On Friday, Pope Francis published a document that modified how Opus Dei is governed. It also ruled that its prelate, or head, is no longer permitted to hold the office of bishop.
The pope endorsed the Catholic organisation in his motu proprio, which was published on July 22. He also asked its members to preserve its charism in order to “spread the call to holiness in the world, through the sanctification of one’s work, family, and social occupations.”
“It is intended to strengthen the conviction that, for the protection of the particular gift of the Spirit, a form of government based more on the charism than on hierarchical authority is needed,” Pope Francis wrote.
Six provisions from the Ad charisma tuendum motu proprio, which means “To guard the charism,” take effect on August 4.
The Vatican Dicastery for Clergy will now have authority over the prelature, and the Opus Dei prelate will no longer be ordained as a bishop.
The pope’s reform of the Roman Curia in the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium is supported by this change.
Saint Josemara Escrivá established Opus Dei, a personal prelature of priests and laypeople, in 1928. Escrivá gave the group the name Opus Dei to highlight his conviction that God’s hand was on its creation, or, in Latin, “Opus Dei.”
The current Opus Dei prelate, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, was not a bishop when he assumed office in 2017, during the present pontificate. Pope St. John Paul II had appointed both of his predecessors, Javier Echevarra and lvaro del Portillo, to the position of bishop. St. Josemara, the movement’s founder, passed away before the prelature was formed.
In his response to the changes made by Pope Francis on July 22, Ocariz said: “It is a concretization of the Holy Father’s decision to place the figure of personal prelatures in the Dicastery for the Clergy, which we filially accept.”
“The Holy Father encourages us to fix our attention on the gift that God gave Saint Josemaría, so as to live it fully. … I would like this invitation of the Holy Father to resonate strongly in each and every one of us. It is an opportunity to go more deeply into the spirit that our Lord instilled in our Founder and to share it with many people in our family, work and social environments.”
Ocariz noted that “the episcopal ordination of the Prelate was not and is not necessary for the guidance of Opus Dei.”
He said: “The Pope’s desire to highlight the charismatic dimension of the Work now invites us to reinforce the family atmosphere of affection and trust: the Prelate must be a guide but, above all, a father.”
The reforms will prevent the prelate from becoming a bishop, although he will still be given the honorific protonotary apostolic.
Pope Francis also made several changes to the Opus Dei constitution, Ut sit, which was published by John Paul II in 1982, in his decree.
For example, the constitution once required the prelate to give the pope a report on Opus Dei’s apostolic work every five years. The prelate will now be expected to annually submit a report to the Dicastery for the Clergy as a result of the new reforms.
Article six states that “all questions pending at the Congregation for Bishops relating to the Prelature of Opus Dei will continue to be treated and decided by the Dicastery for the Clergy.”
“The Motu Proprio reminds us that the government of Opus Dei must be at the service of the charism – of which we are administrators, not owners – so that it may grow and bear fruit, confident that it is God who works all things in all people,” the organization states on its website.