a Louvre curator (a member of the Priory of Sion) in order to get the secret location of the Holy Grail--a treasure that would make the head of Opus Dei "the most powerful man in Christendom."2 The monk then shoots the curator in the stomach, and says these parting words to the fatally wounded occultist: "Pain is good, monsieur."3 Having murdered four people so far that night, Silas returns to his Opus Dei dormitory to do penance for his sins.
Brown's tale highlights the hypocrisy and twisted sensuality of this fictional zealot: "When Silas hung up the phone, his skin tingled with anticipation. ... I must purge my soul of today's sins. The sins committed today had been holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured. Even so, Silas knew, absolution required sacrifice. Pulling his shades, he stripped naked and knelt in the center of the room. Looking down, he examined the spiked cilice belt clamped around his thigh. All true followers of The Way wore this device--a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ's suffering. The pain caused by the device also helped counteract the desires of the flesh. ... Exhaling softly, he savored the cleansing ritual of his pain. Pain is good, Silas whispered, repeating the sacred mantra of Father Josemaría Escrivá--the Teacher of all Teachers. ... Silas turned his attention now to a heavy knotted rope coiled neatly on the floor beside him. The Discipline. The knots were caked with dried blood. Eager for the purifying effects of his own agony, Silas said a quick prayer. ... He whipped it over his shoulder again, slashing at his flesh. Again and again, he lashed. Castigo corpus meum. Finally, he felt the blood begin to flow."4 After this sacrifice, Silas puts on his hooded monastic robe and heads out to his next errand, during which he will beat a liberal nun to death with a candle stand from the altar of the Church of Saint-Sulpice.5
Throughout the rest of the book, Brown sets out his allegations against Opus Dei: its wealth and global influence, the coincidence between its billion-dollar gift to the Vatican's "bank" (the Institute for Religious Works) and its recognition in 1982 by Pope John Paul II as a "personal prelature," the hasty canonization of Escrivá (the founder of Opus Dei), the cult's secretiv eness and deceptive recruitment practices, its $47 million headquarters in New York City, its discrimination against women, its bishops with a queer taste for jewels and religious finery, and the damaging espionage by Robert Hanssen (a devout Opus Dei member) on behalf of the Soviet Union. Brown also advises readers of a real organization, the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN), an anti-cult/survivor group. Brown even provides readers the ODAN web address, www.odan.org.6
Along with his brief against Opus Dei, Brown offers an anti-Christian revision of the last 2000 years of history. As he tells it, the early Church followed Christ as a moral leader, but did not worship him as the Son of God. Only by a vote at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did the Church recognize the divinity of Christ. It was the Roman emperor Constantine, a pagan, who directed what was to go in the Bible, and what was to be suppressed. In came patriarchy, guilt, and oppression; out went the true (Gnostic) gospels, equality and the "divine feminine." The hidden secret of the Holy Grail, according to Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, fathered a child, and that their descendants became the Merovingian kings of France. This royal blood line persists, in deepest secrecy, to this day.
At the end, Brown's feminist Gnostics win their battle. The novel concludes with one of its heroes worshipping on his knees at the tomb of Mary Magdalene, beneath the inverted glass pyramid at the Louvre. The book's last sentences describe the devotee's rapture: "For a moment, he thought he heard a woman's voice . . . the wisdom of the ages . . . whispering up from the chasms of the earth."7 Meanwhile, Opus Dei's murderous monk Silas is dead, and its money-loving bishop had to confess his part in the crimes to the police. Furthermore, the cult faces suppression by the Catholic Church, under the direction of a liberal Pope. It turns out that Opus Dei's death-dealing quest for the Grail secret was done under the covert direction of the Priory of Sion, itself the custodian of the treasured knowledge. With cunning, and by playing on the fear and power-lust of the head of Opus Dei, the Priory had "implicated Opus Dei in the plot that would soon bring about the demise of the entire Church."8
The Da Vinci Code is a novel for our times, a clever fantasy that appeals to those who are ignorant of (and nevertheless resent) Christian teaching. The Code's account of Jewish and Christian history contains many easily refuted errors. Jews did not believe that the male God resided with "Shekinah," his female consort, inside the Holy of Holies. Christians worshipped Jesus as the Son of God from the time of the Resurrection; this belief was not the result of a "relatively close vote" 9 in the Council of Nicaea. Jesus did not marry, have children, and begin a hidden royal dynasty. The Templars were orthodox Catholics, not covert devotees of "sacred sex" and the "divine feminine." The proto-Masonic Priory of Sion described by Brown is not a secret society dating back to 1099; it is a hoax perpetrated by a French charlatan in the mid-1950s.10
Is Brown's criticism of Opus Dei any more reliable than his comic-book version of Christian theology and Church history?
Here, the story becomes complicated. On the one hand, some of Brown's charges about the movement are correct. As this article will show, Opus Dei fully deserves its reputation as a cult within the Catholic Church. Members of the cult's inner circle, the numeraries, do indeed punish themselves with the whip and the cilice. However, Brown's truthful accusations against the movement are mixed with glaring errors. Opus Dei is not a religious order. It has no monks--especially, none who wear hooded habits. Opus Dei seeks its leaders among the social and intellectual elite; it is most unlikely that an escaped convict (such as Brown's "Silas") would be taken with open arms into the inner circle of the movement.
Brown offers his truths and falsehoods about Opus Dei within a novel that attacks the Christian faith at its roots. Therefore, most traditionally minded Christians who read The Da Vinci Code may be prone to reject all of the criticisms of Opus Dei as lies, just as they (rightly) reject Brown's false accounts of Christian history and doctrine. One axiom of marketing is, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." With the publication of The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei is now known to more than 18 million readers worldwide.11 When the film version of Brown's book is released next year, millions more will learn of the movement. That's a lot of free advertising, and the kind of ad that may make conservative readers in all confessions say, "if that liberal idiot Brown is criticizing Opus Dei, they can't be all bad. Indeed, they might be just what the Church needs now."
Could it be that Brown has performed a service to Opus Dei, knowingly or otherwise?12 Could this explain why Brown acknowledges getting "generous assistance" from--among others--"three active"13 members of Opus Dei? Opus Dei member Bernardo Estrada, who teaches the New Testament in Rome, took a calm view of the book in an interview with the Washington Post: "Anyone with a historical and religious base can refute it. I rather liked it, it's a good thriller."14 In early 2005, the British press spokesman for Opus Dei said, "Ten million people have now heard of Opus Dei thanks to The Da Vinci Code. That can only be a good thing--2005 is going to be the year of Opus Dei."15
The Da Vinci Code's Italian publisher, Mondadori, was founded by a man who was "an admirer of Opus Dei."16 In 1994, the same publisher had released a Papal best-seller--Crossing the Threshold of Hope, an extended interview done by a pro-Opus journalist. Mondadori also has published a "big print-run edition" of Escrivá's The Way.17
Opus Dei is giving "exclusive access" 18 to Great Projects Film Company and to the distributor CABLEready to produce a TV program about the movement, "Decoding Opus Dei." It will be released in May 2006, "in conjunction with the worldwide premiere of Ron Howard's feature film based on the novel and starring Tom Hanks."19 The TV producer from Great Projects says, "Thanks to the access we've received from the group, we'll be able to provide viewers with a fair and honest account of the organization."20 Churchmen can advertise, just as businessmen can; churchmen have known about the dialectics of propaganda, mass movements, social change and political power long before these techniques were taken up by Marxists.
At this point, we can leave behind Dan Brown (and his confusing alloy of truth, exaggerations, and falsehoods about Opus Dei), and set forth the facts about this fast-growing, influential new religious movement.21

Just the facts about "The Way"
Fr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-1975) founded Opus Dei in Madrid, Spain on October 2, 1928, in response to what his followers call a "celestial vision."22 On that day, according to the biography prepared for his beatification, Escrivá was on a religious retreat in Madrid, and "God saw fit to illuminate him; he saw Opus Dei, as God wanted it, and as it would have to be, over the course of centuries."23
The movement was initially all-male, but began admitting women in 1930. The world headquarters is in Rome; it "has no religious name, nor has it been placed under the protection of some saint or title of Mary, as is customary for Catholic orders, congregations, and institutions."24
As of 2004, Opus Dei had 84,541 members, including 1,875 priests (2.2% of the total).25 This represented an increase of 13% from the 1991 total membership of 74,710. The number of Opus Dei priests grew 35% from the 1991 level,26 during a period in which the total number of Catholic priests worldwide was virtually unchanged.27 (These priests, members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, are selected and trained from among the laymen in Opus Dei.) Another 2,000 diocesan priests are associated with the movement.28
More than half of all Opus Dei members, about 49,000, are in continental Europe; there are about 26,000 in Latin America, about 5,000 in Asia and the Pacific islands, and about 1,600 in Africa.29 Opus Dei is "established" now in 60 countries, and says that in the last decade, it became active in Croatia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Uganda.30 As soon as Communism fell, Opus Dei opened its "pastoral centers" in Poland, and supplied funds and staff to "help establish an effective Roman Catholic Church" in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic.31
There are 3,000 Opus Dei members in the US.32 The movement has been in this country since 1949, and has centers in 14 states, with "activities in many other states."33 In the US, there is one Opus Dei college (Lexington College, "the only all-women's college of hospitality management in the United States"34), 5 high schools, 60 centers for retreats and spiritual formation, and many tutoring programs for high school and college students.35 Forbes magazine reports that the movement can "easily raise $49 million or so every year in this country"36--which works out to a fundraising yield of $16,000 per American Opus Dei member per year. Opus Dei in Britain has about 520 members, and a net worth of about 20 million British pounds37--in dollar terms, about $35.4 million, or $68,000 per member.
There are different levels of membership in Opus Dei. Prospective members ask to join Opus Dei, and make a mutual commitment--in writing--with the movement. This may be an annual contract, or--after at least five such renewals--a lifetime agreement, the "fidelity." An Opus Dei book says that "the Opus Dei faithful bind themselves to put into practice the ascetical, formative, and apostolic commitments specified in the Prelature's own statutes, to fulfill the disciplinary norms regulating Opus Dei's life," and to support themselves, their families, and the movement through their own profession.38
* At the top are the numeraries, lay men and women who live in separate sections of Opus Dei houses, hold jobs in the secular world, and are celibate. (As Escrivá said in The Way, "Marriage is for the rank and file, not for the officers of Christ's army."39) They turn over most of their salaries, administration of their property, and their wills to the movement.40 About 20% of Opus Dei members are numeraries. One qualification for this membership level is having, or showing the ability to obtain, a doctoral degree.41
In addition to their jobs, members have religious tasks: daily attendance at Mass, a half hour of mental prayer in the morning and again at night, daily spiritual reading (including the New Testament and other movement-approved books), daily recital of the Rosary, a nightly examination of conscience, a day per month of spiritual retreat, and an annual retreat of several days.42
* Women numerary assistants are responsible for housekeeping in Opus Dei centers.43 Of their work, Escrivá said, "the work of one of my daughters in Opus Dei who works in domestic employment is just as important as that of one who has a title. In either case all I am concerned about is that the work they do should be a means and an occasion for personal sanctification and the sanctification of their neighbor."44
Associates, about 10% of the membership, are celibate and live outside the movement's centers.
Supernumeraries, about 70% of Opus Dei members, are men and women who live on their own, pursue their own careers, and center their religious life on the movement. Most are married.
In addition, there are "tens of thousands" of cooperators who support the movement with prayer, money, and time.45 Since 1950, Opus Dei has allowed non-Catholics--and, indeed, non-Christians--to be cooperators. A pro-Opus Dei journalist says, "Opus Dei is the first institution in the Church that calls for the organized collaboration of non-Catholics, non-Christians, agnostics, and atheists."46
Since 1982, Opus Dei has been a personal prelature, the only such Catholic organization. A personal prelature is like a global diocese, a semi-autonomous "church within the Church." Opus Dei members are under the spiritual direction of the head of the prelature, rather than of the bishop of the diocese where they live. With this structure, the movement can promote its "distinctive spirituality and more effectively deploy its priests across national and diocesan boundaries"47--and can do so without interference from local bishops. Opus Dei is governed worldwide from Rome by its Prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarría. The head of the movement in the US, the Very Rev. Thomas Bohlin, reports to the Prelate,48 who reports to Congregation of Bishops--a Vatican department that reports to the Pope.
Opus Dei says that it aims "to help people live by the Gospel in their daily activities and make Christ present in every endeavor. Opus Dei focuses on work and daily life as an occasion for spiritual growth and an opportunity to contribute to a better world. Opus Dei also emphasizes divine filiation, unity of life, prayer and sacrifice, charity, apostolate, and fidelity to the Pope."49 (Divine filiation is confident awareness of being a child of God.)
The movement explains, "The chief activity of people in Opus Dei is personal effort to grow in holiness, be apostolic, and improve society. In support of these efforts, Opus Dei provides spiritual direction, prayer and study circles, evenings of recollection, retreats, classes, and workshops. These activities take place in an Opus Dei center, or in a church, office or private home. People in Opus Dei also join with each other and non-members in organizing educational, charitable, and cultural activities, which frequently include spiritual formation carried out by Opus Dei. Examples in the United States include The Heights and Oakcrest schools near Washington, D.C., and the Metro and Midtown Achievement Programs for inner-city youth in Chicago."50 The movement sponsors universities in Rome, Spain (most notably, the University of Navarre), and Latin America, and enjoys "prodigious success in fund-raising for its works."51
Fr. McCloskey, an Opus Dei priest who has brought several prominent politicians and media stars into the Catholic Church, offered a 12-point program for spiritual growth for the well-off. It included these points: "Live modestly, given your wealth and position. ... Give and give generously--now--following the suggestion of Mother Teresa: 'Give until it hurts.' ... Leave very little money to your children. .... Have a big family; you can afford it! ... Throw out or give away what you don't need. ... Live order and neatness in the care of material items. ... Avoid impulse buying, whims, and caprices. ... Avoid occasions of sin, remote or proximate, in respect to buying and shopping ... Make time for at least one corporal work of mercy each week ... Follow the Way of the Cross and meditate often on our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. ... Make poverty, detachment, and generosity a regular topic in your sacramental confession and spiritual direction."52 This advice seems to combine St. Francis with Benjamin Franklin.
When its goals and works are described thus, Opus Dei seems to be a benign organization, one that any faithful Christian could accept. However, the movement and its followers apply these principles in ways that have nothing to do with Gospel teaching. In this respect, the stated goals of Opus Dei are akin to the Charter of the United Religions Initiative--glittering generalities that can be interpreted by the movement's leaders and allies as they wish, in furtherance of their own religio-political agenda.

A Rising power in the Catholic Church

The power of Opus Dei is growing in the Vatican and in the Catholic Church worldwide.
There are now two Opus Dei cardinals: Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima Peru (since 2001), and Julián Herranz Casado, the president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (since 2003).53 The movement's supporters are rising in the congregations of the Curia, while opponents are marginalized or made to retire.54 As John Allen noted, "Opus Dei does seem disproportionately represented in the Roman curia" for an organization of its size.55
There are 18 active Opus Dei bishops worldwide: the movement's own prelate, 1 in Africa, 3 in Europe, and 12 in Latin America.56 The US now has one Opus Dei bishop--José H. Gómez, Archbishop of San Antonio, formerly the president of the National Association of Hispanic Priests and vicar of Opus Dei in Texas.57 Of the 18 bishops, 13 were consecrated in 1990 or later58--further evidence of a rising Opus Dei presence in the Catholic Church. Other hierarchs who are not members--Cardinal George Pell of Australia,59 among many others--approve of the movement.
The founder of Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá, was canonized (declared to be a saint) by John Paul II in October 2002. The Pope described him as "the saint of ordinary life,"60 and said that Escrivá's message was "to raise the world to God and transform it from within ... spread in society, without distinction of race, class, culture, or age, the awareness that we are called to holiness ... force yourselves to be saints, cultivating an evangelical style of humility and service."61 On the day after the canonization, John Paul II said Escrivá taught that "we are in the world to save it with Christ. ... This saintly priest taught that Christ must be the apex of all human activity. ... His message impels the Christian to act in places where the future of society is being shaped."62 Cardinal Harranz said that Escrivá "will be a saint who embodies the Second Vatican Council," which emphasized the role of the laity in the Church.63
Escrivá was granted sainthood only 27 years after his death, the fastest canonization in the last 500 years.64 Escrivá's supporters covered the "more than $350,000" costs for the canonization investigation.65 Critics of the beatification (which occurred in 1992, and is the step before canonization) allege that opponents were not allowed to testify to the investigators, and that the process was not halted when two of the nine judges asked for this to be done.66 It appears that the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints held that "ex-members of orders and associations always produced negative evidence in such cases but that the policy of the Congregation was to ignore it."67 Nevertheless, one-third of the world's Catholic bishops had petitioned Rome to beatify Escrivá.68 One of these supporters--according to a pro-Opus Dei journalist--was Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was martyred in 1980 at his cathedral's altar in 1980 by right-wing assassins.69
The Vatican backs up this canonization with the claim that it is an infallible decision. A 1997 decree by Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith says that "truths connected to revelation by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively" by Catholics include "the canonizations of saints (dogmatic facts)."70 Catholics must assent, based on "faith in the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Magisterium and on the Catholic doctrine of the infallibility of the Magisterium."71 A pre-Vatican II theological manual explains that "if the Church could err in her opinion" that "a member of the Church has been assumed into eternal bliss and may be the object of general veneration," "consequences would arise which would be incompatible with the sanctity of the Church."72 So, the Vatican now says that whoever "denies these truths"--including the accuracy of canonizations--"would be in a position of rejecting a truth of Catholic doctrine and would therefore no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church."73
The leader of the cause for Escrivá's canonization claims that there have been "more than 120,000 testimonies of spiritual and material favors received through the intercession of St. Josemaría Escrivá" from his death in 1975 to his canonization in 2002, and he has placed 200 of these into a book, Favors We Ask of the Saints.74 Journalist Vittorio Messori says that the "'favors,' 'graces,' and 'prodigies' obtained through the intercession of Monsignor Escrivá" since his death are "unprecedented in the annals of the Church."75
In March 2004, the Vatican opened an investigation to determine whether Escrivá's successor as head of Opus Dei, Bishop Álvaro del Portillo, should be canonized. Cardinal Camillo Ruini "spoke of the notable cures and the thousands of other spiritual and material favors attributed to the intercession of Bishop del Portillo, which demonstrate the 'spread of private devotion to the Servant of God'."76 Additionally, Opus Dei is seeking the canonization of seven other members.77
It seems that Opus Dei is trying to earn a Guinness Book of World Records prize for cranking out "saints" and "miracles." The open question is: if so much spiritual grace and light is produced through this movement and its avatars, why is the world (including Opus Dei's home country, Spain) heading into a moral abyss?
Opus Dei was in favor under Pope Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958. During 1943, with World War II at its height, it took less than 6 months for the Vatican to approve creation of Escrivá's "Priestly Society of the Holy Cross" as an adjunct to Opus Dei.78 In 1947, less than 12 months after the founder made the request to Pius XII, the Pope made Opus Dei and its priestly affiliate a "secular pontifical institute." This gave the movement what Opus Dei historians describe as "universal juridical standing" and "convenient internal autonomy," protecting it from "incomprehension and persecution."79 In 1950, Pius XII made the "pontifical institute" status permanent, and approved the movement's charter and statutes; in 1952, he appointed Cardinal Federico Tedeschini as "Protector" of Opus Dei.80 Tad Szulc, a biographer of John Paul II, notes that "very quietly, Opus Dei was acquiring influence all over the world, at strategic points in Church establishments and ... very discreetly in political and business circles." 81
However, the movement and its founder were at arms length (at best) with Popes John XXIII (1958-1963) and Paul VI (1963-1978). As an Italian newspaper notes, "Between 1967 and 1973, when Opus Dei already numbered 40,000 Catholics, Pope Paul VI refused even to meet Escriva, wanting to draw a clear line between himself and the regime of General Franco in Spain."82 A Catholic journalist, Michael Walsh, has said, "Popes before the present one [John Paul II, at the time Walsh wrote] can hardly be said to have been enthusiastic in their endorsement of Opus, and for every bishop who welcomes Opus into his diocese it is clear that there are many who either will not accept them, or are unhappy at finding them installed in their jurisdiction when they take up their appointments."83 During his lifetime, Escrivá never became a bishop; the four Popes who reigned from 1928 to 1975 (from the establishment of Opus Dei until the founder's death) did not grant this promotion to him. Escrivá repaid these popes with public obeisance and private derision. He said of Pius XII, "Let's see if he leaves us in peace once and for all, and the Lord God in his infinite mercy takes him to heaven," and referred to John XXIII as "a hick," and called Paul VI "an old Jesuit"--which was not a compliment.84
With the election of Pope John Paul II in October 1978, Opus Dei came in from the cold.
George Weigel said, "Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had long been sympathetic to the Work and had spoken to one of its student centers in Rome during the 1970s. Opus Dei's stress on sanctifying the workplace through apostolically committed professional men and women paralleled his own understanding of one of the key themes of Vatican II."85 Opus Dei returned the favor, and began sending funds to Wojtyla's Polish archdiocese before 1978.86 They also published a collection of the speeches that the Cardinal had made when visiting Opus Dei centers.87 When Wojtyla went to Rome for the 1978 conclave that would elect him to the Papacy, he went to the Opus Dei headquarters and prayed at Escrivá's tomb.88 (This was one of numerous Roman shrines that he visited.)

* The Pope granted Opus Dei's long-stalled request for "personal prelature" status in 1982, granting global freedom of action to the movement. He was fulfilling a promise that he had made secretly to the movement on November 15, 1978--within the first month of his reign.89 The Pope made this decision in the face of negative votes by Italian and French bishops, and opposition by 55 of the 64 Spanish bishops.90
* That same year, John Paul II made Álvaro del Portillo, Escrivá's successor as head of Opus Dei, a bishop. (Portillo was head of the movement from 1975 until 1994, and had been Escrivá's closest collaborator for 40 years.91) Portillo's successor, Javier Echevarría, was raised to the episcopate in 1995, the year after he became the head of Opus Dei.
As noted above, John Paul II hastened Escrivá's canonization. By recognizing him as a saint, John Paul II stated that Escrivá is in Heaven, and that his life is a worthy example to the faithful, and that people have gained miraculous results from his intercession on their behalf. At the least, the beatification and canonization of Escrivá blunts criticism of Opus Dei within the Catholic Church.
* In 1984, John Paul II selected Joaquín Navarro-Valls (a lay Opus Dei numerary since 1960) as his press secretary. He was part of the Papal inner circle, and (along with Papal secretary Dziwisz) had day-to-day, direct access to the Pontiff.92 In April 2005, the press secretary said, "I have been fortunate to be next to him day after day, in his apartment as well as traveling with him--including during his vacations. Many of the photographs that are in circulation where he can be seen in the country, in the latter part of his life, were taken by me."93 Navarro-Valls has been an actor, a psychiatrist and a journalist. His first non-medical publication was a book, Manipulation in Advertising; this was followed by "two essays in evolutionary psychology."94
Sandro Magister--an experienced, orthodox Catholic reporter--wrote, "As an editorial promoter, Navarro thought up and in 1994 launched the most widely read and translated book by John Paul II: the interview conducted by Vittorio Messori entitled Crossing the threshold of hope."95 The book was published simultaneously in the major world languages.96 In 1997, Massimo D'Alema, the leader of the Italian Democratic Party of the Left (the current "moderate" incarnation of the Italian Communist Party) said that Crossing the Threshold of Hope was the one book on his bedside table.97 D'Alema--who would go on to become Prime Minister of Italy in 1998-2000--said that he had been impressed by the Pope's analysis of the fall of Communism and his insistence that "the society of the future" had to be built around a "quest for values."98 (In the book, John Paul said, "it would be simplistic to say that Divine Providence caused the fall of Communism. In a certain sense Communism as a system fell by itself. It fell as a consequence of its own mistakes and abuses. It proved to be a medicine more dangerous than the disease itself. It did not bring about true social reform, yet it did become a powerful threat and challenge to the entire world. But it fell by itself, because of its own inherent weakness."99)
The Papal press secretary has used his skills to manage the news from the Vatican. Journalist Stefania Rossini says that Navarro-Valls "relies upon his proficiency in conversation, his artfully crafted allure, and the mastery of communication that has allowed him to transform the murky, homespun Vatican press office into a smooth media machine."100 Anglican journalist Ruth Gledhill said of this office, "It is all about spin and control. ... It works very much like any political press office. Access is very much given to people who can be trusted to toe the line."101 Navarro-Valls gave preferential treatment to TV reporters; journalists Bernstein and Politi say, "On the TV screen, as the pope and Navarro-Valls well understood, glory would invariably overshadow problems, emotion would overwhelm insight. And uncomfortable questions from print reporters would be drowned out."102
* During the Pope's final year, Cardinal Herranz, an Opus Dei member, "emerged as one of the five or six prelates closest to John Paul."103
It's a given that that Benedict XVI will continue the prior Pope's strong support for "The Way."
* A post-Conclave report indicates that Opus Dei support was critical to Ratzinger's election this spring: "According to aides to two non-American cardinals, Ratzinger entered the conclave with significant backing: Julian Herranz of Spain, head of the Vatican's department for interpreting legislative texts; Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia, head of the department in charge of the clergy; and Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. All three have ties to the conservative renewal movement Opus Dei."104 Two months before the Conclave, an orthodox Catholic reporter on Vatican affairs had predicted this outcome: "the Opus Dei cardinal most active in view of the conclave is Julián Herranz ... Ratzinger's leap to the top of the list of candidates for the papacy is also due to him; it took shape at the suppers for cardinals that Herranz organized at Opus Dei's heavily guarded villa in the Roman countryside."105
Opus Dei remains prominent in the Pope's inner circle. Ratzinger's personal secretary is a Bavarian priest and expert on canon law, Georg Gänswein.106 He has been on Ratzinger's staff since 1996, and has been his personal secretary since 2003. (Gänswein also had been "a trusted confidant of the last Pope, who made him a chaplain in 2000."107) Until 2005, Gänswein "taught at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the Rome university of Opus Dei,"108 although he is not a member of the movement.109 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith includes three Opus Dei advisors, one of whom (Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz) is the movement's vicar-general, its second in command.110
Benedict XVI has retained Navarro-Valls as his press secretary, even though he does not have "the direct and osmotic relationship that he had with John Paul II. He can no longer permit himself to model and amplify the pope's gestures, statements, and performance."111
On September 14--the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a solemn Catholic remembrance of the Cross as the sign of Christ's victory--Benedict XVI blessed a 16-foot statue of Escrivá that has been placed in a niche on the outside wall of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.112 The statue bears coats of arms for John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and joins the 400 saints' statues that are already at the Basilica.113
Without the support of the two most recent Popes, Opus Dei would not have risen to its present influence in the Catholic Church.


Opus Dei influence in Washington DC and worldwide
Opus Dei is prominent in Republican circles in Washington DC. Opus Dei priest Fr. C. John McCloskey baptized conservative columnist Robert Novak into the Catholic Church in 1998. In 2003, he received Judge Robert Bork into the Catholic Church (but not into Opus Dei); Bork's sponsors included John O'Sullivan, the head of United Press International.114 A recent report says, "McCloskey is also believed to have brought other high-profile Washington conservatives into the group, including book publisher Alfred Regnery, Republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, and Novak's former CNN colleague, Larry Kudlow. No prominent Democrats are known to be members of Opus Dei."115 Among others who "have been pegged as Opus Dei sympathizers or friends" are Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa).116 One of the volunteers at the Catholic Information Center, where McCloskey has worked, is Linda Poindexter, "the wife of Iran-contra figure and Bush administration official John Poindexter."117
The neo-conservative guru George Gilder gave the movement extravagant praise in 1994: "Baring a secret sword of goodness and truth, Opus Dei is the most important spiritual movement of our time."118 In 2003, Deal Hudson, the then-publisher of Crisis (a conservative, Republican-Party oriented Catholic magazine) said of Opus Dei, "It has called people to serious spirituality and given them a deeper understanding of the Church at a time when few pe ople have a real grasp of the faith. ... It looks radical from where we are as a culture, but from the point of view of the Church, it is a call to friendship with God."119
The movement's influence is worldwide.
In Spain, according to a late-1980s report from journalist Peggy Lernoux, "Opus Dei followers are strategically placed in the Spanish press, and Spanish sources claim that members control more than 1,500 companies and financial entities. The 'Work' also has followers in the police and the military, center-right parties, particularly the Alianza Popular, and the court of King Juan Carlos."120 Reuters describes the movement's continuing power there now: "Opus founded Spain's most prestigious business school, IESE, and executives at some of the country's top companies are said to be sympathisers. Spain's third largest bank Banco Popular donated 21 million euros [about $25 million in US dollars] ... last year to charities linked to Opus. Opus' Navarre University has been responsible for producing some of the country's highest achievers. Its respected journalism school claims to have produced more than half of the editors of Spain's national newspapers."121 Archduke Otto von Habsburg "reportedly became one of Opus Dei's most treasured Old Guard supernumeraries."122
Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of Education in the Blair government in the United Kingdom, is an Opus Dei supernumerary.123 She responded to her critics--those alarmed by her membership in the movement--by saying "I have a private spiritual life and I have a faith. It is a private spiritual life and I don't think it is relevant to my job."124 (Such a separation between work and faith is totally contrary to Opus Dei's stated aim of sanctifying all of society through members' work.)
Lech Walesa, the Solidarity union leader who had cooperated with John Paul II to weaken the Communist regime in Poland, attended the canonization of Escrivá in 2002. Walesa said, "At last we have a saint for the workers."125 This homage reflected Walesa's debt to Opus Dei. From 1980 onward, the Vatican, Opus Dei, and the CIA had cooperated to get funds, intelligence, and supplies across the Iron Curtain to Solidarity, the anti-communist union that Walesa headed.126 In 2005, Walesa told the Polish parliament that Solidarity had paved the way for globalization: "Irrespective of today's judgment and the price we had to pay in this generation, we were able to close an epoch of divisions, different blocs and borders, opening the way for an era of globalization."127 In reply, "Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former communist, said Walesa and other Solidarity leaders deserved the gratitude of all Poles for ushering in the democracy that led to Poland becoming a NATO and European Union member."128
Opus Dei members in the Philippines include Francisco Tatad, a senator129 and former cabinet member and government press secretary during the Marcos dictatorship,130 and Jose Cuisia, the former governor of the country's central bank.131 Opus Dei is "slowly gaining influence among the Catholic clergy in India," including among the bishops in Mumbai and New Delhi.132
Opus Dei has its non-Catholic admirers, as well. Stephen Schwartz, a Jewish neoconservative convert to Sufi Islam, recently urged creation of "a Muslim equivalent of Opus Dei--reinforcing a conservative and traditional view of faith while embodying contemporary capitalist principles, modernizing education, and fostering the common good."133 Angel Kreiman, an Opus Dei cooperator who is international vice-president of the World Council of Synagogues and a member of the executive committee of the International Council of Christians and Jews, said in 2002,"Many of Josemaría Escrivá's concepts call to mind the Talmudic tradition and reveal his profound knowledge of the Jewish world, as well as his passionate love, as he openly repeated, for two Jews, Jesus and Mary. ... Moreover, that which most likens his teachings to Judaism is the vocation of man to serve God through creative work, perfecting creation every day, through perfection in work."134 Inside the Vatican reported in 2002 that "although there are few Catholics in China, Opus Dei has many co-operators ... in the country. An entire youth group made the journey from China for the canonization [of Escrivá] and not a single one was Catholic."135


Opus Dei:
to last "until the end of time"?

Escrivá expected Opus Dei to persist and grow until the end of history. In 1966, he told the New York Times, "The task that awaits us is immense. It is a sea without shores, for as long as there are men on earth, no matter how much the techniques of production may change, they will have some type of work that can be offered to God and sanctified. With God's grace, Opus Dei wants to teach them how to make their work an act of service to all men of every condition, race, and religion. Serving men in this way, they will serve God."136 In 1968, Escrivá predicted that Opus Dei "will never have any problems of adaptation to the world: it will never find itself in need of being brought up to date." 137 In the newsletter Crónica he said, "Not only will the Work never die, it will never grow old." 138
Opus Dei followers assign the same eternal significance to their movement. Escrivá's successor said in the early 1990s: "our founder's message and example are not just for a few but for millions of men and women until the end of time."139 A pro-Opus Dei journalist said that the October 2, 1928 foundation of the movement is "celebrated the world over by the me mbers of Opus Dei, not so much as the anniversary of a foundation or revelation of a divine project, but as an 'instrument of sanctification' issuing from the unfathomable depths of eternity and destined to last as long as the Church--until the end of time when faith waits for the victorious and glorious return of Christ."140


Cultic practices

The movement's defenders say that Opus Dei is misunderstood and slandered; they cite The Da Vinci Code as the most recent instance of this. Instead, Opus Dei supporters urge us to attend to the movement's holiness, orthodoxy, and good works. In 1966, Escrivá avowed his love for freedom: "We detest tyranny, especially in the exclusively spiritual government of Opus Dei. We love pluralism."141
For decades--in Europe, the US, Latin America, and elsewhere--a different story has emerged from former Opus Dei members. These witnesses independently testify to abusive, cultic beliefs and practices in Opus Dei--teachings and actions that have been integral to the movement since its beginning. The testimony comes from--among many others--Fr. Vladimir Felzmann, a Catholic priest in Great Britain (an Opus Dei member from 1959 to 1982 who had been a personal friend of Escrivá),142 John Roche, of Linacre College at Oxford143 (who had been an Opus Dei member for 13 years, 1959 to 1972),144 and María del Carmen Tapia (a Spanish woman who had been an Opus Dei member for 18 years, from 1948 to 1966, was head of the women's section in Venezuela for 10 years, and lived for several years at the movement's Rome headquarters).145
In a laudatory essay about Opus Dei, the author of a book about the teachings of John Paul II confirms that the movement is "recruiting membership among the professional classes, with a preponderance of upper middle class members."146 María del Carmen Tapia, who joined Opus Dei in 1948, described the appeal that the movement had for young Spaniards in the 1940s: "Father Escrivá offered the great adventure: to give up everything without getting anything in return; to conquer the world for Christ's church;" he challenged students to excel in their work "with the aim of attaining a high position in the intellectual world, and then offering it to Christ."147 In The Way, Escrivá said, "In order that he [Christ] may reign in the world, it is necessary to have people of prestige who with their eyes fixed on heaven, dedicate themselves to all human activities, and through these activities exercise quietly--and effectively--an apostolate of professional character."148
The 1950 constitution for the movement emphasized the importance of "public office" for the movement's mission: "A particular means of apostolate of the Institute are the public offices, especially those which carry the exercise of leadership."149 The 1982 canon law governing Opus Dei says that members should "have special concern for intellectuals, those of high office or status, because of the great weight they carry in civil society."150 They are practicing what Escrivá taught: "Men, like fish, have to be caught by the head. What evangelical depth there is in the intellectual apostolate!"151 Recruitment, then, is to begin with intellectuals and continue on to other groups.
As journalist Michael Walsh notes, Opus Dei's U. S. headquarters building in New York City is on "some of the most expensive real estate in the world"--and the 17-story skyscraper has separate entrances for men and women.152 Auto parking is sex-segregated, as well.153 (Opus Dei says that the separate entrances exist because the building is divided into sections--one is a residence for celibate women, and the other is a residence for celibate men.154)
Journalist Jonathan Kwitny described movement recruitment practices, tactics that seem to come from a Moonie operations manual: "Recruitment is aggressive and covert. The target is not told at first why someone is suddenly befriending him, or the nature of the 'center' where he is invited for a lecture, or what is entailed in joining."155 Opus Dei states that no one can make a "temporary commitment" to join the movement before age 18. Making a "permanent commitment" cannot be done before age 23, and requires "more than 6 years of systematic and comprehensive instruction as to what membership entails."156 Do the math: someone who joins Opus Dei on their 23rd birthday would have begun training by their 17th birthday.
"Evangelization" starts with young teenagers. A recent report from Scotland notes that "In Scotland, both the male and female centres in Glasgow operate sport and activity clubs for children. The Dunreath Club has a junior section for boys aged between ten and 12 and a senior section for those 13-16. Many of those who attend are the children of members, and those who are not require parental permission. The centre's library is available to pupils for private study, which encourages teenagers to become more involved with the group. However, the parent of one teenage boy, who was pursued to join Opus Dei, described its methods as 'spiritual grooming.'"157
For the movement, the next step is to get people to ask to join, in writing. "Saying yes is the beginning of climbing the three rungs on the ladder leading to full Opus Dei membership. First comes 'whistling'--writing a letter asking to join (at which there is much rejoicing in Opus Dei houses). Second, there is the 'admission'--a short ceremony with an Opus Dei priest and an Opus Dei lay director in which the new member agrees to 'live in the spirit of Opus Dei.' Then there is the 'oblation,' which comes a year and a half after whistling, and during which the new member commits his or her life to Opus Dei so seriously that to leave afterward would be a 'grave matter.' Finally, there is the 'fidelity,' five years after the oblation, when the initiate becomes a full member of Opus Dei and is encouraged to make out a will with Opus Dei as the beneficiary. Obviously, all of this presented at one time would not be the sort of thing to put young people in a sign-me-up-right-away frenzy. But when the right doors are opened at the right time and the revelations are gradual, all things are possible. And they're especially possible with the very young: Opus Dei permits children a mere 14 years of age to make an initial commitment. Not only that, but they're allowed to 'whistle' at a mere 16 and a half and make the oblation at 18. They can thus become a full fidelity member at a mere 23."158
An Opus Dei priest said in 1981, "when a youngster says he wants to join we do advise them not to tell their parents. This is because the parents do not understand us."159 Once recruited, young members are kept away from their families.160 These restrictions are especially stringent for women, since Opus Dei fears that should they "be exposed to family events, ties of affection would quickly be restored. Attendance at baptisms and weddings is regarded as particularly dangerous."161
In his biography of Pope John Paul II, Kwitny summarized some of the constraints upon Opus Dei numeraries: "All incoming and outgoing mail must be read by a spiritual director, who also must approve any courses members take, and even what they may read."162 Numeraries sprinkle their beds with holy water before lying down to sleep, as a means of promoting the "difficult virtue" of chastity.163 Women numerararies are to sleep on boards, to curb sexual appetite.164 Male numeraries are to sleep on the floor once a week.165 Additionally, since the late 1960s, numeraries face the "spoliation" each year on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. "On that day the director can come into a numerary's room and remove any object to which the numerary is thought to have become over-attached. 'This could be a teddy bear or a pair of gold cufflinks, but if it happens to be a watch given to you by your mother it hurts,' a former numerary explained."166
An apologist for the Legionaries of Christ (an authoritarian new religious movement in the Catholic Church that competes for the same market niche as Opus Dei) defends such practices as commonplace in "consecrated life in the Church": "The opening of mail, however, is a practice in communal religious life that dates back centuries; it is an expression of the freedom and openness of Christians in community with no secrets from one another."167
In Opus Dei education, members are expected to shun books which the movement considers heterodox or dangerous--an application of one of Escrivá's maxims in The Way: "Books. Don't buy them without advice from a Catholic who has real knowledge and discernment. It's so easy to buy something useless or harmful."168 As a result, students in the philosophy program at Navarre University, the flagship Opus Dei university in Spain, found that Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Hegel, and other philosophers were off-limits.169
On a weekly basis, all members must "talk familiarly and in confidence with the local director" of Opus Dei.170 These are to be detailed revelations--including of "their sex lives and problems."171 As Escrivá said in The Way, "Foolish child, the day you hide some part of your soul from your director, you will have ceased to be a child, for you will have lost your simplicity."172 These mandatory disclosures occur outside the sacrament of Penance, without the secrecy that protects penitents from public exposure of their sins.173 There is no requirement that the directors hearing these revelations be clergy, or that they have received training in counseling. This practice, also known as the "manifestation of conscience," was banned by the Catholic Church under sec tion 530 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law--the code that was in force when Escrivá made the "confidence" one of the duties of his followers in the movement's 1950 constitution.
Additionally, members must gather weekly in a circle (or "chapter of faults") to "accuse themselves of faults against religious discipline and the common life."174 In the circles, members also describe their own progress in recruiting and training new followers; insufficient zeal in proselytizing earns a reprimand. These practices are reminiscent of the "criticism/self-criticism" sessions for members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Members must confess weekly, and only to Opus Dei priests.175 Even though canon law allows Catholics to confess to any priest, if an Opus Dei member confesses to a priest outside the movement, he is accused by his superiors of lacking "good spirit."176 As Escrivá said, those who do this are "on the way to listening to the advice of bad shepherds."177 He also said, "the first sacrifice is not to forget, in our whole life ... the dirty clothes are washed at home. The first manifestation of your dedication is not being so cowardly as to go outside of the Work to wash dirty clothes. That is if you want to be saints. If not, you are not needed here."178 In a reference to the long-standing feud between the Jesuits and his own cult, the Founder said, "I would prefer a million times that a daughter of mine die without the Last Sacraments than that they be administered to her by a Jesuit."179
All of these practices--the "confidence," the circles, and the in-house confession--can be used to manipulate and control the membership.
Some people can leave Opus Dei with little trauma, but others encounter great pressure from the organization. A priest who left Opus Dei after 22 years as a member said that it was very difficult to make the break: "Opus Dei and God were identical in my mind, I was pretty screwed up inside. I was hurting. When I first said I wanted to leave, I was put under huge pressure. I was told that I was being tempted by the Devil. They took me to see the grave of a former member who was so depressed after he'd left that he stopped taking the medicine he was supposed to for his heart condition. It was a passive suicide. I was told that I should pray for his soul. It was their way of warning me. Rule by fear."180 After a 19-year career as an Opus Dei numerary, Miguel Fisac had left the movement in the 1950s, married, and had children. At the funeral for Fisac's third child, two Opus Dei priests (including his former confessor) offered condolences. However, they "made gestures of horror and let it be understood that what happened was God's punishment for having left Opus Dei;"181 Fisac showed the door to the unwelcome comforters.
As Michael Walsh reports, numeraries have "been brought up to believe that in breaking ranks they are committing the most heinous sin possible for them. Salvation is mediated through Opus. Without Opus the former numerary is damned."182 Members were taught, "you must ask God for death before failure to persevere" in the movement.183 (In the same way, members of the Legionaries of Christ are taught the slogan, "lost vocation, sure damnation.")184
In 1981, Cardinal Hume, Archbishop of Westminster in the United Kingdom, gave credence to charges against Opus Dei by directing that in his diocese, they must refrain from enlisting members under 18 years of age, that they allow young people who wish to join Opus Dei to discuss the matter with their family, that people remain free "to join or leave the organization without undue pressure being exerted," that members have the freedom to choose a spiritual director inside or outside of the movement, and that Opus Dei activities be clearly advertised as such.185 It's most unlikely that the Cardinal would have issued such directives if these practices were not common within Opus Dei.
Almost 25 years after the Cardinal spoke, Michael Walsh (a journalist who has monitored and criticized Opus Dei activities since the 1980s) said, "The letter of these 'recommendations' has no doubt been observed, but perhaps not the spirit."186 Cardinal Hume's successor accepts the movement, and has turned a British parish over to one of its priests.187


Secret documents

In various ways more characteristic of Masonry than of a traditional Christian religious movement, secrecy and "discretion" are standard procedure for Opus Dei. Its 1950 constitution remains in force, except where it is specifically superseded by the 1982 charter approved by John Paul II.188 The 1950 constitution was long treated as a confidential document by Opus Dei--unlike most religious orders, whose constitutions are public, and available in the vernacular. In the late 1940s, Opus Dei obtained agreement from Rome that in dioceses where it functions, the movement did not have to give the text of the entire constitution to the local bishop, that the bishop could be required to maintain the secrecy of this and other confidential Opus Dei documents, and that Opus Dei did not have to disclose all Opus Dei residences and activities to the bishop.189
Several of the 1950 constitution's provisions explicitly call for secrecy:190

§ 189: "In order for the Institute to reach its proper end more effectively, it wishes to live as hidden, therefore it abstains from collective acts and does not have a name or common denomination by which its members are called. Given the character of the Institute, which externally does not desire to appear publicly as a society, it is not appropriate that its members should engage collectively in certain manifestations of cult like processions.
§ 190: By virtue of this collective humility, which is proper of our Institute, whatever is done by the members is not attributable to itself; but rather, whatever good is attained by them is attributable to God alone. Consequently, even membership in the Institute admits no external manifestations. The number of members is kept hidden from outsiders; and indeed our people do not discuss these things with outsiders.
§ 191: This collective humility leads our people to live the life which they consecrate to God with the same discretion which is most suited to the desired fruitfulness of the apostolate. The lack of this discretion can constitute a grave obstacle to exercising apostolic work or create some difficulty in the environment of one's natural family or in the exercise of their office or profession. Thus the Numerary and Supernumerary members should know they are to live a prudent silence regarding the names of other members; and that they are never to reveal to anyone that they themselves belong to Opus Dei, not even to spread the Institute, without express permission from their local director."

Other elusive Opus Dei documents include "Praxis, a book that lays down in the most minute detail how members are to lead their lives. According to one former member it even regulated the number of handkerchiefs and pairs of underpants someone might possess."191 Crónica, a teaching journal, circulates privately within the movement;192 the Ceremonial Book193 and the Internal Rules for Administration are also treated as classified.194 The 500-question Opus Dei catechism, which members learn by rote during their indoctrination, has also been kept under wraps.195 María del Carmen Tapia notes an ironic result of her training: "as a result of his emphasis on learning the Catechism by heart, one retained it so well that years after having left Opus Dei, one is able to retrieve it literally point by point."196
Even the defenders of Opus Dei acknowledge that "certain aspects of it are secret. For example, Opus Dei publishes no membership lists and discourages members from announcing their membership. The reason, they would say, is not because anything bad is going on, but out of a sense of humility and obedience to the Gospel. Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew (see 6:1-18) instructs his followers to live in holiness but to do so almost in secrecy."197 An Opus Dei spokesman recently said, "We have just built a 17-storey headquarters in New York. ... How can you operate a secret society from a skyscraper at 34th and Lexington?"198 Opus Dei critic Walsh agrees that "One can now study its constitution. ... it is less secretive than it was."199
Against the belief that such cultism is good for the soul, there is this warning from Christianity Today in 2003: "Jesus reminds us constantly that the life he intends for us, here and now, will utterly transcend the externals. 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' Tim Kellor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church points out that the contrast Jesus draws in the Sermon on the Mount is not between the religious and the irreligious person. It's between the outwardly religious and the one whose heart has been transformed by grace. 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' Jesus promised, 'for they shall see God.' Faith-based social conformity does not produce the pure in heart. Boundary markers can't inspire steadfast love and obedience to Christ. The outcome of that approach to spiritual life--the method of the Pharisee--is always the same: It crushes the soul."200
Michael Walsh, a Catholic, issues a similar warning: "Opus, with its rules and regulations, its censorship, its control of the minutiae of members' day-to-day living, its class-related structures, its association with élites of wealth and power ... could not claim to be a force for liberation. And to the extent that it fails this test, it is not merely, as a sect, less than Catholic. It is less than Christian."201


Modern-day flagellants

Dan Brown got one fact right about Opus Dei. Its numeraries, the most committed members of the movement, do use the discipline, a knotted rope, to flagellate themselves on the buttocks once a week.202 A former member says that they were told to administer the 33 blows "with energy and vigor."203 They also wear the cilice, a spiked chain, around their thigh. A former Opus Dei member who had played a tennis game with Navarro-Valls said that when they took a post-game shower, he saw that the Pope's press secretary "had a brown mark around his thigh. It was the mark of the cilicio, the chain-mail band that he wore for up to two hours a day. That's a requirement for members. It's got pointed metal spikes fixed to it; they scratch the skin and make you bleed. It's supposed to be worn tight during Lent."204
Opus Dei is one of the few Catholic religious movements that retained these practices after Vatican II. In The Way, his 4-million-copy best-seller, Escrivá gave the rationale: "Deny yourself. It is so beautiful to be a victim!"205 "In our poor present life, let us drink to the last drop from the chalice of pain."206 "Give thanks, as for a very special favor, for that holy abhorrence that you feel toward yourself."207 "Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain. Glorified be pain!"208 "Treat your body with charity, but with no more charity than you would show to a treacherous enemy."209 Escrivá began using the cilice and the whip upon himself at age 16--ten years before he founded Opus Dei.210 He continued to punish himself with zeal, to the extent that "the walls of his bathroom were said have been constantly bloodstained because of his feverish self-flagellations with a meter-long whip, similar to a cat-o-nine-tails."211
Catholic writer Amy Welborn justifies such self-inflicted sufferings: "it might be useful to note that bodily mortification, as a spiritual practice, is found in every world religion in some form or another ... Bodily spiritual mortification, including the use of these particular devices, was not invented by Opus Dei, either. If you read the lives of the saints, you find that many felt called to these practices. Why? Some sought to draw closer to Christ by sharing in his sufferings. Some used them as a means of penance for their own sins or the sins of others. Others saw them as an effective means of growing in self-discipline. ... One who has experienced spiritual growth would argue that 'no pain, no gain' applies to the spiritual life, too, at least for them."212 Opus Dei itself says that the cilice and discipline are "types of mortification that have always had a place in the Catholic tradition because of their symbolic reference to Christ's Passion," and that "anyone with experience in this matter knows that these practices do not injure one's health in any way."213
Such apologetics for Opus Dei ignore some obvious challenges. Just because a religious practice is widespread and ancient does not prove that it is spiritually healthy, or that it has Scriptural approval. It may be that self-punishment was detrimental to the saints who practiced it, and that they achieved holiness and communion with God despite, rather than by means of, these practices.
Combining sexual abstinence with bodily punishments raises the possibility that the practitioner may eroticize his sufferings and pervert his own sexuality; masochism is not a spiritual step up from normal married life and intercourse. Since masochism and sadism are complementary perversions, the zealous flagellant may feel impelled to punish others who do not meet his own standards of "holiness"--for their own good, of course. As Escrivá wrote, "To punish for the sake of Love: this is the secret that raises to a supernatural plane any punishment imposed on those who deserve it. For the love of God, who has been offended, let punishment serve as atonement. For the love of our neighbor, for the sake of God, may punishment never be revenge, but a healing medicine."214 The history of corporal punishment in religious institutions--and Opus Dei's own affinity for repressive regimes--shows this dynamic in action.
When all else fails, Opus Dei defenders say that these mortifications are "the free, voluntary choice of free adult persons."215 Ironically, this "consenting adults" defense is the same one that supporters of the Sexual Revolution use to defend their own favorite vices and indulgences.
A large Roman Catholic web site, Catholic Culture, has taken upon itself the job of rating the orthodoxy of other Catholic-related sites. It gives a green "excellent" rating to Opus Dei, while giving the anti-cult Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN) a yellow "caution" rating. In Catholic Culture's reply to ODAN, one can see how "The Way" and its friends respond to criticisms such as are in this article: "Both the organization and its site seem to be a misguided attempt to use personal grievances against Opus Dei or one of its members and isolated incidents to malign the organization as a whole. Many of the Prelature's best characteristics, such as its strong evangelization efforts, the total commitment of its members, and their sense of self-sacrifice and mortification, are taken out of context in an attempt to make Opus Dei look evil. However, the beauty of the great work of Opus Dei shows through, even in the writings of those who would eradicate it. In trying to malign the whole organization, this site is a prime example of Christ's assurance that those who truly follow Him will be persecuted."216



Escrivá's teachings: "another gospel"

The writings of Opus Dei's founder are central to the way his followers understand the Gospel. Escrivá's teachings quote the Scriptures and profess zeal for Christ. However, there are subtle--but grievous--divergences between The Way taught by Escrivá and the Way of Christ set forth in Scripture.
In The Way (which an Opus Dei defender describes as "Father Escrivá's first and most popular book, in which one can find the spirit of Opus Dei"217), the priest said, "When a layman sets himself up as an arbiter of morals, he frequently errs; laymen can only be disciples."218 Escrivá and his successors have put this principle into practice; although Opus Dei characterizes itself as a lay movement, it is controlled by its clergy.
And the clergy are not to be criticized: "A priest--whoever he may be--is always another Christ. Though you know it well, I want to remind you again that a Priest is 'another Christ,' and that the Holy Spirit has said, 'Nolite tangere Christos meos'--'Do not touch my Christs.'" 219 Escrivá appeared to counsel what the Catholic bishops have often done with their abuser-priests: "Like the good sons of Noah, cover the weaknesses you may see in your father, the priest, with a cloak of charity." 220
For Escrivá, holy zeal is essential. "The plane of the sanctity our Lord asks of us is determined by these three points: holy steadfastness, holy forcefulness and holy shamelessness."221 "Steadfastness is not simply intransigence: it is 'holy intransigence.' Don't forget that there also exists a 'holy forcefulness.'"222
With holy zeal comes approval of religious coercion. Escrivá said, "If, to save an earthly life, it is praiseworthy to use force to keep a man from committing suicide, are we not allowed to use the same coercion--'holy coercion'--to save the Lives (with a capital) of so many who are stupidly bent on killing their souls?"223
Strict obedience is essential for Opus Dei members. As the Founder said, "Who are you to judge the rightness of a superior's decision? Don't you see that he has more basis for judging than you? He has more experience; he has more upright, experienced, and impartial advisers; and above all, he has more grace, a special grace, the grace of his state, which is the light and powerful aid of God."224 "Obey, as an instrument obeys in the hands of the artist--not stopping to consider the why and the wherefore of what it is doing. Be sure that you'll never be directed to do anything that isn't good and for the greater glory of God."225 "You have come to the apostolate to submit, to annihilate yourself, not to impose your own personal viewpoints."226 "Obedience, the sure way. Blind obedience to your superior, the way of sanctity. Obedience in your apostolate, the only way: for, in a work of God, the spirit must be to obey or to leave."227 "Your perfection consists in living perfectly in the place, occupation, and position to which God, through those in authority, has assigned to you."228
Criticism of the movement is out of bounds. "That critical spirit--granted you mean well--should never be directed toward he apostolate in which you work nor toward your brothers." 229
With unity and discipline, there is to be strength of will: "Leaders! Strengthen your will so that God will make a leader of you."230
The soldiers in the Opus Dei crusade were to know how to keep secrets. "Be slow to reveal the intimate details of your apostolate. Don't you see that the world in its selfishness will fail to understand?"231 "There are many people, holy people, who don't understand your way. Don't strive to make them understand. It would be a waste of time and would give rise to indiscretions."232
For Escrivá, orthodoxy meant wholesale rejection of Enlightenment thought--even, it seems, the moderate forms that gave rise to the American Revolution. He said, "Come on! Ridicule him! Tell him he's behind the times: it's incredible that there are still people who insist on regarding the stagecoach as a good means of transportation. That's for those who dig up musty, old fashioned 'Voltairianisms' or discredited liberal ideas of the nineteenth century."233 The Founder wrote this in the 1930s, when "liberal ideas of the nineteenth century" were being replaced worldwide by collectivism and dictatorships.
Then, there is the Founder's pragmatic, acquisitive attitude about money. He said, "It is human nature to have little appreciation for what costs but little. That is why I recommended to you the 'apostolate of not giving.' Never fail to claim what is fairly and justly due to you from the practice of your profession, even if your profession is the instrument of your apostolate."234
The preceding items are all drawn from The Way, which friendly and hostile observers alike agree is essential to Opus Dei theory and practice. The spirit of Opus Dei and the maxims of The Way are alien to the Sermon on the Mount and to the teachings of the Apostles as recorded in the New Testament. Consider these questions:235 would Jesus call only--or primarily--the wealthy and those with worldly skills, position, or intellect? Would Jesus be dishonest, or encourage his followers to be "discreet"? Would Jesus limit his followers' free will, or demand blind obedience? Would Jesus propose that one group's viewpoint trumps the guidance of the Holy Spirit for all believers? Has Jesus kept secrets to an inner circle or did he, through Scripture and tradition, reveal all truth to all his followers? Did Jesus limit salvation to members of one sect, or did he offer it to all? Did Jesus propose that his followers engage in political maneuvers to take over the Temple or the Roman Empire?

END OF PART I
Lee Penn, a convert out of atheistic Marxism, attended Harvard university, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1974 and graduated cum laude 1976. He moved to California in 1983 to get an MBA and an MPH from UC Berkeley; earned those degrees in 1986 and has worked since in health care information systems and financial analysis. Lee is one of SCP's premier allies and associate writers.
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2 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 107.
3 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 5.
4 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, pp. 13-14.
5 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, pp. 135-136.
6 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 30.
7 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 454. The ellipses are as given in the text.
8 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 412.
9 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, p. 233.
10 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, pp. 107-108. There was a real Catholic monastic order of this name, with its headquarters at the monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Zion. After moving from Palestine to Sicily, it ceased to exist in 1617, and became part of the Jesuits. The Priory of Sion "does not exist today as a legitimate order, Catholic or otherwise." (Robert Richardson, "The Priory of Sion Hoax," Alpheus, 2001, http://www.alpheus.org/html/articles/esoteric_history/richardson1.html, printed 09/20/05.)
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12 The M+G+R Foundation, "The Real Decoding of Brown's Da Vinci Code ... May be Found in the Real Purpose of the Book," http://www.mgr.org/TheCode.html, printed 07/20/05.
13 Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003, "Acknowledgments."
14 Daniel Williams, "Top Italian Cardinal Is Out to Break 'Code'," Washington Post, March 17, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42022-2005Mar16.html, printed 09/01/05.
15 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
16 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, March 26, 2004, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word032604.htm, printed 09/06/05.
17 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 348.
18 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
19 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
20 Richard Lee, "Norwalk, Conn.-Based TV Program Distributor Helps Develop Opus Dei Documentary," The Stamford Advocate, July 21, 2005, http://www.cableready.net/pressroom/docs/Media%20Info%20Center_Opus.pdf, printed 09/01/05.
21 For noncontroversial points of fact, the rest of this article makes frequent use of the Wikipedia article on Opus Dei, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei, printed 08/29/05.
22 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 303.
23 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 68.
24 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 11.
25 "Personal Prelature of Opus Dei," http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
26 "Personal Prelature of Opus Dei," http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
27 The total number of Catholic priests worldwide (diocesan and in religious orders) grew less than 1% from 1990 to 1995. (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, "Frequently Requested Catholic Church Statistics," 2005, http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/, printed 09/06/05).
28 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
29 Computed from data given by Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, p. 22, and the Opus Dei Fact Sheet, and CatholicHierarchy.org.
30 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
31 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, pp. 358-359.
32 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
33 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
34 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Overview of Opus Dei in the United States," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=1187, printed 09/10/05.
35 "Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva to be celebrated," Catholic San Francisco, June 13, 2003, p. 3.
36 Phyllis Berman and Lea Goldman, "Catholics in Crisis," Forbes, September 19, 2005, p. 120.
37 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
38 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, foreword, p. 11.
39 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 28 from The Way, p. 6.
40 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 310.
41 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 121.
42 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 94; Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 148.
43 Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, pp. 21-22.
44 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 168.
45 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
46 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 104.
47 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 450.
48 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
49 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
50 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
51 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, pp. 449, 450.
52 Fr. C. J. McCloskey, "Living the Rich Life," Catholic World Report, January 2001, pp. 53-55.
53 The date of these cardinals' elevation is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org, a comprehensive and current database on Roman Catholic bishops and cardinals.
54 Sandro Magister, "Vatican Letters ­ The Pope and His Court ­ A Thousand Curial Maneuvers," L'espresso, www.Chiesa, http://213.92.16.98/ESW_articolo/0,2393,41939,00.html, viewed 06/09/04.
55 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," "Opus Dei: No surprise it gets top billing in this papacy," National Catholic Reporter, November 9, 2001, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word1109.htm, viewed 06/09/04.
56 The list of Opus Dei bishops is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
57 Roxanne King, "Bishop-elect Gomez named rector of Cathedral," Denver Catholic Register, February 21, 2001, http://www.archden.org/dcr/archive/20010221/2001022102ln.htm, printed 09/23/05.
58 The dates of consecration of Opus Dei bishops is from http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dqod0.html, printed 09/06/05.
59 "Mysteries of the divine right," smh.com.au (Australia), http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/mysteries-of-the-divine-right/2005/09/11/1126377206863.html, printed 09/12/05.
60 "Opus Dei Fact Sheet," April 28, 2005, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7354, printed 09/06/05.
61 John Paul II, "We Are Called to Holiness," homily during the canonization of Escrivá, October 6, 2002, Inside the Vatican, p. 18.
62 Robert Moynihan, "Josemaría's Way," Inside the Vatican, November 2002, p. 23.
63 Inside The Vatican, "Top Ten Stories for 2002," January 2003, p. 37.
64 Several medieval saints (Clare and Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Thomas Becket) were canonized less than three years after they died. (Thomas J. Craughwell, "Sainthood Now!," Inside the Vatican, June 2005, pp. 32-33.)
65 CWR Staff, "What Lies Ahead?," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 23.
66 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 11-12.
67 Gordon Urquhart, The Pope's Armada: Unlocking the Secrets of Mysterious and Powerful New Sects in the Church, Prometheus Books, 1999, p. 416.
68 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 28.
69 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, pp. 121-123.
70 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 11, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
71 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 8, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
72 Dr. Ludwig Ott, "The Infallibility of the Church," Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960, p. 299.
73 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998, section 6, http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM, printed 09/19/05.
74 Zenit News Agency, "Book Recounts Testimonies of St. Josemaria Escriva Leading to His Canonization," July 30, 2003, http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=39644, printed 09/07/05.
75 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 28.
76 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Del Portillo canonization cause," March 5, 2004, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=2008, printed 09/06/05.
77 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Del Portillo canonization cause," March 5, 2004, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&a=2008, printed 09/06/05.
78 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 190.
79 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
80 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
81 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 191.
82 "Pope Unveils Opus Dei Statue," Ansa.it, 09/14/05, http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-09-14_1264282.html, printed 09/14/05.
83 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 185.
84 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 269.
85 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 450.
86 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 358.
87 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 35.
88 Tad Szulc, Pope John Paul II, Pocket Books, 1995, p. 358.
89 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, pp. 303, 305.
90 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 455.
91 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, foreword, p. 8.
92 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 449.
93 Interview with Navarro-Valls, April 17, 2005, published in the Spanish newspaper ABC and excerpted by the M+G+R Foundation, http://www.mgr.org/JNVedited.html, printed 08/15/05.
94 Stefania Rossini, "The Pope's Spokesman, in his own words," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 44; see also Navarro-Valls' resume on his web site, http://www.navarro-valls.info/biography.html, printed 09/15/05.
95 Sandro Magister, "The Vatican and Vaticanologists. A Very Special Kind of Journalism," www.chiesa, June 7, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=32668&eng=y, printed 06/08/05.
96 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 736.
97 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, pp. 804-805.
98 George Weigel, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 2001, p. 805.
99 John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, on-line edition, "Was God At Work In The Fall Of Communism?," http://www.catholic.net/RCC/POPE/HopeBook/chap20.html, printed 09/27/05.
100 Stefania Rossini, "The Pope's Spokesman, in his own words," Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 42.
101 Julia Day and Jason Deans, "Slick PR operation accompanies Pope's passing," MediaGuardian.co.uk, April 6, 2005, http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1453219,00.html, printed 09/02/05.
102 Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi, His Holiness, Penguin Books, 1996, p. 400.
103 Tony Barber, "Rise of Opus Dei has liberals concerned over succession," Financial Times, March 5, 2005, http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c80da488-8d1c-11d9-9d37-00000e2511c8.html, printed 03/05/05.
104 Paul Wilkes, "When in Rome," BeliefNet, April 20, 2005, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/163/story_16397_1.html, printed 09/10/05.
105 Sandro Magister, "Lent in the Vatican: The Pope, the Curia, and the Conclave," www.chiesa, February 11, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/printDettaglio.jsp?id=22533&eng=y, printed 09/17/05.
106 Paul Badde, "Georg Gänswein: Soul- & Bodyguard," Inside the Vatican, July 2005, p. 38.
107 Luke Harding and Barbara McMahon, "Thou Shalt Not Drool," UK Guardian, August 23, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1554309,00.html, printed 08/25/05.
108 Sandro Magister, "The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style," www.Chiesa, July 15, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=36194&eng=y, printed 09/10/05.
109 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, July 15, 2005, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word071505.htm, printed 07/15/05.
110 John Allen, "The Word From Rome," National Catholic Reporter, July 15, 2005, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word071505.htm, printed 07/15/05.
111 Sandro Magister, "The First Three Months of Benedict XVI: New Pope, New Style," www.Chiesa, July 15, 2005, http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=36194&eng=y, printed 09/10/05.
112 EWTN News, "POPE WILL RETURN TO ROME ON SEPTEMBER 28," August 31, 2005, http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=60108, printed 09/10/05. The statue is 5 meters tall.
113 "Pope Unveils Opus Dei Statue," Ansa.it, 09/14/05, http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-09-14_1264282.html, printed 09/14/05.
114 Paul Bedard, "Washington Whispers," USNews.com, July 22, 2003, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/archive/july2003.htm, printed 09/17/05.
115 Radar Online, "Novak's Sect Appeal," http://www.radaronline.com/fresh-intelligence/2005/08/09/index.php, printed 08/18/05.
116 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
117 Charles P. Pierce, "The Crusaders," Boston Globe, November 2, 2003, http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/11/02/the_crusaders/, printed 08/26/05.
118 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, back cover endorsement.
119 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
120 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 320.
121 Reuters, "Opus Dei shuns Da Vinci Code image," July 12, 2005, http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/print/0,1478,3342175a12,00.html, printed 09/23/05.
122 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 154.
123 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
124 Matthew Paris, "Why Ruth Kelly's faith and her politics cannot be separated," London Times, January 29, 2005, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1065-1461005,00.html, printed 08/25/05.
125 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "Canonization of Josemaría Escrivá and Mass of Thanksgiving," October 8, 2002, http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=4684, printed 09/05/05.
126 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 356-359.
127 Ela Kasprzycka, "Walesa: Pope Inspired Me to Defy Poland," UK Guardian, August 29, 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5240549,00.html, printed 09/17/05.
128 Ela Kasprzycka, "Walesa: Pope Inspired Me to Defy Poland," The Intelligencer, August 29, 2005, http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/articlePrint.cfm?id=533834, printed 09/17/05.
129 "Passage," Asiaweek.com, August 25, 1995, http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/95/0825/feat4.html, printed 09/23/05, and
130 Marguerite A. Peeters, "Development with a conscience" (interview with Francisco Tatad), Catholic World Report, February 1998, p. 47; "The Martial Law Years," http://www.geocities.com/pinoytv/martiallaw.htm, printed 09/23/05.
131 Victor Agustin, "Squeezed-ia," Inquirer News Service, November 21, 2004, http://money.inq7.net/columns/view_columns.php?yyyy=2004&mon=11&dd=22&file=6, printed 09/23/05.
132 Ashley D'Mello, "Mumbai follows Da Vinci Code," The Times of India Online, September 23, 2004; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arthcleshow/msid-860470,prtpage-1.cms, printed 09/24/04; no longer on-line.
133 Stephen Schwartz, "An Islamic Opus Dei?," Tech Central Station, July 12, 2005, http://www.techcentralstation.com/071205C.html, printed 07/12/05.
134 ZENIT.org News Agency, "How a Rabbi Views Blessed Escrivá," January 14, 2002, http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=22719, printed 01/14/02.
135 Andrea Seton Kirk, "Urbi et Orbi: Rome, Home of the Universal Church," Inside the Vatican, December 2002, p. 59.
136 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, pp. 85-86.
137 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 114.
138 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 126.
139 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. xi.
140 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 67.
141 Josemaría Escrivá, Conversations with Josemaría Escrivá, Scepter, 1968, p. 67.
142 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 10.
143 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 5.
144 John Martin, "Leopards in the Temple: Opus Dei, Escriva, and John Paul's Rome," The Remnant Newspaper, June 30, 2002, http://www.odan.org/media_leopards_in_the_temple.htm, printed 09/20/05.
145 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, pp. 1, 4.
146 Fr. Michael O'Carroll, "Opus Dei," in Pope John Paul II: A Dictionary of His Life and Teachings, JMJ Publications, 1994, p. 58.
147 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 9.
148 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 347 from The Way, p. 84.
149 Opus Dei Awareness Network (trans.), 1950 Constitution of Opus Dei, Article 202, http://www.odan.org/Statutes_OD_1950.rtf, printed 09/22/05.
150 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 98. This is a reference to article 116 of the Codex Iuris Particularis Operis Dei.
151 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 978 from The Way, p. 249.
152 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
153 Craig Offman, "Thank you Lord, may I have another," GQ Magazine, December 2003, http://home.netcom.com/~mjr40/od/gq.html, printed 09/02/05.
154 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
155 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 304.
156 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
157 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
158 John Martin, "Leopards in the Temple: Opus Dei, Escriva, and John Paul's Rome," The Remnant Newspaper, June 30, 2002, http://www.odan.org/media_leopards_in_the_temple.htm, printed 09/20/05.
159 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 121.
160 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, pp. 312-313.
161 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 164.
162 Jonathan Kwitny, Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II, Henry Holt and Co., 1997, p. 304.
163 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 5.
164 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 309.
165 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 189.
166 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 170-171.
167 Jay Dunlap, "Are There Cults in the Catholic Church," LegionaryFacts.org, October 2002, http://www.legionaryfacts.org/cults.html, printed 10/24/03.
168 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 339 from The Way, p. 82.
169 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 123.
170 Information in this paragraph is from Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 112-113.
171 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 113.
172 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 862 from The Way, p. 217.
173 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 54.
174 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 113-114.
175 Peggy Lernoux, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism, Penguin Books, 1989, p. 306.
176 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 114-115.
177 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 115.
178 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 119.
179 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 37.
180 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 112.
181 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 146-147.
182 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 173.
183 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 259.
184 Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, 2004, Free Press, p. 168.
185 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 199.
186 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
187 Stephen McGinty, "Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white,'" The Scotsman, Jan. 21, 2005, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=74352005, printed 09/23/05.
188 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 52.
189 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 58-59.
190 Opus Dei Awareness Network (trans.), 1950 Constitution of Opus Dei, Articles 189-191 http://www.odan.org/Statutes_OD_1950.rtf, printed 09/22/05.
191 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 105.
192 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 106.
193 Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei, St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 194.
194 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 64.
195 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, pp. 50-51.
196 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 53.
197 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, p. 117.
198 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
199 Michael Walsh, "Secrets and Spies," The Tablet (a major Catholic newspaper in the UK), January 1, 2005, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-00966, printed 09/08/05.
200 Joseph Loconte, "How to Really Keep the Commandments in Alabama ­ and Elsewhere," Christianity Today, September 3, 2003, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/135/31.0.html, printed 09/18/05.
201 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, p. 197.
202 Michael Walsh, Opus Dei, Harper San Francisco, 2004, pp. 110-111.
203 Maria del Carmen Tapia, Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei, Continuum, 1997, p. 55.
204 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 111.
205 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 175 from The Way, p. 39.
206 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 182 from The Way, p. 40.
207 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 207 from The Way, p. 45.
208 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 208 from The Way, p. 47.
209 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 226 from The Way, p. 50.
210 Jason Berry and Gerald Renner, Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, 2004, Free Press, p. 243.
211 John Follain, City of Secrets: The Startling Truth Behind the Vatican Murders, Harper Collins, 2003, p. 111-112.
212 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, pp. 116-117.
213 Information Office of Opus Dei on the Internet, "The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church and Opus Dei," http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=7017, printed 09/14/05.
214 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 424 from The Way, p. 104.
215 Vittorio Messori, Opus Dei: Leadership and Vision in Today's Catholic Church, Regnery Publishing, 1994, p. 37.
216 Catholic Culture, "Site Review for Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN)," July 28, 2005, http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=2205, printed 09/17/05.
217 Amy Welborn, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2004, p. 115.
218 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 61 from The Way, p. 14.
219 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxims 66, 67 from The Way, pp. 15-16.
220 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 75 from The Way, p. 17.
221 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 387 from The Way, p. 95.
222 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 398 from The Way, p. 97.
223 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 399 from The Way, p. 97.
224 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 457 from The Way, p. 110.
225 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 617 from The Way, p. 153.
226 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 936 from The Way, p. 239.
227 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 941 from The Way, p. 239.
228 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 926 from The Way, pp. 235-236.
229 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 53 from The Way, p. 11.
230 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 833 from The Way, p. 209.
231 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 643 from The Way, p. 160.
232 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 650 from The Way, p. 161.
233 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 849 from The Way, p. 214.
234 Josemaría Escrivá, The Way / Furrow / The Forge, Scepter, n. d., maxim 979 from The Way, p. 249.
235 These questions are derived from the analysis by the MGR Foundation, "Simple questions to ask yourself ... before joining an overly zealous religious group," http://www.mgr.org/SimpleQuestions.html, printed 08/27/04.
236 John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Spire Books/Fleming H. Revell Co., 1972, ch. 5, p. 67
237 C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1946, p. 288.

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Opus Dei And The Da Vinci Code
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/journals/J2902/index.php


Opus Dei
And The Da Vinci Code
Part i
By Lee Penn

SCP JOURNAL 29:2-29:3
















The Da Vinci Code


an Brown's best-selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, has given worldwide notoriety to an influential, growing Roman Catholic religious movement: Opus Dei (which means "the work of God"). Is it true, as Brown claims, that Opus Dei is a powerful, ruthless, secret cult within the Catholic Church?
Brown begins his novel with a tantalizing promise: that his tale is solidly based on facts. The novel's first page says: "Fact: The Priory of Sion--a European secret society founded in 1099--is a real organization. ... The Vatican prelature known as Opus Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has been the topic of recent controversy due to reports of brainwashing, coercion, and a dangerous practice known as 'corporal mortification.' Opus Dei has just completed construction of a $47 million National Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New York City. All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."1
Immediately thereafter, the action begins: Silas, an albino monk from Opus Dei, attacks a Louvre curator (a member of the Priory of Sion) in order to get the secret location of the Holy Grail--a treasure that would make the head of Opus Dei "the most powerful man in Christendom."2 The monk then shoots the curator in the stomach, and says these parting words to the fatally wounded occultist: "Pain is good, monsieur."3 Having murdered four people so far that night, Silas returns to his Opus Dei dormitory to do penance for his sins.
Brown's tale highlights the hypocrisy and twisted sensuality of this fictional zealot: "When Silas hung up the phone, his skin tingled with anticipation. ... I must purge my soul of today's sins. The sins committed today had been holy in purpose. Acts of war against the enemies of God had been committed for centuries. Forgiveness was assured. Even so, Silas knew, absolution required sacrifice. Pulling his shades, he stripped naked and knelt in the center of the room. Looking down, he examined the spiked cilice belt clamped around his thigh. All true followers of The Way wore this device--a leather strap, studded with sharp metal barbs that cut into the flesh as a perpetual reminder of Christ's suffering. The pain caused by the device also helped counteract the desires of the flesh. ... Exhaling softly, he savored the cleansing ritual of his pain. Pain is good, Silas whispered, repeating the sacred mantra of Father Josemaría Escrivá--the Teacher of all Teachers. ... Silas turned his attention now to a heavy knotted rope coiled neatly on the floor beside him. The Discipline. The knots were caked with dried blood. Eager for the purifying effects of his own agony, Silas said a quick prayer. ... He whipped it over his shoulder again, slashing at his flesh. Again and again, he lashed. Castigo corpus meum. Finally, he felt the blood begin to flow."4 After this sacrifice, Silas puts on his hooded monastic robe and heads out to his next errand, during which he will beat a liberal nun to death with a candle stand from the altar of the Church of Saint-Sulpice.5
Throughout the rest of the book, Brown sets out his allegations against Opus Dei: its wealth and global influence, the coincidence between its billion-dollar gift to the Vatican's "bank" (the Institute for Religious Works) and its recognition in 1982 by Pope John Paul II as a "personal prelature," the hasty canonization of Escrivá (the founder of Opus Dei), the cult's secretiv eness and deceptive recruitment practices, its $47 million headquarters in New York City, its discrimination against women, its bishops with a queer taste for jewels and religious finery, and the damaging espionage by Robert Hanssen (a devout Opus Dei member) on behalf of the Soviet Union. Brown also advises readers of a real organization, the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN), an anti-cult/survivor group. Brown even provides readers the ODAN web address, www.odan.org.6
Along with his brief against Opus Dei, Brown offers an anti-Christian revision of the last 2000 years of history. As he tells it, the early Church followed Christ as a moral leader, but did not worship him as the Son of God. Only by a vote at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did the Church recognize the divinity of Christ. It was the Roman emperor Constantine, a pagan, who directed what was to go in the Bible, and what was to be suppressed. In came patriarchy, guilt, and oppression; out went the true (Gnostic) gospels, equality and the "divine feminine." The hidden secret of the Holy Grail, according to Brown, is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, fathered a child, and that their descendants became the Merovingian kings of France. This royal blood line persists, in deepest secrecy, to this day.
At the end, Brown's feminist Gnostics win their battle. The novel concludes with one of its heroes worshipping on his knees at the tomb of Mary Magdalene, beneath the inverted glass pyramid at the Louvre. The book's last sentences describe the devotee's rapture: "For a moment, he thought he heard a woman's voice . . . the wisdom of the ages . . . whispering up from the chasms of the earth."7 Meanwhile, Opus Dei's murderous monk Silas is dead, and its money-loving bishop had to confess his part in the crimes to the police. Furthermore, the cult faces suppression by the Catholic Church, under the direction of a liberal Pope. It turns out that Opus Dei's death-dealing quest for the Grail secret was done under the covert direction of the Priory of Sion, itself the custodian of the treasured knowledge. With cunning, and by playing on the fear and power-lust of the head of Opus Dei, the Priory had "implicated Opus Dei in the plot that would soon bring about the demise of the entire Church."8
The Da Vinci Code is a novel for our times, a clever fantasy that appeals to those who are ignorant of (and nevertheless resent) Christian teaching. The Code's account of Jewish and Christian history contains many easily refuted errors. Jews did not believe that the male God resided with "Shekinah," his female consort, inside the Holy of Holies. Christians worshipped Jesus as the Son of God from the time of the Resurrection; this belief was not the result of a "relatively close vote" 9 in the Council of Nicaea. Jesus did not marry, have children, and begin a hidden royal dynasty. The Templars were orthodox Catholics, not covert devotees of "sacred sex" and the "divine feminine." The proto-Masonic Priory of Sion described by Brown is not a secret society dating back to 1099; it is a hoax perpetrated by a French charlatan in the mid-1950s.10
Is Brown's criticism of Opus Dei any more reliable than his comic-book version of Christian theology and Church history?
Here, the story becomes complicated. On the one hand, some of Brown's charges about the movement are correct. As this article will show, Opus Dei fully deserves its reputation as a cult within the Catholic Church. Members of the cult's inner circle, the numeraries, do indeed punish themselves with the whip and the cilice. However, Brown's truthful accusations against the movement are mixed with glaring errors. Opus Dei is not a religious order. It has no monks--especially, none who wear hooded habits. Opus Dei seeks its leaders among the social and intellectual elite; it is most unlikely that an escaped convict (such as Brown's "Silas") would be taken with open arms into the inner circle of the movement.
Brown offers his truths and falsehoods about Opus Dei within a novel that attacks the Christian faith at its roots. Therefore, most traditionally minded Christians who read The Da Vinci Code may be prone to reject all of the criticisms of Opus Dei as lies, just as they (rightly) reject Brown's false accounts of Christian history and doctrine. One axiom of marketing is, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." With the publication of The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei is now known to more than 18 million readers worldwide.11 When the film version of Brown's book is released next year, millions more will learn of the movement. That's a lot of free advertising, and the kind of ad that may make conservative readers in all confessions say, "if that liberal idiot Brown is criticizing Opus Dei, they can't be all bad. Indeed, they might be just what the Church needs now."
Could it be that Brown has performed a service to Opus Dei, knowingly or otherwise?12 Could this explain why Brown acknowledges getting "generous assistance" from--among others--"three active"13 members of Opus Dei? Opus Dei member Bernardo Estrada, who teaches the New Testament in Rome, took a calm view of the book in an interview with the Washington Post: "Anyone with a historical and religious base can refute it. I rather liked it, it's a good thriller."14 In early 2005, the British press spokesman for Opus Dei said, "Ten million people have now heard of Opus Dei thanks to The Da Vinci Code. That can only be a good thing--2005 is going to be the year of Opus Dei."15
The Da Vinci Code's Italian publisher, Mondadori, was founded by a man who was "an admirer of Opus Dei."16 In 1994, the same publisher had released a Papal best-seller--Crossing the Threshold of Hope, an extended interview done by a pro-Opus journalist. Mondadori also has published a "big print-run edition" of Escrivá's The Way.17
Opus Dei is giving "exclusive access" 18 to Great Projects Film Company and to the distributor CABLEready to produce a TV program about the movement, "Decoding Opus Dei." It will be released in May 2006, "in conjunction with the worldwide premiere of Ron Howard's feature film based on the novel and starring Tom Hanks."19 The TV producer from Great Projects says, "Thanks to the access we've received from the group, we'll be able to provide viewers with a fair and honest account of the organization."20 Churchmen can advertise, just as businessmen can; churchmen have known about the dialectics of propaganda, mass movements, social change and political power long before these techniques were taken up by Marxists.
At this point, we can leave behind Dan Brown (and his confusing alloy of truth, exaggerations, and falsehoods about Opus Dei), and set forth the facts about this fast-growing, influential new religious movement.21

Just the facts about "The Way"
Fr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-1975) founded Opus Dei in Madrid, Spain on October 2, 1928, in response to what his followers call a "celestial vision."22 On that day, according to the biography prepared for his beatification, Escrivá was on a religious retreat in Madrid, and "God saw fit to illuminate him; he saw Opus Dei, as God wanted it, and as it would have to be, over the course of centuries."23
The movement was initially all-male, but began admitting women in 1930. The world headquarters is in Rome; it "has no religious name, nor has it been placed under the protection of some saint or title of Mary, as is customary for Catholic orders, congregations, and institutions."24
As of 2004, Opus Dei had 84,541 members, including 1,875 priests (2.2% of the total).25 This represented an increase of 13% from the 1991 total membership of 74,710. The number of Opus Dei priests grew 35% from the 1991 level,26 during a period in which the total number of Catholic priests worldwide was virtually unchanged.27 (These priests, members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, are selected and trained from among the laymen in Opus Dei.) Another 2,000 diocesan priests are associated with the movement.28
More than half of all Opus Dei members, about 49,000, are in continental Europe; there are about 26,000 in Latin America, about 5,000 in Asia and the Pacific islands, and about 1,600 in Africa.29 Opus Dei is "established" now in 60 countries, and says that in the last decade, it became active in Croatia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Uganda.30 As soon as Communism fell, Opus Dei opened its "pastoral centers" in Poland, and supplied funds and staff to "help establish an effective Roman Catholic Church" in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic.31
There are 3,000 Opus Dei members in the US.32 The movement has been in this country since 1949, and has centers in 14 states, with "activities in many other states."33 In the US, there is one Opus Dei college (Lexington College, "the only all-women's college of hospitality management in the United States"34), 5 high schools, 60 centers for retreats and spiritual formation, and many tutoring programs for high school and college students.35 Forbes magazine reports that the movement can "easily raise $49 million or so every year in this country"36--which works out to a fundraising yield of $16,000 per American Opus Dei member per year. Opus Dei in Britain has about 520 members, and a net worth of about 20 million British pounds37--in dollar terms, about $35.4 million, or $68,000 per member.
There are different levels of membership in Opus Dei. Prospective members ask to join Opus Dei, and make a mutual commitment--in writing--with the movement. This may be an annual contract, or--after at least five such renewals--a lifetime agreement, the "fidelity." An Opus Dei book says that "the Opus Dei faithful bind themselves to put into practice the ascetical, formative, and apostolic commitments specified in the Prelature's own statutes, to fulfill the disciplinary norms regulating Opus Dei's life," and to support themselves, their families, and the movement through their own profession.38
* At the top are the numeraries, lay men and women who live in separate sections of Opus Dei houses, hold jobs in the secular world, and are celibate. (As Escrivá said in The Way, "Marriage is for the rank and file, not for the officers of Christ's army."39) They turn over most of their salaries, administration of their property, and their wills to the movement.40 About 20% of Opus Dei members are numeraries. One qualification for this membership level is having, or showing the ability to obtain, a doctoral degree.41
In addition to their jobs, members have religious tasks: daily attendance at Mass, a half hour of mental prayer in the morning and again at night, daily spiritual reading (including the New Testament and other movement-approved books), daily recital of the Rosary, a nightly examination of conscience, a day per month of spiritual retreat, and an annual retreat of several days.42
* Women numerary assistants are responsible for housekeeping in Opus Dei centers.43 Of their work, Escrivá said, "the work of one of my daughters in Opus Dei who works in domestic employment is just as important as that of one who has a title. In either case all I am concerned about is that the work they do should be a means and an occasion for personal sanctification and the sanctification of their neighbor."44
Associates, about 10% of the membership, are celibate and live outside the movement's centers.
Supernumeraries, about 70% of Opus Dei members, are men and women who live on their own, pursue their own careers, and center their religious life on the movement. Most are married.
In addition, there are "tens of thousands" of cooperators who support the movement with prayer, money, and time.45 Since 1950, Opus Dei has allowed non-Catholics--and, indeed, non-Christians--to be cooperators. A pro-Opus Dei journalist says, "Opus Dei is the first institution in the Church that calls for the organized collaboration of non-Catholics, non-Christians, agnostics, and atheists."46
Since 1982, Opus Dei has been a personal prelature, the only such Catholic organization. A personal prelature is like a global diocese, a semi-autonomous "church within the Church." Opus Dei members are under the spiritual direction of the head of the prelature, rather than of the bishop of the diocese where they live. With this structure, the movement can promote its "distinctive spirituality and more effectively deploy its priests across national and diocesan boundaries"47--and can do so without interference from local bishops. Opus Dei is governed worldwide from Rome by its Prelate, Bishop Javier Echevarría. The head of the movement in the US, the Very Rev. Thomas Bohlin, reports to the Prelate,48 who reports to Congregation of Bishops--a Vatican department that reports to the Pope.
Opus Dei says that it aims "to help people live by the Gospel in their daily activities and make Christ present in every endeavor. Opus Dei focuses on work and daily life as an occasion for spiritual growth and an opportunity to contribute to a better world. Opus Dei also emphasizes divine filiation, unity of life, prayer and sacrifice, charity, apostolate, and fidelity to the Pope."49 (Divine filiation is confident awareness of being a child of God.)
The movement explains, "The chief activity of people in Opus Dei is personal effort to grow in holiness, be apostolic, and improve society. In support of these efforts, Opus Dei provides spiritual direction, prayer and study circles, evenings of recollection, retreats, classes, and workshops. These activities take place in an Opus Dei center, or in a church, office or private home. People in Opus Dei also join with each other and non-members in organizing educational, charitable, and cultural activities, which frequently include spiritual formation carried out by Opus Dei. Examples in the United States include The Heights and Oakcrest schools near Washington, D.C., and the Metro and Midtown Achievement Programs for inner-city youth in Chicago."50 The movement sponsors universities in Rome, Spain (most notably, the University of Navarre), and Latin America, and enjoys "prodigious success in fund-raising for its works."51
Fr. McCloskey, an Opus Dei priest who has brought several prominent politicians and media stars into the Catholic Church, offered a 12-point program for spiritual growth for the well-off. It included these points: "Live modestly, given your wealth and position. ... Give and give generously--now--following the suggestion of Mother Teresa: 'Give until it hurts.' ... Leave very little money to your children. .... Have a big family; you can afford it! ... Throw out or give away what you don't need. ... Live order and neatness in the care of material items. ... Avoid impulse buying, whims, and caprices. ... Avoid occasions of sin, remote or proximate, in respect to buying and shopping ... Make time for at least one corporal work of mercy each week ... Follow the Way of the Cross and meditate often on our Lord's passion, death, and resurrection. ... Make poverty, detachment, and generosity a regular topic in your sacramental confession and spiritual direction."52 This advice seems to combine St. Francis with Benjamin Franklin.
When its goals and works are described thus, Opus Dei seems to be a benign organization, one that any faithful Christian could accept. However, the movement and its followers apply these principles in ways that have nothing to do with Gospel teaching. In this respect, the stated goals of Opus Dei are akin to the Charter of the United Religions Initiative--glittering generalities that can be interpreted by the movement's leaders and allies as they wish, in furtherance of their own religio-political agenda.

A Rising power in the Catholic Church

The power of Opus Dei is growing in the Vatican and in the Catholic Church worldwide.
There are now two Opus Dei cardinals: Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima Peru (since 2001), and Julián Herranz Casado, the president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (since 2003).53 The movement's supporters are rising in the congregations of the Curia, while opponents are marginalized or made to retire.54 As John Allen noted, "Opus Dei does seem disproportionately represented in the Roman curia" for an organization of its size.55
There are 18 active Opus Dei bishops worldwide: the movement's own prelate, 1 in Africa, 3 in Europe, and 12 in Latin America.56 The US now has one Opus Dei bishop--José H. Gómez, Archbishop of San Antonio, formerly the president of the National Association of Hispanic Priests and vicar of Opus Dei in Texas.57 Of the 18 bishops, 13 were consecrated in 1990 or later58--further evidence of a rising Opus Dei presence in the Catholic Church. Other hierarchs who are not members--Cardinal George Pell of Australia,59 among many other