(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis privately urged a Spanish bishop not to yield in his dispute with Opus Dei and said he wanted to protect him from “mafia intrigues.”
On September 3, the Spanish newspaper El País published two previously unpublished letters from Pope Francis to Ángel Pérez Pueyo, bishop of Barbastro-Monzón in Spain, amid an ongoing dispute between the diocese and Opus Dei over an 11th-century image of Our Lady of the Angels and the governance of the Torreciudad shrine built by Opus Dei founder St. Josemaría Escrivá. The letters indicate that Francis supported Pérez Pueyo in his efforts to have the image returned to the diocese.
“Dear brother, I agree with you. Don’t give in!” Francis’ first letter reads.
The dispute between the bishop and Opus Dei dates back to January 2020, when Opus Dei contacted the Barbastro-Monzón diocese to propose changing the legal status of the Torreciudad shrine and updating the legal framework governing it. That framework dated to 1962, when the diocese ceded the old hermitage at Torreciudad to Opus Dei. That statute did not recognize Opus Dei as the owner of the shrine but only as its holder under a concession. However, Pérez Pueyo rejected the proposal.
At the center of the dispute, there is also the 11th-century image of Our Lady of the Angels, venerated in the shrine of Torreciudad. Opus Dei maintains that it possesses notarial documents from 1966 supporting the perpetual transfer of the image. The diocese, however, maintains that it has no official records documenting an authorized removal of the image and demanded that it be returned.
On July 13, 2023, after learning about the controversy, Pope Francis intervened directly in the dispute, sending a first letter to Pérez Pueyo. The conflict became public on July 17, 2023, when Pérez Pueyo removed the Opus Dei rector of Torreciudad and appointed a priest whom he trusted to replace him.
On October 13, 2024, after appointing the dean of the Roman Rota, Archbishop Alejandro Arellano, as pontifical commissioner with full powers and delegate of the Holy See for the shrine of Torreciudad, Francis wrote a second letter to Pérez Pueyo.
“Dear brother, thank you for your email. By appointing the Dean of the Rota (Arellano), I make my direct involvement in the Opus Dei activities there visible. And by proposing a new dean, I seek to free you from all the mafia intrigues that are underway. In this way, it becomes clear that my intervention is complete,” Francis’ second letter reads.
According to El País, Francis informed Pérez Pueyo of the intention to transfer him to the Diocese of Ciudad Real. However, the bishop had no intention of leaving the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón. So the Spanish bishop immediately went to Rome and explained his position to the pope, making clear that he had been the victim of a plot orchestrated behind his back from certain sectors within the Church. For these reasons, apparently, Francis decided to block the transfer at once.
Francis took a particular interest in the dispute between the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón and Opus Dei because the Argentine pontiff intended to initiate a process of dismantling the Spanish prelature known for its conservative positions in many cases.
On July 22, 2022, through the motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum, Francis requested a revision of Opus Dei’s statutes, eliminated the provision that the prelate must necessarily be a bishop, and placed emphasis on a more “charismatic” and less hierarchical form of governance.
According to a report published by InfoVaticana on October 14, 2025, the new statutes desired by Francis have reportedly already been completed and are awaiting promulgation by Leo XIV. These statutes will entail the dissolution of the Opus Dei’s juridical and spiritual unity. The reform is expected to divide the institution into three distinct entities with three distinct governances: a prelature composed solely of the incardinated numerary priests, a restructured priestly society for diocesan priests, and a new public association of the faithful that will gather all the lay members who until now belonged to the prelature.
The most sensitive point of the reform is the complete loss of the prelate’s authority over the laity, who would come under an independent association and no longer under the prelate’s jurisdiction. This would effectively dismantle the system of obedience and spiritual direction that characterized Opus Dei for nearly a century. In this way, the institution’s influence within the Church would be significantly reduced.