Opus Dei: the first day of a new direction

It was only a matter of time before Pope Francis put

that he has been carrying out in the Catholic Church since the very afternoon of his election.

Nothing remains outside the interests of a Pontiff who claims to believe in a church that is like a "field hospital in the middle of the battle to welcome those who arrive wounded."

And when some structure does not fully conform to that ideal, the Pope acts.

As now with Opus Dei, which

.

What is Opus Dei? Until now they were defined as a "hierarchical institution" of the Catholic Church in order to promote the sanctity of its members.

Francis' new indications urge them, precisely,

, that is, with the service they provide to their members to grow in faith and in the social function they develop in society.

It can be interpreted that, veiled, Rome considers that Opus Dei (literally, 'the Work of God') is highly hierarchical, is excessively dependent on its priests and bishops, and is not sufficiently involved in promoting the

, men and women.

in the Church, since John Paul II granted them this consideration in 1982. In practice, this means giving this ecclesial group

to that of any other entity, with the ability to organize internally with own rules, regardless even of the authority of the bishop of the territory where their residences and places of worship are located.

It could be said that they were like a particular diocese within another diocese.

With the change promoted by Francisco, the provisions of the bishop of each area

, which may be required for a specific task and must be adjusted to the work criteria of that diocese. What changes now? Canonically, everything.

Francis has published the

[

], by which, without abandoning its status as Prelature, the institution now depends on the Vatican Dicastery (something like the civil ministries) for the Clergy.

In this way he disassociates them from the Dicastery for Bishops, implying that they

.

Simplifying a lot, it can be said that the level of self-management they enjoyed, which was

In practice, for example, they will have to send the Dicastery for the Clergy an annual report on the state of the Prelature and on the development of its apostolic work.

In other words, they must be accountable for their work and their organization, something new.

It is also true that the head of Opus Dei

. Does the Pope

them from consideration as a punishment? Both parties have expressly declared that it is not a corrective.

However, the mere fact that the Pope issued a motu proprio expressly to modify the organization of the Work is an indication of his

, beyond a specific problem that could have been solved by less forceful means.

The excessive weight of the hierarchy of the Opus is the central issue that it is trying to tackle, since Francisco considers that the excessive performance of priests and bishops

.

It is not a punishment, but it is a blow on the table to change course. Why now? The Pope has embarked on the global reform of the Roman curia, so many times branded as immobile and as not being at the service of the people but of your personal interests.

of this profound, and much discussed renewal, are: that any Christian -even those who are not priests or bishops- can hold government functions in Rome;

also that "personal integrity and professionalism" are required of those who work in the service of the Pope;

or that the priests and religious who are part of the curia will be able to work for a maximum of 10 years in the Vatican, and then they must return to their places of origin to carry out other pastoral work.

The truth is that the Pope has taken advantage of this reform movement to

, such as the internal organization of Opus Dei. A reform, only negative? The transformations promoted by Francis have as their central axis that the co-responsibility of all the members of the Catholic community be really exercised -and not only in the documents-. after having diagnosed that

, and not main actors in the life of the Church.

The Pope intends to put an end to the excessive clericalization of the communities and return to the laity the role that corresponds to them by virtue of being baptized.

Proof that this is more than just good intentions is the election in July of three women (two religious and one laywoman) to form part of the commission in charge of advising the Pope on choosing new bishops from around the world.

, there will be women among the 23 members who until now exercised this task. Changes in a hurry because he intends to resign? Francis has expressly declared that

if you consider that you no longer have the adequate physical and mental conditions to carry out the position.

Benedict XVI's gesture seems to have definitively put an end to a long history of Popes who disappeared from the public scene for months, even years, until his death was finally announced.

However, the Pontiff has joked that, for now,

to prevent him from resigning. Is this the beginning of a revolution within the Church? By no means.

Although the media focus has avoided the intimacy of the Vatican and has concentrated on the

, for years Francis has waged a relentless battle against lesser-known realities, although

, in his opinion.

This is the case, among many other issues on which she has issued instructions, of respect and the

in the Christian community;

of the

on the part of the superiors of the houses of religious, especially women;

of the

on the part of the clergy, which assumes as its own the dictates of some parties of the extreme left and extreme right that are incompatible with the Gospel.

It could be said that this new reality for Opus Dei is just one more chapter, not even the most revolutionary, of the transformation spearheaded by the "bishop who came from the end of the world," as Francis defined himself.

It is true that there are few institutions in the Catholic Church with

of the different countries where the Work is present.

Fernando Ocariz, prelate of Opus Dei.Opus Dei

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