Without a doubt, Opus Dei is facing its worst crisis in almost a hundred years of history. Four of its most senior priests are going to be tried for trafficking in women in Argentina. The Vatican is also carrying out its own investigation into two independent complaints: one allegation referring to girls in slavery and another regarding the systematic psychological, physical and spiritual abuse to which its members are subjected. Pope Francis has already stripped the organization of many of its privileges and there could be a formal intervention in the coming weeks.
With several battle fronts open, Opus Dei needs a specialist in crisis management to provide a good advisory service.
In the opinion of Yago de la Cierva, who has been advising clients in these types of situations for decades, the way in which an organization reacts when faced with serious accusations is crucial. “Organizations are judged more harshly based on how they have reacted when discovering a problem,” he explained in a video for the communication postgraduate course at the University of Piura, in Peru (linked to Opus). “When the organization, upon discovering a problem within, does not solve it […]then it is not an error of negligence, it is always guilty.”
In the video, de la Cierva also talked about something even worse than the abuse, and that was trying to cover it up, denying its existence when evidence was presented or trying to divert the topic to change the focus. “If in an institution it is discovered that there have been abuses of authority, that there have been bullyingthat there has been any unfair situation, people end up understanding that it was inevitable; What would be avoidable is that the organization covers it up, hides it, does not make the decisions of the case to remove these people and to protect the victims; “That mistake is much more serious than the first.”
Good advice. And surprising, coming from Yago de la Cierva, who is currently at the center of a misinformation campaign so that the media’s attention does not fall on the serious accusations contained in my book. Opus.
Opus Dei has mounted a disinformation campaign: the strategy consists of constructing a completely false narrative, presenting the book as an attack on the memory of the late banker Luis Valls-Taberner and accusing me of inventing most of its content.
Published this month in Spain and the rest of the world, the book details the organization’s systematic abuse against its members: secret recruitment, abuse of children, the use of confession and spiritual guidance as a mechanism to obtain information about new potential members, tranquilizers as a way to cover up members’ mental health problems, and human trafficking.
These are not accusations made lightly. The research contained in the book is the result of five years of interviews with hundreds of members and former members on several continents.
Faced with such serious accusations, any normal institution would have reacted with an unequivocal and firm commitment to immediately initiate an investigation, to take the accusations very seriously, and to cooperate with the police to get to the bottom of it. But Opus Dei is not a normal institution. It has been operating for decades as if it were the law, with total disregard for the well-being of its members.
That this has happened is illuminating because it reveals the power and influence that an organization accused of serious abuses and trafficking in human beings continues to secretly exercise in today’s Spain.
Instead of addressing these issues, Opus Dei has mounted a disinformation campaign to divert attention from these serious accusations. The strategy consists of constructing a completely false narrative, presenting the book as an attack on the memory of the late banker Luis Valls-Taberner (it is not) and accusing me, without giving further details, of inventing most of its content. Surprising Valls-Taberner’s own family, De la Cierva now presents himself as a “spokesperson” for the banker who has insisted on defending his tarnished reputation.
Like so many other things in Opus Dei, it is about setting up a façade with the sole purpose of defending the organization at all costs. De la Cierva is a member of Opus Dei. He was its official spokesperson and has been working at the Opus Dei university in Rome for the last 23 years.
The book is extremely respectful of Luis Valls-Taberner, who is described as a “devout and kind Catholic.” The one who tarnished the reputation of the deceased banker is De la Cierva, inventing false statements against him and circulating them among the press as a distraction maneuver.
For years, it has been taboo to criticize Opus Dei or question its role in Spanish society. But that time is over. The organization has been unmasked and will be held accountable
Public opinion does not buy the false story of Opus Dei, but the organization has powerful supporters. Many allies of Opus Dei have helped him spread this fake news. Just take a look at the coverage of ABC, Cope, El Debate and Vida Nueva. Many of these media were contacted at the time to send them the book, and offer them interviews before it went on sale. The answer was that they did not plan to cover it.
But when it was published, they became an integral part of the Opus Dei smear and distraction campaign, providing a platform to De la Cierva and replicating Opus Dei’s arguments one by one. In almost all cases, without asking me for comments.
That this has happened is illuminating because it reveals the power and influence that an organization accused of serious abuses and trafficking in human beings continues to secretly exercise in today’s Spain.
For years, it has been taboo to criticize Opus Dei or question its role in Spanish society. But that time is over. The organization has been unmasked and will be held accountable. De la Cierva will presumably return to her work on the book at hand. Ironically, the title is How to ask for forgiveness and be forgiven. Judging by his behavior over the last two weeks, it doesn’t look like it will be very long.
#years #taboo #criticize #Opus #Dei #Spain #time
