.............................................................. >From the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]: From: "Lloyd Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Louis Freeh an Opus Dei OPERATIVE! Date: Saturday, July 29, 2000 5:35 PM ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Rocket" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 12:28 PM Subject: [anarchism] Opus Dei >Opus Dei >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >-- >Religion and politics have always been dangerous bedfellows. Christian >fundamentalists have brought a backward looking, anti-scientific movement >into US politics. The rise of militant Islamic parties has reintroduced >theocratic notions that were thought to have died with the Dark Ages. But >there is another, less publicised movement that has been quietly pushing at >the doors of power on five continents. Opus Dei, the controversial >organisation at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church, is seeking to >recreate an alliance between the spiritual and secular worlds that was last >attempted during the Renaissance -with catastrophic results. > >In countries where it has a strong presence, Opus Dei labours silently and >stealthily to align government policies with those of the Vatican. But its >quest to introduce a neo-Renaissance to the Catholic world has so far >produced mixed results. > >Because they form a closed, disciplined group guided by an authoritarian >ideology, Opus Dei strategists have been largely successful at the Vatican. >Under John Paul II, the organisation has become the most dominant force in >the Roman Curia, the body of 2,500 prelates and trusted lay people that >governs the Catholic Church. Opus Dei's manoeuvrings evoke endless >speculation in Rome, where getting on the wrong side of God's Work is not >something to be lightly undertaken. > >But Opus Dei is a relative newcomer to the Vatican power structure. Founded >in 1928 by Josemaria Escriv�, the son of a bankrupt Aragonese mercer who >found power and fame in the priesthood, Opus Dei's rise to influence and >fortune has been nothing short of spectacular. As a socio-religious >phenomenon, it was intricately bound up with the politics of Franco's >Spain. >Today, according to Annuario Pontificio (the Vatican yearbook), Opus Dei >has >80,000 members around the world, of whom about 2,000 are priests. > >As the Catholic Church's only floating diocese - known as a personal >prelature - it is governed by a prelate-general, who holds the rank of >bishop, and operates above and beyond the authority of local bishops. Said >to >be richer than many Third World states, Opus Dei publishes no financial >statements, no membership lists, and it reports - once every five years - >only to the pope. > >Although run from opulent headquarters in Rome's Parioli district, Opus Dei >protests that it is "poor" and does not possess the means of carrying out a >political agenda. It claims that its only concern is the spiritual >well-being >of members. But this is highly deceptive, for the more one gets to know >Opus >Dei, the more one realises it is highly secretive and elitist. Its primary >goal is to return the -Catholic Church to the centre of society, as in >medieval times. > >That by itself may seem harmless enough, but Opus Dei possesses many of the >characteristics of a dangerous sect. Members - there are basically two >sorts: >celibate and noncelibate - are subject to a secret initiation rite. >Obedience >is sworn to the prelate-general and "other authorised persons of the >prelature". Once inducted, they must submit to what is known as the >"formative norms" - a manner of mind conditioning. These include reporting >weekly to a "director" who has a right of regard over all their activities, >personal and professional. Confessing once a week to an Opus Dei priest is >mandatory. Celibate oblates must regularly wear a cilis - a spiked thigh >chain used by religious communities in the Middle Ages - and practice >self-flagellation. Married members are encouraged to send their children to >Opus Dei schools. The schools serve as recruitment centres. > >Opus Dei has been accused of being a church within the Church. It has its >own >doctrine, which it claims was divinely inspired. Moreover, it is the only >Roman Catholic organisation - other than the Church herself - that believes >it was created by God. > >Most sects practice the cult of the founder. In Opus Dei's case, it is >determined to have Escriv�, who died in 1975, declared a saint before the >millennium. But a number of prominent Catholics have protested, claiming >that >canonisation would weaken the credibility of the Church. One of Spain's >leading theologians, Juan Mart�n Velasco, remarked : "We cannot portray as >a >model of Christian living someone who has served the power of the state and >who used that power to launch his Opus, which he ran with obscure criteria >- >like a Mafia shrouded in white - not accepting the papal magisterium when >it >failed to coincide with his way of thinking". > >Such weighty protests have not moved John Paul II, whose views on Escriv�'s >saintliness, and regard for Opus Dei in general, are well known. A few days >before the first 1978 Conclave after the death of Pope Paul VI (which >elected >John Paul I, who died after only 33 days in office) the future pope paid a >visit to the Villa Tevere headquarters and prayed at Escriv�'s tomb. After >the death of the founder's successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, in 1994, >John Paul II returned to the prelatic church and knelt before the >prelate-general's funeral bier. This bending of protocol - a pope only >kneels >before the earthly remains of a cardinal - was regarded by many as a sign >of >fidelity to the organisation that had done everything in its power to raise >him to the papal throne. > >In spite of opposition from Paul VI's closest adviser, Cardinal Giovanni >Benelli, in November 1982 John Paul II elevated Opus Dei to the unique >status >of personal prelature. Benelli had died of a sudden heart attack the month >before. Since then the papal household has increasingly come under Opus >Dei's >domination. > >The Work and its allies control the papal purse strings and the Vatican, >after years of piling up deficits, now runs at a profit. It is claimed that >the papal secretary, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz, is an Opus Dei associate. >During papal travels, Dziwisz makes a point of exchanging the customary >Opus >Dei form of salutation with local members. Opus Dei Archbishop Juliarl >Herranz, one of the most powerful members of the Roman Curia, is >co-chairman >of the Papal Council of Advisers. His two co-chairmen are strong Opus Dei >supporters, one of them having given key testimony to the Roman tribunal >investigating Escriv�'s saintliness. Vatican spokesman Joaquin >Navarro-Valls, >a celibate lay member, holds ministerial status in the papal entourage. > >On the secular front, Opus Dei is well represented throughout Latin >America, >where it has penetrated all levels of government, the military, and the >business and financial establishments. In Peru, for example, Opus Dei >forged >a coalition of business and banking leaders with high-ranking bureaucrats >that gave its backing to President Alberto Fujimori. When Tupac Amaru >rebels >seized the Japanese embassy last December, creating the 126-day hostage >crisis, Fujimori called upon Archbishop Juan Luis Cipliani, from the >mountain >diocese of Ayacucho, to mediate - over the head of the Archbishop of Lima, >Cardinal Augusto Vargas Zamora, a Jesuit. Cipriani, one of seven Opus Dei >bishops in Peru, is now favoured to succeed Cardinal Vargas, who is past >the >retirement age, as archbishop of Lima, which traditionally means promotion >to >the cardinalate. > >Opus Dei's fortunes in Europe have been less certain. The exception is >Spain, >where its political influence regained considerable potency after last >year's >electoral victory of the conservative Jos� Mar�a Aznar. A devout Catholic >whose wife is close to Opus Dei, Prime MinisterAznar's government is laced >with Opus Dei dignitaries. > >Opus Dei's political ideology has changed little since the 1950s when two >of >its leading strategists, Rafael Calvo Serer, a former director of the >Spanish >lnstitute in London, and Florentino P�rez-Embid, published their treatises >on >Opus Dei as a Catholic regenerator with worldwide reach. > >They maintained that the emergence of a new Spain within the European >Community presented a Godgiven opportunity to recreate a form of militant >Catholicism initiated by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the 16th century. >Charles V was known as God's viceroy on earth. His imperial policies >brought >Spain to the height of her creative success, but they also aggravated the >European rift between Catholics and Protestants and ended up bankrupting >the >empire. Nevertheless he placed on Peter's throne two popes of his choosing. > >Calvo Serer and P�rez-Embid reasoned that with galloping secularism >overtaking the Westem world, the only way to revitalise Christianity was to >resume the Catholic crusade of Charles V - not this time with the resources >of a single nation, but through a powerfull and vital transnational >Catholic >movement, headed by Opus Dei. Like the Spanish empire of old, Opus Dei's >new-look Holy League was to have large-spectrum antennae in Latin America >and >the United States. > >Opus Dei's American influence blossomed during the Reagan administration. >The >prelature placed its agents inside the White House and recruited among the >middle ranks of the Pentagon. Under Clinton, the situation is more >ambiguous, >with the exception of the FBI, whose director, Louis Freeh, is said to be a >supernumerary (non-celibate) member. When asked for confirmation, Freeh >declined to respond, having an FBI special agent reply in his stead. (The >official FBI spokesman in Washington had never heard of Opus Dei.) > >"While I cannot answer your specific questions, I do note that you have >been >'informed' incorrectly," John E Collingwood stated, without giving further >details. > >However it seems that Special Agent Collingwood was himself misinformed, as >Opus I)ei subsequently admitted that Freeh's brother, John, was indeed a >celibate director of the Work's large centre in Pittsburgh. > >In Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy, Opus Dei members are highly placed >in >the commercial and central banking sectors and within the government >bureaucracy. Opus Dei was introduced to the Catholic aristocracy of Europe >by >former Queen Fabiola of Belgium, who is related through the House of Aragon >to the Spanish Borb�n family. One of Opus Dei's bitterest reversals >occurred >earlier this year when a Belgian parliamentary commission placed the >organisation on a list of dangerous religious sects, proposing legislation >to >bring them under stricter control. > >Opus Dei was handed another setback by the Socialist victory in France, >where >it has strong connections among the business establishment. President >Chirac's wife, Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, although not a member, is a >strong Opus Dei sympathiser. Under Alain Jupp�, Opus Dei members held >several >important cabinet positions, controlling government policy on social >communications, proposing legislation to repenalise homosexuality and >playing >a key role in the privatisation of TF1, a national television channel. > >The presence of Opus Dei in the UK, though now well rooted, is nowhere near >as pervasive. Its network of schools, subsidised with statefunds, is >concentrated in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Recently, however, Opus Dei >established itself in Belfast. Opus Dei members run a youth club called >Citywise, and have links with schools in Northern Ireland. A similar club >exists in Dublin. Both have secured European Union support under the Youth >for Europe programme. > >It is part of Opus Dei's modus operandi never to spend - except as a last >resort - its own money to finance "good works", but always to dig into >someone else's resources, public or private. Financial backers of Opus Dei >projects are often private foundations, or public entities such as US AID, >Adveniat in Germany, Unesco (whose director general, Federico Mayor, is >Opus >Dei) or the public instances of the European Union, where the Work is >especially well represented. > >Opus Dei schools in Kenya and Nigeria are partially financed by the British >government. One former numerary, Dr John Roche, spent 10 years as a >director >of Strathmore College in Nairobi. During this time the British government >paid a third of his salary into an account in London. But numeraries are >required to turn their salaries over to the prelature. In this case, the >amount totalled ?25,000. > >After leaving Opus Dei, Roche - now a lecturer at Oxford - sued in the >Chancery Division of the High Court of London to recover that part of his >salary retained in the UK and other sums he loaned the prelature. Opus Dei >successfully defended the case, claiming it owed him nothing. Afterwards >Roche and his solicitors questioned the authenticity of certain documents >placed in evidence by the defendants. Opus Dei's solicitors belatedly >admitted that "a number of the letters placed on exhibit were not written >on >the dates they bear but in 1976" - ie after the lawsuit was filed. Roche >received an apology and recouped ?6,500 of the money as part of an >out-of-court settlement. > >If, as widely expected, Archbishop Cipriani receives a red hat in the next >Consistory - the meeting of cardinals with the Pope - he will become Opus >Dei's first cardinal. As a conservative Latin American, young (53 years >old), >and trimly sportive (a former Olympic athlete), this would make him an >eminent papal candidate during the next Conclave. With the 77-year-old John >Paul II ailing, many believe the next Conclave cannot be far off. Should an >Opus Dei pope be elected, the sons of Josemaria Escriv� will have >successfully created a neo-Renaissance power structure with striking >parallels to the one constructed by God's viceroy in the 16th century. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- Get a NextCard Visa, in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. 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