POPE TRANSFERS OPUS DEI TO DICASTERY FOR CLERGY, SAYS PRELATE MAY NOT BE A BISHOP
Forty years after St. John Paul established Opus Dei as a personal prelature in his Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit, Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter Motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum, published today, confirmed the charism of Opus Dei but ordered the transfer of jurisdiction from the Dicastery of Bishops to the Dicastery for Clergy and also established that the Prelate can no longer be awarded the episcopal order. This enters into force August 4.
The Holy Father modified some of Opus Dei’s structures on the basis of the March 19, 2022 constitution on reform of the Roman Curis, Praedicate Evangelium, in order to “protect the charism” and “promote the evangelizing action that its members carry out in the world” by spreading “the call to holiness in the world, through the sanctification of work and commitments to family and society.”
Here’s a translation of some of the salient paragraphs:
“To protect the charism, my predecessor Saint John Paul II, in the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit, of 28 November 1982, erected the Prelature of Opus Dei, entrusting it with the pastoral task of contributing in a particular way to the evangelizing mission of the Church.” (Vatican file photo, Pope, prelate)
“With this Motu Proprio we intend to confirm the Prelature of Opus Dei in the authentically charismatic context of the Church, specifying its organization in harmony with the testimony of the Founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, and with the teachings of the conciliar ecclesiology regarding personal prelatures.”
By means of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium of March 19, 2022 that reforms the organization of the Roman Curia to better promote its service in favor of evangelization, I have deemed it convenient to entrust to the Dicastery for the Clergy the competence for all that pertains to the Apostolic See regarding the personal prelatures, of which the only one erected up to now is that of Opus Dei, in consideration of the pre-eminent task carried out in it, according to the norm of law, by clerics (cf. can. 294, CIC).
In Article 1, the Pope moves the jurisdiction for Opus Dei from the Dicastery for Bishops to the Dicastery for Clergy.
Article 2. The text of art. 6 of the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit is, starting from now, replaced by the following text: “Each year the Prelate will submit to the Dicastery for the Clergy a report on the state of the Prelature and on the carrying out of its apostolic work.”
(That original Ut sit article VI read: “Through the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, the Prelate will present to the Roman Pontiff, every five years, a report on the state of the Prelature, and on the development of its apostolic work.”
Art 4. In full respect of the nature of the specific charism described by the aforementioned Apostolic Constitution, we intend to strengthen the conviction that, for the protection of the particular gift of the Spirit, a form of government based more on charism than on hierarchical authority is needed. Therefore the Prelate will not be awarded or eligible to be awarded the episcopal order.
Art. 5. Considering that the pontifical insignia are reserved for those awarded the episcopal order, the Prelate of Opus Dei is granted, by reason of his office, the use of the title of Apostolic Protonotary supernumerary with the title of Reverend Monsignor and therefore may use the insignia corresponding to this title.
This motu proprio will enter into force on August 4, 2022 and be published in the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Given in Rome at St. Peter’s on July 14, 2022, the 10th year of pontificate, Francesco
GERMAN BISHOPS RESPOND TO VATICAN COMMUNIQUE ON SYNODAL PATH
The Bishops write, among other things: “Since the beginning of the Synodal Path, the Synodal Committee has endeavoured to find direct ways of communication with the Roman bodies. In our opinion, this would be the right place for such clarifications. Unfortunately, the Synodal Committee has not been invited to a discussion to date. We regret with irritation that this direct communication has not yet taken place. In our understanding, a synodal Church is something else!”
An English translation of the full response from the German episcopacy on the July 21 Vatican communique on the “synodal path” underway in Germany is here (scroll down to bottom of page): 21.07.2022: Statement by the Presidents of the Synodal Path on the statement presented by the Holy See
Joan's Rome 