Opus Dei

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 only personal prelature currently existing is Opus Dei. The fact that others have not yet been erected is due to the newness of personal prelatures, which have to offer guarantees of ecclesial solidity and be harmoniously inserted into the dioceses in which they operate. Besides, there are other ecclesiastical circumscriptions, such as the military ordinariates, with the same type of configuration, that is to say, one that is both personal and that complements the dioceses.

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

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.

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.

It is the Church itself, represented by the Pope, that makes the decision to create a personal prelature, after consulting the Bishops’ Conferences, in order to serve souls more effectively. Naturally this decision requires the existence of the elements that constitute a personal prelature: a community of faithful, presided over by a prelate, with a clergy that assists him in his pastoral task, and a specific ecclesial purpose.

The new deacons come from 15 countries and were ordained today by the Prelate in the Basílica of San Eugenio in Rome. We present some excerpts from Bishop Javier Echevarría's homily along with the names of the newly ordained deacons.

“In an environment that is not very Christian, how can we stand up for what we believe in?” This question, still relevant today, was put to St. Josemaría in 1972. Here is his answer (Weekly Video: 0’44”).