Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church

Almost since Opus Dei was founded in 1928 in pre-Franco Spain, the conservative Catholic group has been described as a "shadowy," "secretive," "cult-like" "sect." Every few years that image, which clings to the organization like stinkweed, is reinforced in the press; as long ago as 1957, Time magazine referred to members as the "White Masons." Not for nothing did the writer Dan Brown smell the opportunity to depict a fictionalized Opus Dei as the vessel for a dangerous, cultish secret society in his bestseller The Da Vinci Code.

And of course, Opus Dei -- which means "work of God" in Latin -- is conservative, secretive and controversial. It has faced criticism from within the church and been embroiled in various intrachurch battles since the 1930s. Whether you view it as an insidious, ultraconservative sleeper cell or a righteous force fighting for orthodoxy in a hostile world likely reflects your own ideological priors.

Part of what makes Opus Dei unique in the church is its status as the sole personal prelature. It is not a religious order, and its ranks include both clergy and laypeople, including some of the most prominent conservative Catholics in America. Its core idea, which founder Josemaría Escrivá said was revealed to him in a vision, is the sanctification of ordinary life by laypeople living the Gospel, and its practices are rigorous and demanding.