Opus Dei

One should keep in mind that all ecclesial realities share in the life and purpose of the one Church. Therefore, all are called to live in the same ecclesial communion and to foster mutual affection.

From its foundation on October 2, 1928, Opus Dei was already in essence, although in an embryonic state, the same as we see it today: a part of the Church, made up of faithful and structured hierarchically around a head who was at first the founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, a priest.

Both belong equally to the prelature.

At the institutional level, what is Opus Dei’s relationship with the dioceses? Is its pastoral work carried out in accord with religious institutions and other ecclesial entities?

The prelate of Opus Dei and the prelature itself depend on the Holy See: on the Roman Pontiff and the Congregation for the Clergy.

The mission of the prelature of Opus Dei is the same salvific mission as that of the whole Church, carried out in conformity with a specific charism of sanctification and apostolate in professional work and in the context of ordinary life.

Like any prelature, the government of Opus Dei is the responsibility of its prelate and his vicars, who are assisted by councils made up of other faithful, many of them lay persons, both men and women. The lay faithful also play a decisive role in the organizational tasks and in the formational activity of Opus Dei.

Although similar personal hierarchical structures already existed (such as military vicariates), the juridical figure of the personal prelature is the result of an apostolic desire of the Second Vatican Council that later took form in the present Code of Canon Law. The first to be erected was the prelature of Opus Dei, in the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit of John Paul II, on November 28, 1982.

Incorporation in the prelature of Opus Dei is essentially united to the personal vocation of that individual.