Hidden History: Link Between Opus Dei, Western Intelligence and Child Trafficking

Opus Dei: Faith, Power and Manipulation

DW (2021)

Film Review

The video below is a sanitized vanilla-light documentary on Opus Dei. The latter was propelled to wide public attention by Dan Brown’s 2003 book The Da Vinci Code and the 2006 movie based on the book. Contrast it with the classic 1983 Mother Jones article “Thy Will Be Done,” and the 2019 ISGCP article linked in the last paragraph.

The documentary poses more questions than it answers. According to DW, Opus Deis was  founded by Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer in Navarre Spain in 1928. Escriva and his followers strongly supported Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who rewarded Opus Dei with powerful positions in his fascist government. In the 1960s, Franco’s Opus Dei-linked finance ran Spain’s central bank.

According to several unnamed sources, Opus Dei still has significant influence over the Spanish government, especially the departments of Education, Justice and Banking. It’s also believed to control the Spanish judiciary, with 1/3 of all Spanish judges and prosecutors linked to the group. One former Opus Dei member filmmakers interview blame this influence on Spain’s failure to change its political structure following Franco’s death (1975) or to hold anyone accountable the atrocities committed by his government.

Opus Dei presently has 90,000 members globally: 30,000 in North and South America, 10,000 in Africa, Asia and Oceania, 35,000 in Spain, 4,000 in Italy and 600 in Germany.

Under the organization’s current structure, 2% are priests, 10% are “numeraries” (who live monastic-style lives in Opus Dei residential centers), and the rest “supernumeraries” (allowed to marry and lead private lives).

The lapsed Opus Dei members featured in the film complain bitterly about its cult-like structure, bullying, harsh rules and pressure to recruit new members.

They also talk about the organization’s immense wealth and links with global elites at the highest level. Opus Dei runs numerous schools, universities, hospitals, business schools and foundations, mainly in Spain and the US. The vice president of the European Bank and a Spanish judge on the European Court of Human Rights are allegedly linked to Opus Dei.

The 1983 Mother Jones article Thy Will Be Done  tells a very different story, as does a 2019 article by the  Institute for the Study of Globalization and Covert Politics. The former reports on longstanding collaboration between Opus Dei and Anglo-US intelligence (eg in death squad activity in Latin America). The latter is based on an extensive 1986 Belgian police report linking Opus Dei to high level politicians and officials, western intelligence, elite child trafficking networks.