Opus Dei was founded in 1928 by an Aragonese Roman Catholic priest, Josemaría Escrivá, and it was subsequently recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as its first secular religious institution, then later a personal prelature, a secular jurisdictional structure of the Catholic Church akin to a diocese. Though members of the Jewish community have defended Escrivá in the past, the issue was far from resolved at the time of his beatification in 1992. Thus, del Portillo, the Opus Dei prelate who succeeded Escrivá, said that the attacks against the founder of Opus Dei are "a patent falsehood," part of "a slanderous campaign." (del Portillo 1996, p. 22-25). (Urbano 1995, p. 118-199) He condemned it, even going against Spain's public and official attitude of keeping silent about Nazism, despite the Holy See's condemnation of Hitler's ideology. In addition, according to Opus Dei supporters, the one oral testimony regarding the supposed sympathies of Escrivá towards Hitler is disputed by various documented testimonies of non-members and members who state that Escrivá vigorously condemned Hitler, whom he called "an obsessed man, a rogue and tyrant." He also allegedly condemned Nazism for being a "heresy," "anti-Christian," "pagan," "totalitarian," "a political aberration," and "racist." About the Nazi persecution against the Christians and the Jews, he was reported to say: "one victim is enough to condemn it". Wilson).Įscrivá responded to these accusations in 1975, professing his "love for the Jewish people". Felzmann, on saying these things, is being inconsistent with a testimony he wrote in 1980 saying that Escrivá is "a saint for today." ( Documentation Service Vol V, 3, March 1992) They claim that former members, called "apostates" by their former organization, often lend their voices to coalitions fighting their previous religious organizations (see Dr. It couldn't have been more than four million." Opus Dei supporters state that Fr. An article in the Telegraph also reports that Felzmann heard Escrivá, "Vlad, Hitler couldn't have been such a bad person," the Father apparently said. a statement that did not bar the way to subsequent sainthood. The Unofficial Opus Dei Webpage says: Father Vladimir Felzmann, an ex-Opus Dei member and leader, tells about a discussion with Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei : after he (Escrivá) insisted that with Hitler's help the Franco government had saved Christianity from Communism, he added: "Hitler against the Jews, Hitler against the Slavs, this means Hitler against communism." However, supporters of Opus Dei point out that accusations of support to Hitler, Franco or totalitarianism have been often based in scattered information and individual testimonies of former members of the organisation.|date=December 2022}} They also note that the main position of the Socialist and Communist parties in the 1920s and 1930s was against organized religions, especially in mainly Catholic countries such as Spain, where the Church massively took side for Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Although accused of favoring a right-wing and anti-woman agenda, two of the most visible politicians connected to Opus Dei (Kelly and Paola Binetti of Italy) are members of center-left parties and are women, reported Allen in 2006.
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