The charism of Opus Dei consists in spiritually helping all people, men and women, from all backgrounds and professions, to sanctify themselves where they are, and to help them spread the universal call to holiness in the middle of the world, and solely on account of having been baptized. Therefore, the faithful of the Prelature do not form or act in a group because they belong to Opus Dei.

The charism of Opus Dei needs priestly ministry: this is where the hierarchy must intervene. Therefore, as Pope Francis now recalls, “to safeguard the charism, my predecessor Saint John Paul II, in the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit on November 28, 1982, erected the Prelature of Opus Dei, entrusting to it the pastoral task of contributing in a special way to the evangelizing mission of the Church.” With the progressive maturation and assimilation of the Council’s teachings on the hierarchical and charismatic gifts, it will become increasingly clear that, far from being in opposition to each other, in Opus Dei they are complementary realities.