folks, it's time to talk about Opus Dei, the shadowy "church within a church" of the Catholic Church. why are we talking about Opus Dei? well, mostly because it's been in the news and we were chatting about it via text and decided to do an episode about it. so we talk about the brief history of Opus Dei, some of the controversies surrounding the organization, how it differs from other clerical and monastic orders within the Church hierarchy, why the popes are so friendly with it, and more. then we talk about the recent news stories involving Opus Dei and its supposedly contentious relationship with Pope Francis, how recent changes will effect Opus Dei, and why everyone is fighting about a mountain in rural Spain.

Links: the first is to a Financial Times article that describes a lot of the history of Opus Dei, it is paywalled, just FYI. the second is about the Torreciudad question and the third is about recent changes between the Church and Opus Dei.

• https://www.ft.com/content/a62202ea-1897-4847-8e49-9deab4fa507c
• https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259779/conflict-between-opus-dei-and-spanish-diocese-to-be-mediated-by-papal-commissioner
• https://catholicvote.org/pope-francs-meets-opus-dei-prelate-adaptations-statutes/