He appointed the dean of the Vatican's "Rota Romana" ecclesiastical court, Spanish Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, as the special pontifical commissioner and delegate of the Holy See for the Basilica of Torreciudad and its grounds.
This was announced by the Vatican Press Office on Wednesday without further details.
The "Complex of Torreciudad" is located in the northern Spanish province of Aragon.
The founder of Opus Dei, Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, had the church built in the late phase of Franco's dictatorship, incorporating an existing small Romanesque church, and it was consecrated in 1975.
In 1979, the Basque terrorist organisation ETA carried out an attack on the building complex, which also includes an Opus Dei multimedia information centre for pilgrims.
Conversion into a diocesan shrine
Last year, the bishop of the Barbastro-Monzon diocese, in whose territory the basilica is located, appointed a rector for Torreciudad for the first time.
Until then, the regional vicar of Opus Dei had always appointed the rector for the shrine.
In December 2023, the Vatican approved the bishop's request to convert Torreciudad into a diocesan shrine.
This would mean that Opus Dei would lose control of the facility.
The diocese had ceded the rights of use to Opus Dei by contract in 1962.
However, the current bishop wants to cancel the contract.
On 25 September, the diocese announced that it had passed the canonical dispute on to the Vatican.
Civil arbitration is also pending.