Author critical of Opus Dei meets with Pope Leo
March 17, 2026
» Continue to this story on Gareth Gore
CWN Editor's Note: Pope Leo XIV met for over 40 minutes on March 16 with Gareth Gore, the author of Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church.
“I spoke at length about what former members had told me about the way that Opus Dei operates: about how the group abuses the legitimacy conferred upon it by the Catholic Church to lure unsuspecting victims into its clutches,” Gore said following the audience. “I detailed allegations about how the group actively targets young children, how it grooms and manipulates them into a lifelong commitment to serving its interests from the tender age of ten or eleven—without their parents ever being consulted.”
“I ended the meeting by imploring Pope Leo to take action against this abusive group,” Gore added. “I urged him to immediately launch an independent inquiry into Opus Dei abuses headed up by both clerical and lay experts—covering allegations of spiritual, psychological, emotional, physical and financial abuse. “
Founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá in 1928, Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature by Pope St. John Paul II in 1982. The prelature has published a response to Gore’s book.
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