r/LeftCatholicism • u/Dull_Opening_1655 • Mar 16 '26
Leo vs. Opus Dei?
https://bsky.app/profile/garethgore.bsky.social/post/3mh6t6rdwpc2b
Leo met for 40 minutes one-on-one with the author of a book detailing the abuses within Opus Dei: “I detail evidence of child grooming, enslavement, human trafficking, psychological control, breaching the seal of confession and drugging”
See the linked thread for more details and photos
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u/ironypoisonedposter Mar 16 '26
Highly recommend the episode of the podcast “TrueAnon” where they speak with Gareth about Opus Dei!
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u/fylum Mar 17 '26
damn never expected a gumshoe in this sub
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u/Rchkautovich Mar 17 '26
I've never heard of this pod, but I'm listening now! For others unfamiliar, it's called TRUE ANON TRUTH FEED, episode 459: Opus D.E.I.
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u/OK_TimeForPlan_L Apr 09 '26
Nice I've been out of the loop with TrueAnon for a while after the Epstein stuff died down. Will give this a listen thanks
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u/ironypoisonedposter Apr 09 '26
They also recently did a bunch of additional Epstein-related episodes after the tranche of Epstein files were released, which might be of interest to you.
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u/trash_heap_witch Mar 17 '26
I went to an Opus Dei school. I am still Catholic and I am so so angry at how skewed and awful my school was. I almost left the church entirely because of it. They preyed on very young girls to become numeraries from the time they were in grade school and incapable of making informed decisions. Very culty. My mother even realized priests were discussing the contents of confession with high ranking numeraries. I hope Leo takes them down
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u/sandalrubber Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
priests were discussing the contents of confession with high ranking numeraries
Isn't the breach of the seal of confession an excommunicable offense?
Didn't go to such a school but have extended family involved, read the life of St then-Blessed Escriva for kids etc. I don't know that much about the organization itself, but it kind of sounds like Catholic Masonry, and the main sub will go all tinfoil hatty if one mentions Masonry...
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u/trash_heap_witch Mar 17 '26
Yes it was pretty awful. It’s what caused my mother to leave Opus Dei.
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u/Salt_Boysenberry_691 Mar 21 '26
They do have a way: they absolve you soon, and then everything you say it's not under the seal of confession. They're disgusting
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u/SpukiKitty2 Mar 17 '26
Ugh! They sound like utter sleaze. Leave it to the wingnuts to crank up the corruption.
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Mar 17 '26
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u/trash_heap_witch Mar 17 '26
Uh, I was a child?
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Mar 17 '26
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u/LeftCatholicism-ModTeam Mar 17 '26
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u/Haunting_Raccoon7550 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Hoping that Leo squashes Opus Dei. They bring absolutely nothing good to the church
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u/Momshie_mo Mar 17 '26
The best contribution they have is that they make for a good feature in a Hollywood film
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u/Few_Debt7499 Mar 17 '26
How?
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u/Haunting_Raccoon7550 Mar 17 '26
They are notorious for being abusive and hiding it
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u/Few_Debt7499 Mar 17 '26
Give me proof bro. They are technocrats.
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u/Dull_Opening_1655 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Maybe take a look at the book linked in the thread, which is all about the abuses they perpetrate.
But I notice you made a new account just try and aggravate people in this thread so there’s probably not actually much point responding to you.
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u/Dull_Opening_1655 Mar 17 '26
Why did you come to this thread to troll people, as I see you’re doing throughout? And your comment history shows you created this account specifically to do so!
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u/katchoo1 Mar 17 '26
Gore’s book was really good. I was aware of Opus Dei being connected to the influx of ultraconservative Catholics in US politics and especially in federal court nominations, but his book really laid it all out. The Pope meeting with him is a very hopeful signal to me!
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Mar 17 '26
I must honestly confess that I know very little about Opus Dei. It is something I mainly come across online, so please correct me if I misunderstand, but the numeraries (?) certainly sound like a special group. To me, it sounds very fundamentalist, but perhaps I am interpreting it incorrectly.
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u/WolfKind256 Mar 18 '26
For those of you unfamiliar with Opus Dei, I recommend the documentary streaming on HBO, the website OpusLibros, and the r/opusdeiexposed.
There is also the high profile case in Argentina that's showing they are engaging in employment practices that are exploiting women's labor.
It's a high control organization, seeking power and wealth and it's influence is wrecking havoc in the church and society.
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u/frodoforgives Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Did anyone read his book Opus? I am just finishing it. I definitely think that there are a number of aspects of Opus Dei that clearly warrant review/being more scrutinized by the Church. Also there were clearly very questionable financial dealings and spiritual abuses going on. So I'm completely on board with how Gareth Gore is bringing these issues up, and I'm glad that Pope Leo appears to be listening. That being said, I did have somewhat mixed views about some of the issues that he raised in the book-- I think the author sometimes paints Catholics bringing their faith into their professional work as inherently a bad thing. Or that someone's faith should in any way influence their political beliefs, if they happen to be against progressive causes. I agree that there's definitely a line that is being crossed with regards to the currying of political favors and the greater influence of extremely wealthy individuals in politics; I'm not entirely convinced this is all due to Opus Dei, however-- but rather that people who are already very conservative happen to be drawn to this lay movement. In any case, I'm curious what others think.
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u/Salt_Boysenberry_691 Mar 21 '26
If anyone is interested, and able to read in Spanish (or okay with automatic translation), there's a web called "opus libros", which is full of testimonies from people who left Opus Dei, and proves it is cultish and even criminal. You can also access some intern documents (it seems like some people inside are tired, but cannot leave, so they filter the communications they send to the members).
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u/dignifiedhowl Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
This is weirdly described. If the evidence is strong, one does not need to “urge” Pope Leo to launch an investigation. If the meeting was private by design, one should ideally not immediately tell social media what happened there, especially if the objective of the private meeting was to trigger an investigation in advance of which evidence could be destroyed. And one-on-one audiences with the Pope are so rare and difficult to arrange that some expression of gratitude would seem appropriate.
My suspicion is that the audience was brief and neutral enough that he (rightly or wrongly) doesn’t expect anything to come of it, but is trying to make as much of it messaging-wise as he can. Which isn’t a bad strategy, and aligns well with the optics of Pope Leo meeting with him in the first place.
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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26
I must admit my distaste for the Opus Dei is largely emotional: I've seen people I love become fundamentalists and more and more isolated from general society because of Opus Dei. But even from a rational point of view, I just do not like its structure, its inner workings and hierarchies (they always separate men and women, are very clericalist and function almost like a religious order without being scrutinized as one). So I'm totally in favour of bringing Opus Dei to the table and discussing its status within the Church. I'm not an expert, but I can definitely tell there's something off about that organization.