Opus Dei faithful are lay people. For this reason, they do not profess vows because they are not consecrated persons as in the case of members of a religious order. Opus Dei is not a religious order but a personal prelature, a circumscription of the Catholic Church. The priests of the Prelature of Opus Dei are secular priests just like diocesan priests insofar as they live in the world and are governed by their bishop in their pastoral work.