Without a doubt, Opus Dei is facing its worst crisis in almost a hundred years of history. Four of its highest priests will be tried for trafficking in women in Argentina. The Vatican is also conducting its own investigation into two independent complaints: an allegation referring to enslaved girls and another concerning the systematic psychological, physical and spiritual abuse to which its members are subjected. Pope Francis has already stripped the organization of many of its privileges and a formal intervention could take place in the coming weeks.
With several battle fronts open, Opus Dei needs a crisis management specialist to provide a good advisory service.
For Yago de la Cierva, who has advised clients in these types of situations for decades, how an organization responds to serious accusations is crucial. “Organizations are judged more harshly based on how they reacted when they discovered a problem,” he explains in a video for the postgraduate course in communications at the University of Piura, Peru ( linked to Opus). “When the organization, after discovering an internal problem, does not resolve it […]then it’s not a negligent mistake, it’s always culpable.
In the video, de la Cierva also talked about something even worse than the abuse, which was trying to cover it up, denying its existence when evidence was presented or trying to divert the topic to change focus. “If in an institution we discover that there has been abuse of authority, that there has been intimidationthat there was an unfair situation, people end up understanding that it was inevitable; What would be avoidable is that the organization covers up the affair, hides it, does not take the necessary decisions to expel these people and protect the victims; “This mistake is much more serious than the first.”
Good advice. And surprising, from Yago de la Cierva, who is currently at the center of a disinformation campaign so that media attention does not focus on the serious accusations contained in my book. Opus.
Opus Dei has launched a disinformation campaign: the strategy is to construct a completely false narrative, presenting the book as an attack on the memory of the late banker Luis Valls-Taberner and accusing me of having invented most of it of its content.
Published this month in Spain and the rest of the world, the book details the organization’s systematic abuses against its members: secret recruitment, child abuse, use of confession and spiritual guidance as a mechanism to obtain information about potential new members, tranquilizers as a way to cover up members’ mental health issues and human trafficking.
These are not accusations made lightly. The research in the book is the result of five years of interviews with hundreds of members and former members on several continents.
Faced with such serious accusations, any normal institution would have reacted with an unequivocal and firm commitment to immediately open an investigation, to take these accusations very seriously and to cooperate with the police to get to the bottom of the matter. But Opus Dei is not a normal institution. It has operated for decades as if it were the law, with complete disregard for the well-being of its members.
That this happened is telling because it reveals the power and influence that an organization accused of serious abuses and human trafficking continues to secretly exercise in today’s Spain.
Instead of addressing these issues, Opus Dei has launched a disinformation campaign to distract from these serious accusations. The strategy consists of constructing a completely false narrative, presenting the book as an attack on the memory of the late banker Luis Valls-Taberner (this is not the case) and accusing me, without giving further details, of having invented most of its content. Surprising Valls-Taberner’s own family, De la Cierva now presents himself as the “spokesperson” for the banker who was keen to defend his tarnished reputation.
Like so much else in Opus Dei, it involves putting up a facade with the sole purpose of defending the organization at all costs. De la Cierva is a member of Opus Dei. He was its official spokesperson and has worked for 23 years at Opus Dei University in Rome.
The book is extremely respectful of Luis Valls-Taberner, described as a “fervent and kind Catholic.” The one who tarnished the reputation of the late banker was De la Cierva, by inventing false statements against him and circulating them in the press as a diversionary tactic.
For years, it has been taboo to criticize Opus Dei or question its role in Spanish society. But that time is over. The organization has been exposed and will be held responsible
Public opinion does not buy the false story of Opus Dei, but the organization has powerful supporters. Many allies of Opus Dei helped him spread this false news. Just take a look at the coverage from ABC, Cope, El Debate and Vida Nueva. Many of these media outlets were contacted at the time to send them the book and offer interviews before it went on sale. The answer was that they had no intention of covering it up.
But upon publication, they became part of Opus Dei’s smear and distraction campaign, providing a platform for De la Cierva and reproducing Opus Dei’s arguments one by one. In almost all cases, without asking me for comments.
That this happened is telling because it reveals the power and influence that an organization accused of serious abuses and human trafficking continues to secretly exercise in today’s Spain.
For years, it has been taboo to criticize Opus Dei or question its role in Spanish society. But that time is over. The organization has been unmasked and will be held accountable. De la Cierva will likely return to his work on the book in question. Ironically, the title is How to ask for forgiveness and be forgiven. Judging by his behavior over the past two weeks, it doesn’t seem like a very long time.
