Editing Opus Dei (section)

== History ==
{{For timeline}}
[[File:StjosemariaMagpakabanal sa gawain.jpg|right|frame|Escrivá surrounded by working people, in a [[Filipino people|Filipino]] painting entitled {{lang|fil|Magpakabanal sa Gawain}} or "Be holy through your work"]]

=== Foundational period ===
{{page numbers needed|section|date=September 2020}}
{{primary sources|section|date=September 2020}}
Opus Dei was founded by [[Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer]] on 2 October 1928 in Madrid, Spain. According to Escrivá, on that day he experienced a vision in which he "saw Opus Dei".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=271&id_scat=270 |work=JosemariaEscriva.info |title=Opus Dei |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/1409237/Vatican-proves-the-power-of-Opus-Dei-founder.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=Vatican proves the power of Opus Dei Founder |access-date=27 November 2006 |location=London |first=Graeme |last=Archer |date=5 October 2002}}</ref> He gave the organization the name "Opus Dei", which in Latin means "Work of God",<ref name="Van Biema 2006" /> in order to underscore the belief that the organization was not his (Escrivá's) work, but was rather God's work.<ref name="Opus Dei 2006a">{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=4761 |publisher=Opus Dei |title=Pope Benedict XVI on St. Josemaría Escrivá |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> Throughout his life, Escrivá held that the founding of Opus Dei had a supernatural character.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://opusdei.org/en/article/the-founding-of-opus-dei/ |title=The Founding of Opus Dei |publisher=Opus Dei |date=10 April 2011 |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=218&id_scat=35 |work=JosemariaEscriva.info |title=The Founding of Opus Dei |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> Escrivá summarized Opus Dei's mission as a way of helping ordinary Christians "to understand that their life&nbsp;... is a way of holiness and evangelization&nbsp;... And to those who grasp this ideal of holiness, the Work offers the spiritual assistance and training they need to put it into practice."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/conversations/point/60 |title='Conversations' 60 |first=Josemaría |last=Escrivá |access-date=16 May 2006}}</ref>

Initially, Opus Dei was open only to men, but in 1930, Escrivá started to admit women, based on what he believed to be a communication from God.<ref name="Berglar 1994" />{{rp|54}} Persecuted during the [[Spanish Civil War]] and narrowly escaping death several times, in 1939 Escrivá was able to return to Madrid after three years of hiding.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=293&id_scat=270 |work=JosemariaEscriva.info |title=Historical Overview |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> In 1939, Escrivá published ''[[The Way (Escrivá book)|The Way]]'', a collection of 999 maxims concerning spirituality for people involved in secular affairs.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Way |url=http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way |access-date=27 November 2006 |work=EscrivaWorks.org}}</ref>

Opus Dei rapidly grew during the years of the [[Francoist Spain|Franquismo]], spreading first throughout Spain, and after 1945, expanding internationally.<ref name="Berglar 1994" />  Escrivá had to overcome many obstacles. He later recounted that it was in Spain where Opus Dei found "the greatest difficulties" because of "enemies of personal freedom", and traditionalists who he felt misunderstood Opus Dei's ideas.<ref>{{cite web |last=Escrivá |first=Josemaría |title=''Conversations'' 33 |url=http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/conversations/point/33 |access-date=30 May 2007}}</ref> 

In 1947, a year after Escrivá moved the organization's headquarters to Rome, Opus Dei received a decree of praise and approval from Pope Pius XII, making it an institute of "pontifical right", i.e. under the direct governance of the Pope.<ref name="Berglar 1994" />{{rp|189}} In 1950, Pius XII granted definitive approval to Opus Dei, thereby allowing married people to join the organization, and secular clergy to be admitted to the [[Priestly Society of the Holy Cross]].<ref name="Berglar 1994" />{{rp|189}} Several Opus Dei members such as [[Alberto Ullastres]] were ministers under the dictator Franco in Spain ([[Opus Dei and politics]]).<ref name="Pilapil 1971">{{Cite journal |last=Pilapil |first=Vicente R. |year=1971 |title=Opus Dei in Spain |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40394504 |journal=The World Today |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=211–221 |jstor=40394504 |issn=0043-9134}}</ref>

=== Post-foundational years ===
In 1975, Escrivá died and was succeeded by [[Álvaro del Portillo]]. In 1982, Opus Dei was made into a [[personal prelature]]. This means that Opus Dei is part of the Catholic Church, and the apostolate of the members falls under the direct jurisdiction of the prelate of Opus Dei wherever they are. As to "what the law lays down for all the ordinary faithful", the lay members of Opus Dei, being no different from other Catholics, "continue to be ... under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop", in the words of John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution, ''Ut Sit''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781530298/Opus_Dei.html |work=MSN Encarta |title=Opus Dei |access-date=27 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060508121557/http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_781530298/Opus_Dei.html |archive-date=8 May 2006}}</ref>

One-third of the world's bishops sent letters petitioning for the canonization of Escrivá.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=3720 |publisher=Opus Dei |title=Blessed Josemaría Escrivá to be canonised |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> Escrivá was [[Beatification|beatified]] in 1992 in the midst of controversy prompted by questions about his suitability for sainthood. In 2002, approximately 300,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day Pope John Paul II canonized him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/101802/101802h.htm |work=National Catholic Reporter |title=300,000 pilgrims turn out for canonisation of Opus Dei founder |author=John L. Allen Jr |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.josemariaescriva.info/index.php?id_cat=42&id_scat=34 |work=JosemariaEscriva.info |title=The Process of Canonization |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> There are other members whose process of beatification has been opened: [[Ernesto Cofiño]], a father of five children and a pioneer in pediatric research in Guatemala;<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 October 2020 |title=Dr. Ernesto Cofiño |url=https://www.positionpapers.ie/2020/10/dr-ernesto-cofino/ |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=Position Papers |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Montserrat Grases]], a teenage Catalan student who died of cancer;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Montse Grases, a typical girl |url=http://www.synod.va/content/synod2018/en/youth-testimonies/montse-grases--a-typical-girl.html |access-date=27 July 2021 |publisher=[[Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church|Synod of Bishops]] |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727042730/http://www.synod.va/content/synod2018/en/youth-testimonies/montse-grases--a-typical-girl.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=4 December 2020 |title=A regular teenager who lived heroic virtue in a simple life: Meet Montse Grases |url=https://aleteia.org/2020/12/04/a-regular-teenager-who-lived-heroic-virtue-in-a-simple-life-meet-montse-grases/ |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=Aleteia |language=en}}</ref> [[Toni Zweifel]], a Swiss engineer;<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 July 2020 |title=La storia. Toni Zweifel, ingegneria della santità |url=https://www.avvenire.it/chiesa/pagine/toni-zweifel-ingegneria-della-santit |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=Avvenire |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Diocesan Phase of Toni Zweifel's Beatification Cause Concludes |url=https://opusdei.org/en-ph/article/diocesan-phase-of-toni-zweifel-s-beatification-cause-concludes/ |access-date=27 July 2021 |publisher=Opus Dei |language=en}}</ref> Tomás Alvira and wife, Paquita Domínguez, a Spanish married couple;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/15190/cardinal-rouco-opens-cause-of-canonization-for-spanish-couple |agency=Catholic News Agency |title=Cardinal Rouco opens cause of canonization for Spanish couple |access-date=4 March 2009}}</ref> [[Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma]], an Argentinian engineer;<ref name="Requena 2014">{{Cite journal |last=Requena |first=Federico M. |year=2014 |title='We find our sanctity in the middle of the world': Father José Luis Múzquiz and the Beginnings of 'Opus Dei' in the United States, 1949–1961 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24584727 |journal=U.S. Catholic Historian |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=101–125 |jstor=24584727 |issn=0735-8318}}</ref> [[Dora del Hoyo]], a domestic worker;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.ph/art.php?p=49368 |title=Dora del Hoyo's Cause of Canonization Opened in Rome |publisher=Opus Dei |access-date=11 December 2016}}</ref> Fr. José María Hernández Garnica;<ref name="Requena 2014" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Church studies the sanctity of Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica |url=https://en.romana.org/40/news/the-church-studies-the-sanctity-of-jose-maria-hern/ |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=Romana |publisher=Opus Dei |language=en}}</ref> and Father José Luis Múzquiz de Miguel, a Spanish priest who began Opus Dei in the United States.<ref name="Requena 2014" />

During the pontificate of John Paul II, two members of Opus Dei, [[Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne]] and [[Julián Herranz Casado]], were made [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=6908 |publisher=Opus Dei |title=Cardinals Tauran and Herranz installed at their titular churches |access-date=27 November 2006}}</ref> In September 2005, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] blessed a newly installed statue of Josemaría Escrivá placed in an outside wall niche of St Peter's Basilica, a place for founders of Catholic organizations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cathnews.com/news/509/83.php |work=The Guardian |agency=Associated Press |via=Carbolic News |title=Pope blesses statue of Opus Dei founder |access-date=2 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211133234/http://www.cathnews.com/news/509/83.php |archive-date=11 February 2007}}</ref> During that same year, Opus Dei received attention due to the success of the novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'', in which both Opus Dei and the Catholic Church itself work against the protagonists. The film version was released globally in May 2006, further polarizing views on the organization.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 January 2023 |title=What is Opus Dei, and why is it so controversial – both in and out of the Catholic Church? |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-30/what-is-opus-dei-secretive-catholic-church-group-prelature/101905802 |access-date=18 May 2023}}</ref>

In 2014, [[Pope Francis]] through a delegate beatified [[Álvaro del Portillo]] and said that "he teaches us that in the simplicity and ordinariness of our life we can find a sure path to holiness".<ref name="Zenit 2014">{{cite news |url=http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/don-alvaro-del-portillo-beatified-in-madrid |title=Don Alvaro del Portillo Beatified in Madrid |date=29 September 2014 |website=Zenit |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref> At the end of 2014, the prelature has spread to 69 countries,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opusdei.org/en-us/document/letter-from-the-prelate-10-december-2014/ |title=Letter from the Prelate |date=10 December 2014 |access-date=11 December 2016}}</ref> while its members are present in 90 countries.<ref name="Catholic News Agency" /> [[Javier Echevarría Rodríguez]], the second prelate of Opus Dei, died on 12 December 2016,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.lainformacion.com/religion-y-credos/Javier-Echevarria-fallece-opus-dei_0_980303587.html |title=Fallece en Roma el prelado del Opus Dei, monseñor Javier Echevarría |date=12 December 2016 |work=Lainformacion.es |language=es |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=12 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161212224557/http://www.lainformacion.com/religion-y-credos/Javier-Echevarria-fallece-opus-dei_0_980303587.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> and was succeeded by [[Fernando Ocáriz Braña|Fernando Ocáriz]]. He was elected the new prelate of Opus Dei on 23 January 2017, and on the same day was appointed by Pope Francis as such.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monsignor Ocariz confirmed as new prelate of Opus Dei |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/35290/monsignor-ocariz-confirmed-as-new-prelate-of-opus-dei |access-date=27 July 2021 |agency=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ocáriz elected as fourth prelate of Opus Dei, confirmed by Pope Francis |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/6638/oc-riz-elected-as-fourth-prelate-of-opus-dei-confirmed-by-pope-francis |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=The Tablet |language=en}}</ref>

In 2019, [[Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia|Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri]], one of the first women who joined Opus Dei, was beatified in Madrid, Spain. She is the first woman of the group to be beatified.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guadalupe Ortiz, the first woman member of Opus Dei to be beatified |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/1253/guadalupe-ortiz-the-first-woman-member-of-opus-dei-to-be-beatified- |access-date=27 July 2021 |website=The Tablet |language=en}}</ref> Earlier in 2005, the first publicly-known [[sexual abuse]] case of Opus Dei in the US, against [[C. John McCloskey]], was settled for $977,000.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 January 2019 |title=Opus Dei settles sexual misconduct claim against prominent U.S. priest |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/opus-dei-settles-sexual-misconduct-claim-against-prominent-us-priest |access-date=16 June 2021 |website=National Catholic Reporter |language=en}}</ref> Opus Dei publicly acknowledged a sexual abuse case within the organisation for the first time in its history in July 2020, this one involving priest Manuel Cociña in Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 July 2020 |title=Opus Dei confirms one of its priests sentenced by Vatican for abuse |url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/07/opus-dei-confirms-one-of-its-priests-sentenced-by-vatican-for-abuse/ |access-date=16 June 2021 |website=Crux |language=en-CA}}</ref>

==== Pope Francis: "Safeguard the charism" ====
On 22 July 2022,<ref name="Mares 2022" /><ref name="De Carolis 2022" /> [[Pope Francis]] issued the [[Ecclesiastical letter#Letters of the popes in modern times|apostolic letter]] in the form of a {{lang|la|[[motu proprio]] Ad charisma tuendum}}, which seeks to "safeguard the charism", or original foundational spirit; it is "intended to confirm the Prelature of Opus Dei in the authentically charismatic sphere of the Church, specifying its organization in keeping with the witness of the Founder."<ref name="Press Office of the Holy See 2022">{{Cite web |title=Apostolic Letter issued 'Motu proprio' of the Supreme Pontiff Francis 'Ad charisma tuendum' |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/20220714-motu-proprio-ad-charisma-tuendum.html |access-date=24 October 2022 |publisher=Press Office of the Holy See}}</ref> Among other things, the new disposition decrees that the head of the Opus Dei can no longer become a bishop, but "is granted, by reason of his office, the use of the title of Supernumerary Apostolic Protonotary with the title of Reverend Monsignor and therefore may use the insignia [including [[Ecclesiastical heraldry|heraldic devices]]] corresponding to this title".<ref name="Press Office of the Holy See 2022" /> It also transfers responsibility for the personal prelature ''Opus Dei'' from the [[Dicastery for Bishops]] to the [[Dicastery for the Clergy]],<ref name="Mares 2022">{{Cite web |last=Mares |first=Courtney |date=22 July 2022 |title=Pope Francis makes changes to Opus Dei in new decree |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251851/to-guard-the-charism-in-new-decree-pope-francis-makes-changes-to-opus-dei |access-date=22 July 2022 |agency=Catholic News Agency |language=en}}</ref><ref name="De Carolis 2022">{{Cite web |last=De Carolis |first=Alessandro |date=22 July 2022 |title=Motu Proprio on ''Opus Dei'' to protect charism and promote evangelization |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-07/pope-francis-motu-proprio-opus-dei.html |access-date=22 July 2022 |website=Vatican News |language=en}}</ref> conforming to the apostolic constitution ''[[Praedicate evangelium]]'', and mandates revision of the statutes of the personal prelature to bring them into [[conformity]] with these reforms. This reform became effective on 4 August 2022,<ref name="De Carolis 2022" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Motu Proprio 'Ad charisma tuendum': Questions and Answers |url=https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/motu-proprio-ad-charisma-tuendum-questions-and-answers/ |access-date=24 July 2022 |website=Opus Dei |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Press Office of the Holy See 2022" /> and Pope Francis explained that this action was carried out in consultation with canon lawyers of Opus Dei and had no negative connotation for he has very positive sentiments for Opus Dei.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://zenit.org/2022/12/20/pope-francis-to-spanish-press-im-a-very-close-friend-of-the-opus-dei-i-love-them-a-lot-and-the-good-they-do-is-very-great/?eti=8006 |title=Pope Francis to Spanish Press: 'I'm a Very Close Friend of the Opus Dei, I Love Them a Lot and the Good They Do Is Very Great' |date=19 December 2022}}</ref> On 8 August 2023, Pope Francis issued a new ''motu proprio'' which stated that personal prelatures such as Opus Dei, are "similar to public clerical associations of pontifical law",<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-08/pope-francis-church-law-personal-prelatures.html |title=Pope modifies Church law on personal prelatures |website=Vatican News |date=8 August 2023}}</ref> such as the [[Community of Saint Martin]] and the [[Family of Mary]], while not being identified with them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://omnesmag.com/en/newsroom/what-has-changed-in-personal-prelatures/ |title=What has changed in personal prelatures? |first=Maria José |last=Atienza |date=8 August 2023 |website=Omnes}}</ref>