By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-16 19:26:34 | Updated at 2025-01-30 19:06:52
1 week ago
CV NEWS FEED // Opus Dei recently released a 439-page document addressing and correcting inaccuracies in Gareth Gore’s 2024 publication Opus: Dark Money, a Secretive Cult, and its Mission to Remake Our World.
“With this document,” the publication stated, “we hope to correct the record and to provide an essential perspective that the author has withheld from readers of the book.”
Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, is a Catholic lay and clerical institution founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá in 1928.
CatholicVote reported in October that Jack Valero, press officer of Opus Dei UK and a Catholic journalist, criticized Gore’s work, accusing the book of promoting conspiracy theories and containing numerous errors, distortions, and lies.
The Opus Dei Communications Office initially cooperated with Gore during the preparation of his book, as is their practice with such requests, “even if they come — as in this case — from professionals who are not specialists in ecclesial themes or who are not part of a faith experience,” the document said.
However, they later discovered that he used their cooperation to support a predetermined negative narrative about the organization.
“He dishonestly distorts real data to build plausibility for his story, while disregarding anything that did not align with his preconceived thesis,” Opus Dei asserted. They accused Gore of distorting facts and omitting positive aspects of Opus Dei, describing the book as lacking objectivity and failing to include the organization’s responses to its criticisms.
“The result is an example of a distorted polemic,” the document said, “which builds verisimilitude from this variety of elements: misrepresented facts, half-truths, statements of unequal value, errors and lies, unfounded hypotheses from biased or misinterpreted sources, fanciful interpretations.”
Opus Dei explained that Gore’s book includes over a hundred pages of “Notes” that cite sources intended to support the author’s assertions. However, the document asserted that this “apparent rigor” conceals an intentional strategy, as the author treats sources critical of Opus Dei as unquestionable while omitting any information that could contradict his thesis.
Some unfair practices attributed to Gore regarding the “Notes” section include:
- Telling one part of the truth while hiding the other
- Stating as facts things that did not occur by citing false sources or sources that he manipulates
- Ignoring or omitting the context
- Using real data to construct new false or fabricated data
- Extensively using texts from the past known for their animosity toward Opus Dei
Opus Dei’s comprehensive document goes on to outline every significant error, misinterpretation, and what appear to be intentional falsehoods made by Gore.
Multiple corrections revolve around Gore’s depiction of the life of their founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá. In one instance, Gore claims that St. Josemaría joined the seminary “as a pathway to a better life and for opportunities beyond his hometown.”
“The reality is that he went to the seminary because he felt he had a calling from God,” Opus Dei clarified.
They explained that in Spain at the time, an eldest son would not have gone to the seminary as a way to prosper, because they bore the responsibility for taking care of the family.
“The young Escrivá did both,” Opus Dei asserted, “following the path of the priesthood and taking responsibility for his family after his father’s death in 1924.”
Gore also claimed that St. Josemaría wanted “to defend the church at all costs, even if that meant turning a blind eye to the suffering around him.”
“This statement is false and Gore does not back it up with any source,” Opus Dei wrote.
The organization outlined multiple sources which attest to the fact that St. Josemaría was actively involved in soup kitchens, schools, dispensaries, and other aid initiatives for the poor of Madrid, in addition to religious services.
In light of the surplus of discrepancies appearing in Gore’s book, Opus Dei emphasized the importance of dialogue.
“We offer this document with a necessary premise,” they said, “respect and openness towards critical views, which can usually be helpful.”
