Opus Dei denounces media manipulation in lawsuit by former assistant numeraries
Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, prelate of Opus Dei. / Credit: Opus Dei Communication Office
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Opus Dei has denounced the “manipulation of judicial proceedings to create a media and public opinion case” in the lawsuit advanced by former assistant numeraries in Argentina, which now seeks to implicate the highest authorities of the organization in alleged human trafficking.
The case was formally filed in court in 2024, but media coverage began years earlier. According to the lawsuit, Opus Dei authorities allegedly recruited women while they were still minors and subjected them to a regime of semi-slavery in their residences.
The conflict began as a labor complaint and then progressed into a lawsuit for compensation for damages, eventually leading to allegations of alleged labor exploitation. As of June 2023, a judicial investigation has been underway following a complaint alleging that a group of women were victims of human trafficking and labor exploitation.
The Argentine prosecutor’s office has requested an investigation into the last four regional vicars of Opus Dei in Argentina, including the current auxiliary vicar of Opus Dei and the organization’s second in command, Monsignor Mariano Fazio. The plaintiff’s lawyer is calling on prosecutors to also request a statement from the prelate of Opus Dei, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz.
However, the prelature has pointed out that the presiding judge has not yet charged any crimes, ruled on whether to grant the request, or named those whom he might summon.
Opus Dei issued a statement to clarify that the judicial investigation is based on the personal situation of one woman when she was part of the apostolate and that within this context, the plaintiff’s lawyer “announced in the media that he has requested the prosecutors’ office that Monsignor Fernando Ocariz, the prelate of Opus Dei, be summoned for questioning.”
The prelature believes this request has no factual or legal basis but is part of “a deceptive and sustained media strategy that, from the beginning, has attempted to distort the purposes of a criminal investigation to address a labor compensation claim.”
“The case as a whole represents an attempt at manipulation by introducing the charge of a committing a criminal offense (human trafficking) that actually has no connection with the facts described by the complainants themselves, much less with the reality of Opus Dei,” the apostolate pointed out.
Opus Dei asserts that the request to summon Ocáriz for questioning is an attempt to “artificially extend the scope of the criminal investigation to include people whose direct connection to the alleged events described by the complainant is nonexistent,” with the purpose of “amplifying the impact on public opinion and exerting pressure on the justice system.”
The apostolate also pointed out that something similar happened “with the request that Monsignor Mariano Fazio be summoned to testify, which was announced with an orchestrated media blitz.”
The conflict, the statement adds, reflects a “complete decontextualization of the freely chosen vocation of the assistant numerary of Opus Dei.”
The prelature regretted “that judicial mechanisms are being used to sustain a prefabricated narrative that seeks to establish blame without any basis in the facts that actually occurred” and called for respect for the presumption of innocence.
Opus Dei therefore reiterated that it rejects “these allegations” and maintains its “complete willingness to cooperate with the judicial authorities, trusting that the truth will prevail.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.