Pope Francis moved the prelature\u2019s Vatican oversight from the office for bishops to that of clergy, triggering an ongoing review and rewrite of its governing norms.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV told the prelate of Opus Dei on Feb. 16 that \u201cthe process of updating Opus Dei\u2019s statutes continues in its study phase and that no publication date can yet be foreseen,\u201d according to a statement from the prelature.<\/p>\n
The pope received Opus Dei\u2019s prelate, Monsignor Fernando Oc\u00e1riz, in audience at the Vatican on Monday. Oc\u00e1riz was accompanied by his auxiliary vicar, Monsignor Mariano Fazio.<\/p>\n
The Holy See Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The Vatican meeting came as the personal prelature\u2019s proposed statutes \u2014 submitted to the Holy See on June 11, 2025 \u2014 remain under review. Opus Dei\u2019s draft is being examined by the Dicastery for the Clergy following the reforms to the governance of personal prelatures introduced under Pope Francis.<\/p>\n
Opus Dei said that \u201cseveral topics were addressed in an atmosphere of great trust,\u201d including \u201cthe perspectives and challenges of the work of evangelization that Opus Dei carries out throughout the world, as it approaches its first centenary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prelature added that it presented to the pope \u201cthe institutional perspective on some specific controversies in Argentina\u201d and that the audience also included discussion of vocations in the Church, \u201cparticularly, the contrast between the situation in Africa and in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the statement, Oc\u00e1riz presented the pope with two books: \u201cThe Church in the Street: The Reception of Gaudium et Spes in Six Holy Pastors,\u201d by Augustinian Father Ram\u00f3n Sala Gonz\u00e1lez, and \u201cYauyos, an Adventure in the Andes,\u201d an account by Samuel Valero about Opus Dei priests\u2019 evangelizing work in two provinces of Peru.<\/p>\n
Opus Dei is currently the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church and reports about 94,450 members worldwide.<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n