SW News: The leader of Opus Dei Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz has announced that a special meeting would be convened in 2023 to revise the group’s statutes to comply with Pope Francis’ mandate seeking reforms.

In a letter dated October 5, the prelate of Opus Dei said that he will convene an extraordinary general congress to adapt the prelature’s statutes to reflect the changes ordered by the Pope. It was in July that the Vatican published Ad Charisma Tuendum (To Safeguard the Charism) detailing the reforms that need to be implemented in Opus Dei. In that decree, the Holy Father said that the prelature’s head would be a priest, who will not be elevated to the episcopate. It would also be answerable to the Dicastery for Clergy rather than the Dicastery for Bishops as per the new mandate.

Monsignor Ocáriz stressed that “it’s a matter of complying with what the Holy See has indicated, not of proposing any change that might seem interesting to us.”

In his letter, Ocáriz said “group leaders have been in contact with the Dicastery for Clergy and have been advised not to limit ourselves to considering only what refers to the dependence of the prelature on this dicastery,” or the specific change requiring the prelature to report to the Holy See about their activities annually rather than every five years.

“We should also propose other possible changes to the statutes that seem appropriate in light of the motu proprio,” Ocáriz said.

“Along with the desire to be faithful to our founder’s legacy, it is important to keep in mind the good for everyone that the legal stability of an institution entails,” he said and adding that the Pope’s motu proprio is a chance to discuss other ideas apart from what is related to the statutes to give new impetus to the apostolic work.”

Opus Dei was founded by Spanish priest St Jose Maria Escriva in 1928. It is a Catholic institution that counts laypersons and priests as its members and they strive for personal sanctification in their daily lives. Opus Dei currently has around 93,400 members, of which 2,300 are priests’ incardinated in the prelature, and another 2,000 priests associated with the group but who remain attached to their dioceses.