Opus Dei

[morita]

What do you know about the opus dei?
I'm trying to gather information. I heard it's a sect.

 

[PeninsulaDweller]

I know it's a Roman Catholic sect. Some very prominent people in Spain are known to be Opus Dei Catholics, such as billionaire Florentino Pérez (ACS major stockholder and president of Real Madrid). Curiosly enough, another soccer club president, Joan Gaspart (FCBarcelona 1999-2003) is also in Opus Dei.

They believe that sex must only be for reproductive reasons, so most of them have lots of children and are very rich. At least that's what they say. Ordinary people are not members of Opus Dei.

 

[morita]

Ordinary people are not members of Opus Dei.

I work at a student residence where they're all part of the Opus Dei with priests, and students whose parents were probably part of the opus dei and converted their children since they were little.
They're at the bottom of the hierarchy though. Even lower is my boss who's in her 60s has to bow down when she comes accross the students who are 18-19 years old. She has to give her entire salary to Opus dei each month, she's literally their servant.

 

[PeninsulaDweller]

I work at a student residence where they're all part of the Opus Dei with priests, and students whose parents were probably part of the opus dei and converted their children since they were little.
They're at the bottom of the hierarchy though. Even lower is my boss who's in her 60s has to bow down when she comes accross the students who are 18-19 years old. She has to give her entire salary to Opus dei each month, she's literally their servant.

Dang. Now that you mention it, there was the case of this teenage girl in the 70s/80s, who is a "beata" of the Catholic Church. Her name was Camino and there's a film made about her. Her parents were middle class and in Opus Dei. Apparently she liked a boy called Jesús, and when she was terminally ill with cancer she had hallucinations with this boy and, since her parents believed she was talking about Jesus Christ, they brought the story to Rome and got her canonized or something. So yes, there are "normal" people within their ranks because every organization needs worker bees and many small donations end up as a lot of money, but the shot callers are always filthy rich.

Are you based in the US?

 

[phipps]

Apparently they have practices of of corporal mortification which is self-inflicted pain. TIME magazine described it as:

"But numeraries are expected, although not compelled, to wear a cilice, a small chain with inward-pointing spikes, around the upper thigh for two hours each day, and to flail themselves briefly weekly, with a small rope whip called a discipline." Jordan Bonfante, "The Ways of Opus Dei," TIME (April 16, 2006).

And they are under the Jesuits and the papacy:

"The Opus Dei is a semi-secret religious lay order whose paramount objective is total support of the papacy and of the most conservative principals of the Catholic Church [the Council of Trent]...its members have dedicated themselves, with their personal and corporate wealth, to the blind instrument of the church [the Jesuit general]." Avro Manhattan, The Vatican Billions (Chino, California: Chick Publications, 1983): 256, 231.

Link.

 

[vancityeagle]

I've never really done a deep dive into Opus Dei, but I've seen them come up time and time again when I've looked into the international fascist network.

Here is a little about their connections with the P2 Masonic lodge and Operation Gladio in Europe. The Knights of Malta always seem to come up in these discussions as well.

https://visupview.blogspot.com/search?q=opus+dei

https://isgp-studies.com/opus-dei