Francis’ Unpublished Letters on Opus Dei: “Mafia-Like Intrigues”
“Don’t give in!” Francis wrote to Pérez Pueyo on July 13, 2023.
The dispute began in January 2020, when Opus Dei approached the bishop to propose changing the arrangements governing Torreciudad. Bishop Pérez Pueyo refused to sign anything. After three years of talks, on July 17, 2023, he removed the rector of Torreciudad and appointed a diocesan priest in his place.
This was the first public confrontation between Opus Dei and the bishop - and came just four days after Francis wrote his letter.
Talks continued until October 9, 2024, when Francis intervened in the shrine by appointing an extraordinary commissioner, Spanish Archbishop Alejandro Arellano, dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. The move was understood as support for the bishop.
Several days later, Francis sent Bishop Pérez Pueyo a second letter reaffirming his position: “By appointing the Dean of the Rota, I am making my direct intervention in Opus Dei’s activities there visible.”
He added: “And by proposing a new posting for you, I am trying to free you from all the ‘mafia-like intrigues’ that are under way. This makes it clear that my intervention is total.”
El País explains what Francis meant by “a new posting.” Francis had planned to appoint Pérez Pueyo bishop of Ciudad Real after being told that he “could no longer withstand the pressure of the confrontation.”
Bishop Pérez Pueyo, surprised and suspecting that a maneuver had taken place behind his back, contacted Francis to tell him he wanted to remain in his diocese.
“The bishop managed to get an appointment with the Pope, went to Rome and told him everything,” the newspaper writes referring to anonymous sources.
Adding: Francis became outraged when he realized that people had tried to deceive him and halted the transfer to Ciudad Real. The appointment was frozen and ultimately decided by Leo XIV in July, after Francis’s death.
Francis died with the Torreciudad conflict still unresolved.
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