http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=53259
The Union Leader
News - April 12, 2005
Opus Dei watches as cardinals prepare to elect Pope
By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain (AP) - As cardinals prepare to elect a new pope, one
Catholic community in particular has much at stake - Opus Dei, the
ultraconservative movement at the center of the furor generated by
"The Da Vinci Code."
Founded in Spain in 1928, the movement has more than 80,000 members
worldwide, many of them lay people but also hundreds of priests,
bishops and even two cardinals among those who will be casting votes
in Rome.
Its mission, to give lay people a dynamic role in spreading the word
of God, enjoyed firm support from John Paul II who championed the
movement as a means of confronting the secularization of society and
reinforcing his conservative doctrine.
But Opus Dei - Latin for "God's work" - has also been accused of
secretive, cult-like practices, brainwashing of members into blind
devotion and murky financial dealings.
"There is obviously some concern over whether the next pontiff will be
open to something like Opus Dei," said Anthony Figueiredo, a priest
and professor of theology at Seton Hall University near New York who
was once based at the Holy See.
"I can be sure in this pre-conclave period, this is one of the areas
they are discussing," he said, referring to the secretive gathering of
cardinals that begins Monday.
Opus Dei is what is known as a "personal prelature," which in
practical terms means its leader, Monsignor Javier Echevarria, does
not answer to any diocese, only to the pope himself.
It plays a central role in Dan Brown's runaway bestseller, which has
provoked unprecedented protest among Roman Catholic and Protestant
conservatives. "The Da Vinci Code" depicts the movement as a
mysterious center of political and economic power that tries to hide
the historical truth on Jesus and Mary Magdalene - namely, that they
married and sired a bloodline. An Opus Dei devotee commits the murder
that sets the plot in motion.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a former Vatican official considered by
some as pope material, has criticized the book as espousing heresy and
distorting the origins of Christianity.
Theologians in Spain and elsewhere say Opus Dei is well ensconced in
Rome and will probably emerge unscathed from the conclave, although
this is far from certain.
Figuereido said Opus Dei has "enormous influence" in the Vatican
through those cardinals and other sympathetic clergy members who staff
Vatican offices. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls is also a
member. But he has no guarantee of being reappointed.
Nor do cardinals who held jobs as heads of Vatican offices. They
automatically lose their jobs with the death of the pope, and it is up
to the next one to rename them or appoint someone else.
"I can be sure that someone like the prelate of Opus Dei is probably
talking to his cardinals now who are from Opus Dei," Figuereido said.
Officials at Opus Dei's office in Madrid declined to be interviewed
for this article.
Juan Maria Laboa, a priest and Catholic church historian in Madrid,
said Opus Dei is so well established the new pope might not be able to
curb it even if he wanted to. "In the life of the church, when a
religious congregation is already very established, popes clearly have
their preferences but they have a hard time influencing how it is
run," said Laboa, a professor emeritus at Comillas Pontifical
University in Madrid.
The two cardinals known to belong to Opus Dei are the archbishop of
Lima, Peru, Juan Luis Cipriani, and Julian Herranz, a Spaniard based
at the Vatican.
Another cardinal, the archbishop of Milan, Dionigi Tettamanzi, is
known to be sympathetic to Opus Dei and is a possible papal candidate,
according to Figuereido and Spanish theologian Enrique Miret
Magdalena.
Figuereido cited three reasons to watch Tettamanzi: he played a
prominent role at a bishops' meeting called a synod that was dedicated
to Europe and in 1993 he was influential in the writing of a major
papal encyclical on morality that was called the Splendor of Truth.
But most importantly, a few years ago John Paul II transferred
Tettamanzi from Genoa to Milan, one of the world's largest Catholic
diocese. And such a shift is rare for a church leader who was already
a cardinal, Figueiredo said.
"That is very significant," he said. "He was almost saying, 'this is my man.'"
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