The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

For over half a century, Banco Popular was one of the most profitable banks in the world—until one day, in 2017, when the Spanish bank suddenly collapsed overnight. When investigative journalist Gareth Gore was dispatched to report on the story, he expected to find yet another case of unbridled capitalist ambition gone wrong. Instead, he uncovered decades of deception that hid one of the most brazen cases of corporate pillaging in history, perpetrated by a group of men sworn to celibacy and self-flagellation who had secretly controlled Popular and abused their positions there to help spread Opus Dei to every corner of the world.

Drawing on unparalleled access to bank records, insider accounts, and exclusive interviews with whistle-blowers from within Opus Dei, Gore reveals how money from the bank was used to lure unsuspecting recruits—some of them only children—into a life of servitude. He also tracks the ascent of Opus Dei within the United States, exposing its role in bankrolling many right-wing causes, including the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In an era of disinformation and deep fakes, here is a real-life conspiracy which hid in plain sight for more than sixty years. Gore tells a shocking story of money and power that spans decades and continents. Documenting Opus Dei’s secret history for the first time, this thrilling work of investigative storytelling raises important questions about the dark forces that shape our society.

Gareth Gore is a financial journalist and editor with close to two decades of experience, who had reported from over twenty-five countries and covered some of the biggest financial stories. His writing has been published by Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and International Financing Review. He is the host of The Syndicate, which tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the biggest financial deals in history. His new book is Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church.

Shermer and Gore discuss:

• What began as a magazine report on the 2017 collapse of Spain’s Banco Popular, he said, led him to “a completely unexpected story.”
• Founded in 1928 by St. Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei (Latin for “Work of God”) centers on attaining holiness through ordinary life.
• Officially recognized in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, made a personal prelature in 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and in 2022 Pope Francis issued the apostolic letter Ad charisma tuendum, which transferred responsibility for Opus Dei from the Dicastery for Bishops to the Dicastery for the Clergy and that the head of Opus Dei cannot become a bishop.
• According to Opus Dei, in 2023, the prelature was comprised of an estimated 93,784 people, 2,106 of whom are priests. Of the total number of members, 57 percent are women and 43 percent men.
• Opus Dei’s role as one of the driving forces behind the erosion of democracy, reproductive freedom, and LGBTQ+ rights in the United States and elsewhere
• Its hidden financial ties to big business and brutal dictatorships, which have helped it accumulate billions in assets
• Its infiltration of political and philanthropic institutions, universities, and the media
• The abusive practices it uses to control and coerce members—and its grooming of unsuspecting children and teenagers
• The trafficking of vulnerable young women to serve as an unpaid army of servants for its elite members
• The widespread abuse of prescription drugs to medicate members and cover up the severe mental health issues that riddle its ranks
• Its efforts to cover up sexual abuse, including that of children, by Opus Dei members and priests
• Its plan to infiltrate the U.S. school system in order to recruit a new generation of operatives
• The current battle, led by Pope Francis, to prevent Opus Dei from imposing its ultra-conservative agenda on the entire Catholic Church.

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