Opus Dei: The Unworthy Saga of Torreciudad
1. About two years ago, Opus Dei formally asked Pérez Pueyo to recognise Torreciudad as a diocesan shrine.
2. Negotiations were going well, but then, Pérez Pueyo, together with Cardinal Ghirlanda SJ, the great Roman enemy of Opus Dei, changed the terms of the agreement. Suddenly, the bishop wanted a lot of money from Opus Dei: €600,000 (sic) a year. Opus Dei refused. A public outcry followed. Pérez Pueyo was forced to withdraw his request. From then on, relations deteriorated.
3. Pérez Pueyo asked Opus Dei for a list of three candidates to choose the new rector of the shrine. This contradicted the agreement that Opus Dei would appoint the rector, and Opus Dei refused. So Pérez Pueyo illegally appointed a very old diocesan priest as the new rector. This aggravated the conflict.
4. Pérez Pueyo ran to Rome for help, and Francis appointed a "mediator plenipotentiary" to find a solution, who is currently at work.
5. In the midst of all this, the Spanish Bishops' Conference published its Yearbook for 2023, in which Torreciudad is listed as just another Spanish Sanctuary.
6. This angered Pérez Pueyo and a week later the yearbook was changed. The bishops published a note saying that the inclusion was a mistake and that Torreciudad was not a sanctuary but a semi-public oratory.
7. This claim has raised even more doubts: why would Bishop Pérez Pueyo appoint a rector of a semi-public oratory? If Torreciudad is not a sanctuary, what is the justification for his intervention?
8. Another fact reveals the malaise in the diocese of Barbastro-Monzon. On 16 December the priests of the diocese met in Torreciudad, as they do every year before Christmas. Pérez Pueyo was not present, at least not in the photograph. While he is fighting in Torreciudad, his priests are meeting there.
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