Pope Francis received Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei since 2017, on June 3.
The meeting comes six weeks after the conclusion of an extraordinary general congress of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei, convoked in response to Ad Charisma Tuendam [In Order to Safeguard the Charism], the 2022 apostolic letter that altered the prelature’s status.
The first two successors of Opus Dei’s founder, St. Josemaría Escriva, were bishops; in his apostolic letter, Pope Francis decreed that the prelate would no longer be a bishop and transferred the prelature from the purview of the Dicastery for Bishops to the Dicastery for Clergy.
In a message published after the June 3 papal audience, Msgr. Ocáriz spoke about “the desire manifested by everyone to be faithful to the charism of Saint Josemaría and to be united with the Pope. At the same time, I communicated to the Holy Father that we have begun to work with the Dicastery of the Clergy on the document that resulted from the Congress, for the decision to be made by the Holy See.”
Opus Dei has over 93,000 members and 2,100 priests, according to the Annuario Pontificio. Over three dozen Argentine women who are former members have complained of mistreatment, including “manifestly illegal” working conditions.