May 17th, The Tablet

Among the unresolved issues Pope Leo XIV has inherited from Pope Francis are several thorny questions involving the influential Catholic movement founded in Spain in 1928 by Fr Josemaria Escriva / By MICHAEL TANGEMAN

TORRECIUDAD, Spain – Remnant clouds gave way to a bright Spanish sun and dazzling blue sky, the snowcapped Pyrenees standing picture- perfect in the distance as worshippers arrived for Mass on the first Sunday of May at the Marian sanctuary of Torreciudad, built and run here for 50 years by Opus Dei in the northern Spanish province of Huesca.

But while warm weather and clear skies surrounded this towering brick complex with a mood of serenity, clouds were gathering some 800 miles away at the Vatican, where 133 cardinals from around the globe were assembling to select a successor to Pope Francis. Opus Dei members were praying for a providential outcome. But the unexpected choice of Cardinal Robert Prevost – a US born and Peruvian-nationalised bishop, friend and colleague of Pope Francis, who as the new pontiff has taken the name of Leo XIV – may not have been to the satisfaction of all their leaders.

They know that Leo XIV will be seeing in his papal inbox a number of thorny issues involving Opus Dei and matters of canon law and jurisdictional authority. The new pope seems well prepared. Leo XIV is not only a canon lawyer – he has a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas – but he served for more than a dozen years as prior general of the Augustinian religious order, giving him ample experience in the administration of religious institutions not dissimilar to Opus Dei. Not the least of these issues is the dispute between the Spanish diocese of Barbastro-Monzn and Opus Dei over who has jurisdiction for the sanctuary and the image of Our Lady of the Angels of Torreciudad, a carved statuette of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child venerated here by the faithful since the eleventh century.

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