20/03/2026
y Pope Leo XIV invited British investigative journalist Gareth Gore to a private, 40-minute audience. Gore is the author of the widely discussed book Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church.
The very fact that the pope personally received a journalist exposing alleged abuses within one of the Church’s most powerful institutions—Opus Dei—is telling.
Gore’s book challenges a narrative decades in the making: that Opus Dei is an elite, purely spiritual organization devoted to sanctifying everyday work. After years of investigation and document verification, he portrays the group—founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá—as a powerful machine whose practices, at times, resemble those of a coercive sect.
Among the allegations are serious financial and political concerns. Opus Dei is accused of amassing vast wealth with little transparency. One of the most striking examples described in the book is the alleged covert takeover of Spain’s Banco Popular, which was then used to move billions of dollars. According to Gore, some of these funds supported far-right political initiatives, ultra-conservative think tanks, and lobbying campaigns targeting human rights—particularly in the United States and Latin America.
There are also grave accusations involving modern-day forced labor and human trafficking. Gore details the experiences of numerary assistants—young women, often recruited as minors from poor rural backgrounds. A widely cited case involves more than 40 women from Argentina who were promised education and opportunity. Instead, they were reportedly placed in closed facilities and compelled for decades to perform exhausting domestic labor—cooking, cleaning, and laundry—for male members of the organization, often unpaid and without contracts, pensions, or health insurance.
Former members also describe patterns of psychological and spiritual control. Gore reports accounts of strict obedience requirements—framed as obedience to God—along with isolation from family, monitoring of private correspondence, and the expectation that members turn over their entire income to the organization.
These allegations are echoed in the HBO documentary series The Heroic Minute: I Also Left Opus Dei (El minuto heroico: Yo también dejé el Opus Dei), directed by Mònica Terribas and Laura Sistero. The four-part series gives voice to thirteen former female members, who describe recruitment practices, the gradual erosion of personal identity, psychological distress, and the difficulties of leaving—often after decades, with no financial resources, limited work experience, and fractured family ties.
At the end of the audience, Gore reportedly urged the pope not only to establish an independent investigative commission into alleged abuses, but also to reopen and review the beatification and canonization process of Opus Dei’s founder, Josemaría Escrivá—an extraordinarily complex step from both a legal and doctrinal standpoint. Gore argues that his investigation uncovered new information suggesting serious irregularities in the canonization process, including overlooked or silenced witnesses who questioned Escrivá’s character, describing him as authoritarian, volatile, and closely aligned with Francisco Franco’s regime. The book also references disturbing practices attributed to the founder, such as the alleged use of covert listening devices within Opus Dei centers—reportedly discontinued only after his death—and raises concerns about the unusually rapid pace of his canonization.
How has Opus Dei responded? With firm denial. The organization rejects accusations of money laundering and human trafficking, dismissing Gore’s book as a mix of distorted facts, conspiracy theories, and outright falsehoods. Regarding the Argentine cases, Opus Dei maintains that its programs were designed solely to help educate and uplift the poor—not exploit them. At the same time, the group has mounted a robust PR effort, highlighting positive testimonies from satisfied members. The existence of such members—and the good they may experience—is not in dispute.
The audience between Gareth Gore and Pope Leo XIV appears to be more than a routine pastoral gesture. It reads as a signal that the era of quietly burying difficult issues may be coming to an end.
It’s also worth noting the broader context. As an American, Pope Leo XIV comes from a culture shaped by press freedom, independent journalism, and the idea that investigative reporting plays a vital role in a functioning society. That mindset seems to be informing his approach within the Church. In this view, a journalist exposing uncomfortable truths is not an enemy of faith, but someone who—by bringing problems into the light—can help cleanse the institution. Previous popes have also acknowledged the role of journalists, particularly in exposing clerical sexual abuse. Gore himself reported that the pope described his book as “a meticulously done piece of work.”
This openness—engaging directly with a prominent critic rather than dismissing or ignoring him—could serve as a model for Church leaders elsewhere.
The Opus Dei case has become a kind of litmus test for the Church’s credibility. If Leo XIV follows through with structural reforms of the prelature—building on steps already initiated under Pope Francis—and potentially secures meaningful accountability or restitution for victims, it would signal that no institution within the Vatican is beyond scruiny, and that those harmed may finally be heard—and receive justice.
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Text by a Polish Journalist Dawid Gospodarek translated and edited for American readers
