SW News: Prelate of Opus Dei Monsignor Fernando Ocariz has invited members of the lay and clerical institution to pray for the reform process that has been initiated based on the orders of the Holy Father issued last month.

"Keep praying for the work that the Pope has entrusted to us to adapt the Statutes of the Work to what is indicated in the Motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum," the prelate said in his message. He was alluding to the Motu proprio promulgated on August 4 by Pope Francis detailing the reforms.

In the Motu proprio, the pontiff said that the prelate of Opus Dei need not receive episcopal consecration, adding that priesthood alone is enough for him to function as the head of the personal prelature. Mon. Ocariz said that "it is an initiative and decision of the Holy See" to underline "the charismatic dimension" rather than the hierarchical one. Another key reform is that Opus Dei will no longer be answerable to the Dicastery for the Bishops. On the other hand, the Dicastery of the Clergy will be in charge henceforth.

In his September 10 message, Mon. Ocariz said that one’s life is meaningful if the tabernacle is the center of life. “I considered that He is always with us in each Tabernacle.”

Quoting the words from St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, the prelate said that "If the center of your thoughts and hopes is in the Tabernacle, son, how abundant are the fruits of holiness and apostolate!"

“During the days spent in the Holy Land, I have kept you especially present in my prayer, knowing that I am accompanied by yours at the same time,” Monsignor Ocáriz wrote. The Prelate visited the Holy Land in August 2022.

Ad charisma tuendum also mandates that the annual report of the Prelature and the developments of its apostolic work have to be submitted to the Holy See.

Opus Dei was founded in Spain by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, a Spanish priest, in 1928 and is now spread over 68 countries. It counted 95,000-plus members in 2018.