He spent years investigating Opus Dei, a Catholic group accused of a vast conspiracy of abuse. Then Pope Leo asked to me [View all]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/06/opus-dei-gareth-gore-pope-leo

He spent years investigating Opus Dei, a Catholic group accused of a vast conspiracy of abuse. Then Pope Leo asked to meet

Gareth Gore’s 2024 book Opus alleges decades of manipulation, which the group has denied. He believes the pope wanted to send a clear message

Sam Wolfson
Mon 6 Apr 2026 07.00 EDT

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Gore’s book lays out claims the organisation is at the heart of a conspiracy involving child grooming, human trafficking, and psychological and emotional control, with former members saying the group used private confessions as leverage against members and drugged those under its sway – claims Opus Dei categorically denies. Gore reported that Opus Dei collaborated closely with the bloody dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain, before supporting rightwing causes around the world.
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In places like Washington, [Opus Dei has] made a real concerted effort to infiltrate the corridors of power and has been immensely successful. I would argue that today, Opus Dei within the Maga Republican movement is one of the pre-eminent forces. There are several very high-ranking figures inside the White House and the wider Maga ecosystem who are either full-on members of Opus Dei or big supporters. People like Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation [and the force behind Project 2025], is a regular at the Opus Dei centre in central DC and gets his spiritual direction from them. You’ve got Leonard Leo, who helped to orchestrate the conservative takeover of the supreme court and sits on the board of the Opus Dei centre in central Washington. The list goes on.

This is a group that is by invitation only and they target the elites: politicians, judges, business people, journalists, academics.

What’s ironic is that you have the leader of the Catholic church speaking out against war and against the way that immigrants are being treated. That shows this co-option of the Christian identity by Opus Dei to be a complete fallacy; it’s all for political expediency. It’s about these people’s own deeply authoritarian and conservative views about how the world should be run.

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… collapse of Banco Popular, one of Spain’s largest banks as opus atm … founded on a vision like most cults … more …

Also

Opus Dei: the CULT of dark money - a conversation with author Gareth Gore | Opus Dei Deep Dive

https://m.&ra=m

And

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com › book › show › 207595616-opus

Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Ri...

Drawing on unparalleled access to bank records, insider accounts, and exclusive interviews with whistle-blowers from within Opus Dei, Gore reveals …