Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church

Spoiler alert--if you have been paying attention at all, there is nothing in here that is ground breaking. Shocking, yes. The depth of the corruption and how it has infiltrated our government and the governments of Europe is well laid out but on reflection, not surprising. The first thing to note about Opus is the tremendous amount of research that went into the project. This involved serious attention to many published works on the prelature, personal interviews with present and former members of Opus Dei (including significant leadership figures), and archival research materials. The resources are fully a quarter of the pages of the book. Some things I didn't know were that Opus Dei was founded in 1928 to be an association of mostly lay Catholics who would seek holiness through their daily activities and secular jobs. Most members are supernumeraries, which means they can be married and live independently, in their own homes; others are numeraries, making a promise of celibacy and living in Opus Dei centers in the community. The author started to investigate them because he was interested in the collapse of a Spanish bank in 2027--but it turned out that was literally the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the influence the group wields, and how Pope Francis was not under their sway being the sole bright light within. The author structures his book around three complementary narratives: one financial, one political and one ecclesial. He is on the strongest ground with following the money, and then where that leads in terms of political influence. It is pretty awful and demonstrates that we are very far from a separation of church and state.