Peruvian university officials, stripped of 'Catholic' status, charge Opus Dei conspiracy
August 02, 2012
Officials at the school known as the Pontifical University of Peru have charged that Opus Dei orchestrated the Vatican decision to strip the university of its “pontifical” and “Catholic” designation.
The university officials point to the involvement of Cardinal Luis Cipriani of Lima, who is affiliated with Opus Dei. Efrain Gonzales, the vice-rector of the school, says that “obviously everyone knows Opus Dei has a political agenda.”
The conspiracy theory advanced by university officials—who have refused to drop “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from the title of their school—appears to be a bid to deflect attention from the substance of the Vatican’s complaints against the school. After more than 20 years of conflicts with the Lima archdiocese and the Vatican, and an apostolic visitation conducted by Cardinal Peter Erdo of Budapest (who is not an Opus Dei member), the Vatican concluded that university officials had failed to satisfy the legal requirements—under both Church law and the law of Peru—for maintaining the school’s status.
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Further information:
- Peruvian university worries Opus Dei behind dispute with Church (Reuters)
- Peru university stripped of 'Catholic' status (CWN, 7/23)
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Posted by: AgnesDay -
Aug. 03, 2012 1:13 PM ET USA
They've been reading too much Dan Brown. Perhaps they should have read more Scripture and Church Fathers; they might have kept their Catholic status.
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Posted by: Defender -
Aug. 03, 2012 12:21 PM ET USA
The good old, "The devil made me do it" excuse...it couldn't have been your lack of principles in not teaching the Magisterium, right? Now onto the universities in the U.S., let us hope.
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Posted by: ElizabethD -
Aug. 03, 2012 9:34 AM ET USA
1. Opus Dei has a Catholic agenda. 2. Anyone with a Catholic agenda would find the non Catholic teaching and disobedience of a nominally Catholic university problematic. 3. The school is subject to Church law and the Holy See was truly obliged to take action in response to long term egregious disobedience. It was a pontifical school for goodness sake.
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Posted by: -
Aug. 02, 2012 7:38 PM ET USA
Yes, there are twirling moustaches, sinister laughter, and brandy snifters raised high at the Opus Dei compound in Rome. (Cue the dark music!)
