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Pope canonizes Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei
2002-241-10
10/18/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
Before a record crowd at St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II canonized Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, an institution that has stirred as much admiration as controversy in the Roman Catholic Church world-wide. The canonization brought 300,000 people to St Peter's Square--'a record crowd for a canonization,' wrote the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa. La Repubblica of Rome noted: 'The elevation of Escriva will remain one of the most controversial acts of this pontificate.'
Born in Spain in 1902 and ordained a priest in 1925, Escriva in 1928 founded Opus Dei, an institution that encourages its adherents to attain sainthood 'in ordinary life'--through the world of work and family --with its official objective being 'finding God in work and daily life.'
Although some Opus Dei members take vows of chastity and obedience and live in community, the majority--called 'supernumeraries'--are married women and men living in the world. Opus Dei does not disclose the names of supernumeraries, which has led to accusations, even from heart of the Roman Catholic Church, that the organization is a 'secret sect,' an accusation always energetically rejected by its members.
Seven years after Escriva's death in 1975, Opus Dei obtained from Pope John Paul II a personal prelature, a juridical form of oversight that had never before existed in the church. Introduced for the first time in a new code of canon law (the general laws of the Catholic church), a personal prelature is similar to a diocese, only not bound by geographic limitations. The members of Opus Dei are under the authority of a prelate, a bishop who resides in Rome and who answers directly to the Pope.
In 1984, John Paul II named a member of Opus Dei, the Spaniard Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Vatican press room. Then in 1992, the Pope beatified Escriva in a gesture praised by many bishops who supported the idea of reinvigorating the mission of lay people in the church. But it was criticized by other prelates, who thought that the beatification of someone who had died only 17 years before was too hasty. Others accused Escriva of supporting the regime of General Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, because members of Opus Dei had been government ministers in Madrid under the Spanish dictator.
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