Women who say they were tricked into servitude for Opus Dei to meet in Argentina

Original article by Harriet Barber in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires will on Tuesday host the first-ever international gathering of former Opus Dei members who say they were tricked and trafficked into domestic servitude as minors – allegations that have drawn scrutiny of the powerful, secretive Catholic group. Pope Leo XIV privately urged organisers to convene the conference, the Guardian has learned.

Forty-three women in Argentina say they were lured to Opus Dei schools as children and teenagers under promises of receiving an education. Instead, they say they were forced into working up to 12-hour days, cooking and cleaning for the elite male members, without pay.

They say they faced extreme levels of control, with their letters censored, family visits discouraged, and the reading of anything other than children’s books or religious texts banned. When the women eventually escaped, they say they were left without money, clothes or qualifications.

After hearing the women’s testimonies, federal prosecutors in Argentina launched an investigation, accusing senior leaders of Opus Dei in South America of overseeing the exploitation and trafficking of girls, adolescents and women between 1972 and 2015.

Sebastián Sal, the lawyer representing the 43 women in the trafficking case, said the case had been held up in recent months because two witnesses, who are part of Opus Dei, have delayed their testimonies.

Although the Holy See has not formally responded to the complaint, it is believed to have contributed to Pope Francis’s decision in 2022 to revise Opus Dei’s standing and curtail some of its long-held privileges. The Vatican, under Pope Leo, is reviewing revised statutes for Opus Dei.

A source with knowledge of the case, who asked not to be named to speak freely about the conference, said Leo had encouraged the organisers to hold the event. They believe the pontiff could make a formal statement after the conference, which is being hosted by Ending Clergy Abuse, a global network of human rights defenders and survivors. A spokesperson for the Vatican said he could neither confirm nor deny the reporting.

Paula Bistagnino, an Argentine investigative journalist whose reporting and book Te Serviré helped bring widespread attention to the allegations of trafficking and servitude involving Opus Dei, said that with the Vatican preparing to decide on Opus Dei’s new statutes, it was essential that the pope and church authorities “listen to the victims of Opus Dei”.

“It is time for the world to listen to them and for justice to be done,” Bistagnino added.

Opus Dei, which has a presence in more than 70 countries, said it categorically denied the accusations in Argentina. A spokesperson added that it strongly shared the aim of “eradicating abuses within the Catholic church and throughout society, now following the guidance of Pope Leo”.

Sal claimed Opus Dei’s exploitation of “young teenagers and women from very poor, rural families” was still happening. He said any announcement from the Vatican could send a clear sign to the Argentine courts to move forward with their investigation.

Claudia Carrero, one of the 43 claimants, will attend the conference on Tuesday. She said she was taken to an Opus Dei school at age 13 in 1979 after being promised training in hotel management. “They did not take me there to study, but to work,” she said. “I had no control over anything in my life. I had to ask for permission to call my parents, all our mail was read, we were not allowed to go out alone.”

Carrero said she hoped the conference “prompts concrete institutional changes within the church”, adding she had heard similar accounts from women in Mexico, Italy, Poland, Spain, Ireland, Peru and Chile: “All of us lived the same experiences, identical ones. That is no coincidence.”

Sal said many of the women were anxious about sharing their testimony. “They’re afraid, but they want people to know what happened to them,” he said.

Carrero added. “I hope the Vatican listens carefully and takes the necessary measures so that no one else suffers what we suffered.”