Editing Josemaría Escrivá (section)

===Alleged support for right-wing leaders===
One of the most controversial accusations against Escrivá is that he and Opus Dei were active in bolstering far-right regimes,<ref name="BBCDECODING">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4249444.stm|work=BBC News|date=16 September 2005|title=Decoding secret world of Opus Dei|access-date=2006-11-27}}</ref> especially the dictatorship of General [[Francisco Franco]] in Spain.  After 1957, several members of Opus Dei served as ministers in Franco's government.<ref>See a [http://www.opusdei.es/art.php?p=36332 list] given in Opus Dei's official website</ref> In particular, the "technocrats" most associated with the "[[Spanish miracle]]" of the 1960s were members of Opus Dei: [[Alberto Ullastres]], Mariano Navarro Rubio, [[Gregorio López-Bravo y Castro|Gregorio López-Bravo]], [[Laureano López Rodó]], Juan José Espinosa, and Faustino García-Moncó.  Most of these "technocrats" entered the government under the patronage of Admiral [[Luis Carrero Blanco]] who, though not a member of Opus Dei himself, was reportedly sympathetic to the organization and its values and who, as Franco grew older and more frail, increasingly came to exercise the day-to-day control of the Spanish government.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hutchison|2006|pp=121–2}}</ref>

According to journalist Luis Carandell, when Ullastres and Navarro Rubio were first appointed to the government in 1957, Escrivá gleefully exclaimed "They have made us ministers!"<ref>Luis Carandell, ''Vida y milagros de Monseñor Escrivá de Balaguer, fundador del Opus Dei'' (Madrid: Editorial Deriva, 2nd ed., 1992). See transcription of the relevant passages [http://www.opuslibros.org/libros/Carandell/ministros.htm here]</ref> something which Opus Dei has officially denied.<ref>See, e.g., [http://www.unav.es/capellania/fluvium/textos/documentacion/igl169.htm Entrevista al Cardenal Julián Herranz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223230742/http://www.unav.es/capellania/fluvium/textos/documentacion/igl169.htm |date=2008-02-23 }}, 16 October 2003.</ref>  On 23 May 1958, Escrivá sent a letter to Franco, which said, in part:

{{quote|Although a stranger to any political activity, I cannot help but rejoice as a priest and Spaniard that the Chief of State’s authoritative voice should proclaim that, "The Spanish nation considers it a badge of honour to accept the law of God according to the one and true doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church, inseparable faith of the national conscience which will inspire its legislation." It is in fidelity to our people’s Catholic tradition that the best guarantee of success in acts of government, the certainty of a just and lasting peace within the national community, as well as the divine blessing for those holding positions of authority, will always be found. I ask God our Lord to bestow upon your Excellency with every sort felicity and impart abundant grace to carry out the grave mission entrusted to you.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.odan.org/escriva_to_franco.htm|title=Letter from Escriva to Franco|website=www.odan.org|access-date=20 November 2017}}</ref>}}

In 1963, Swiss Catholic theologian [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] wrote a scathing critique of Escrivá's spirituality, characterizing Escrivá's approach to religion as a form of "[[integrism]]", stating "despite the affirmations of the members of Opus Dei that they are free in their political options, it is undeniable that its foundation is marked by [[Francoism]], that that is the 'law within which it has been formed'".<ref name="Balthasar" /> In another essay, published the following year, von Balthasar characterized Opus Dei as "an integrist concentration of power within the Church", explaining that the main objective of integrism is "imposing the spiritual with worldly means".<ref name="Balthasar-2">{{citation|first=Hans Urs|last=von Balthasar|title=Friedliche Fragen an das Opus Dei|language=de|journal=Der Christliche Sonntag|volume=16|pages=117|year=1964}}</ref>

In 1979, von Balthasar distanced himself from a newspaper attack on Opus Dei which had cited his earlier accusations of integrism.  He wrote in a personal letter to the Prelature, sent also to the ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'', that "because of my lack of concrete information, I am not able to give an informed opinion about Opus Dei today. On the other hand, one thing strikes me as obvious: many of the criticisms levelled against the movement, including those of your own journal concerning the religious instruction given by Opus Dei members, seem to me to be false and anti-clerical."<ref name="MESSORI" />  Von Balthasar maintained his unfavourable judgment of Escrivá's spirituality and repeated it in a television interview in 1984, but he did not renew his criticism of Opus Dei as an organization.<ref name="Allen 2005 64" />  In 1988, von Balthasar was named as a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] by [[Pope John Paul II]], but he died before he could be elevated to that position at the next [[Papal consistory|consistory]].

In response to the accusations of "integrism", Escrivá declared that, "Opus Dei is neither on the left nor on the right nor in the centre" and that "as regards religious liberty, from its foundation Opus Dei has never practised discrimination of any kind."<ref>''Conversations with Saint Josemaría Escrivá'', Scepter Publishers, 2007, {{ISBN|1-59417-057-6}}, {{ISBN|978-1-59417-057-7}}, pgs. 72-3</ref>  Opus Dei officials state that individual members are free to choose any political affiliation, emphasizing that among its members were also two important figures in the [[Monarchy of Spain|monarchist]] political opposition of the 1970s in Spain: the writer [[Rafael Calvo Serer]], who was forced into exile by Franco's regime, and the journalist [[Antonio Fontán]], who became the first president of the Senate after the transition to democracy.

John Allen has written that Escrivá was neither anti-Franco nor pro-Franco.<ref name="Allen 2005 61">{{Harvnb|Allen|2005|p=61}}</ref>  Some critics of Opus Dei, such as Miguel Fisac<ref name="Fisac1" /> and [[Damian Thompson]], have argued that the group has always sought "advancement not only of its message but also of its interests",<ref name="Thompson-Allen">[[Damian Thompson]], [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3647363/A-veiled-approach-to-the-Vatican.html "A veiled approach to the Vatican"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' (UK), 25 October 2005</ref> and that it has consistently courted those with power and influence, without maintaining a coherent political ideology.

The alleged involvement of Opus Dei in Latin American politics has also been a topic of controversy.  According to US journalist [[Penny Lernoux]], the [[Argentine Revolution|1966 military coup]] in Argentina happened soon after its leader, General [[Juan Carlos Onganía]], attended a spiritual retreat sponsored by Opus Dei.<ref name="Walsh 2004 131–132">{{Harvnb|Walsh|2004|pp=131–132}}</ref>  During his 1974 visit to Latin America, Escrivá visited [[Chile]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.josemariaescriva.info/article/catechetical-trips|title=Opus Dei - Saint Josemaría|website=www.josemariaescriva.info}}</ref> only nine months after the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|coup d'état]] in Chile that deposed the elected [[Marxism|Marxist]] president [[Salvador Allende]] and installed a right-wing military dictatorship under General [[Augusto Pinochet]].  Escrivá declined an invitation to visit personally with the Chilean [[Government Junta of Chile (1973)|government junta]], alleging that he was ill with [[influenza]], but in his letter to the members of the junta he added that he wished "to let you know how much I pray, have prayed, and have gotten others to pray, for this great nation, especially when it found itself menaced by the scourge of the Marxist heresy."<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994}}</ref>

Critics have charged that Opus Dei members supported Pinochet's coup and then had a role in the "[[Miracle of Chile]]" of the 1980s similar to that of the "technocrats" during the Spanish Miracle of the 1960s.<ref name="Walsh 2004 131–132"/><ref>Jaime Escobar Martínez, [http://www.insumisos.com/diplo/NODE/3458.HTM "El Opus Dei en Chile"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708135608/http://www.insumisos.com/diplo/NODE/3458.HTM |date=2011-07-08 }}, in ''Opus Dei - Génesis y expansión en el mundo'' (Santiago: [[LOM Ediciones]], 1992)</ref>  However, among the major right-wing politicians, only [[Joaquín Lavín]] (who did not occupy public office under Pinochet) has been unequivocally identified as a member of Opus Dei.<ref>Jonathan Franklin, "[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/15/2 Chile bowled over by God's technocrat]", ''The Guardian'', 15 January 2000</ref>  Another member of Opus Dei, Jorge Sabag Villalobos, belongs to a centre-left party that opposed Pinochet's regime.<ref>Guillermo Arellano, "[http://www.cambio21.cl/cambio21/site/artic/20111215/pags/20111215171650.html El insólito mundo del diputado Sabag] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403121635/http://www.cambio21.cl/cambio21/site/artic/20111215/pags/20111215171650.html |date=2015-04-03 }}", ''Cambio21'', 18 December 2011</ref>  [[Peter Berglar]], a German historian and member of Opus Dei, has written that connecting Opus Dei with fascist regimes is a "gross slander".<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994}}</ref> Journalist Noam Friedlander states that allegations about Opus Dei involvement with the Pinochet regime are "unproven tales."<ref name="Noam"/> Several of Escrivá's collaborators stated that he actually despised dictatorships.<ref name="del Portillo 1996"/><ref name="Echevarría Rodríguez 2000"/><ref>Julián Herranz, ''En las afueras de Jericó: Recuerdos de los años con san Josemaría y Juan Pablo II'', Rialp 2008</ref>

Escrivá's visit to Chile and the subsequent spread of Opus Dei in the country has been identified by some historians as one strand of a wider phenomenon of [[Francoist influence in Chile|influence from Francoist Spain in Chile]].<ref name=libroimperio>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uchile.cl/publicaciones/129843/el-imperio-del-opus-dei-en-chile |title=Libros: El Imperio del Opus Dei en Chile |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Universidad de Chile |language=Spanish}}</ref><ref name=uchil2007>{{Cite news |title='De Franco a Pinochet': La historia de un fracaso exitoso |url=https://www.uchile.cl/noticias/41554/de-franco-a-pinochet-la-historia-de-un-fracaso-exitoso |date=2007-05-29 |access-date=2022-05-10 |work=Noticias |publisher=Universidad de Chile |language=Spanish}}</ref>