NEW: Pope Leo Set To Break Up Opus Dei

If Pope Leo does indeed approves a plan that effectively dissolves Opus Dei’s structure, it would be the most significant internal action of his short pontificate to date.

A report from InfoVaticana — a Spanish outlet with close Opus Dei ties — claims that Pope Leo XIV is on the verge of approving new statutes that would effectively dismantle Opus Dei as it exists today.

In Rome and at Opus Dei’s headquarters, no one denies that the Holy See’s intervention is imminent.

Two independent sources tell Letters from Leo that the text of the reforms is finalized and its promulgation is only weeks away.

According to the leaks, the changes would “mean the definitive break of the original structure” that St. Josemaría Escrivá envisioned for the organization.

Three Entities Under the New Statutes

The draft statutes would split Opus Dei into three distinct parts:

• Clerical Prelature: a significantly reduced personal prelature comprising only Opus Dei’s own incardinated priests, in line with new canon law norms.

• Priestly Society of the Holy Cross: a retooled association to integrate diocesan clergy who wish to share in Opus Dei’s spiritual charism (formerly these priests were loosely affiliated with the prelature)

• Lay Faithful Association: an independent public association for all lay members — numeraries, associates, supernumeraries, and cooperators — who until now were under the prelature’s umbrella.

In practice, this reform means Opus Dei will cease to exist as [a unified] juridical and spiritual entity.”

The name “Opus Dei” might still be used for convenience, but it would no longer denote one cohesive body. Instead, it would refer to three autonomous groups, each with its own legal personality and governance.

In effect, the prelature would be dismantled as a single structure.

Such an outcome would be unprecedented in the Church’s recent history, essentially disbanding the most famous personal prelature in Catholicism.

Opus Dei’s Attempts to Delay Reform

These drastic measures follow years of tension over Opus Dei’s resistance to reform. Pope Francis, Leo’s predecessor, had already begun reining in Opus Dei.

In 2022, Francis issued a surprise motu proprio (Ad charisma tuendum) that placed Opus Dei under tighter Vatican oversight and ordered it to rewrite its statutes.

This came amid serious allegations — including a formal complaint by 42 women in Argentina who said Opus Dei coerced them into unpaid domestic servitude — which led Argentine prosecutors to accuse the group of human trafficking and labor abuses.

Francis followed up in 2023 with a second decree stripping Opus Dei of authority over its lay members and warning that the Vatican could intervene if the group stalled on reforms.

Yet by 2025, those new statutes were still not in place.

Progress had been slow, and many observers suspected Opus Dei was waiting out Francis’s pontificate in hopes that a new pope might go easier on them.

In fact, when Francis died in April 2025, Opus Dei promptly postponed its long-planned extraordinary congress that was supposed to enact the reforms.

Citing the need for mourning, the Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, abruptly scaled back that meeting to only the “minimum necessary” business — basically just renewing leadership positions — and deferred all discussion of statute changes “to be studied later.”

This move was widely seen as an attempt to wriggle out of the reforms that the late Pope Francis had set in motion. By stalling the process, Opus Dei’s leadership appeared to bet that Leo XIV would be more sympathetic or at least give them a fresh start.

Skepticism and a High-Stakes Decision

The recent revelations have fueled skepticism about Opus Dei’s openness to genuine change.

Critics argue that the organization has shown a pattern of deflecting scrutiny and resisting oversight. “Opus Dei is incapable of reforming itself. Its reform must come from the Holy See,” said one former member bluntly.

Investigative journalist Gareth Gore — author of an exposé on Opus Dei— has likewise highlighted the group’s history of cover-ups and abuses, from financial wrongdoing to the mistreatment of members.

All eyes are now on Pope Leo XIV. If he indeed approves a plan that effectively dissolves Opus Dei’s unified structure, it would be the most significant internal action of his short pontificate to date.

Such a decision would send a strong signal that even a powerful Catholic organization famed for its influence is not above reform – or dissolution — when it fails to align with the broader Church’s accountability and charism.

In Leo XIV’s young reign, this looming showdown over Opus Dei has become a defining test of his resolve to continue Pope Francis’ legacy of reform.

The outcome will not only determine Opus Dei’s future but also set the tone for how boldly Pope Leo is willing to govern the Church’s most entrenched institutions.

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