Portal:Catholic Church/Article Archive/October 2007

Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, is a personal prelature of the Catholic Church that teaches the Catholic belief that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The Opus Dei prelature is made up of ordinary lay people and secular priests governed by a prelate. Opus Dei is Latin for "Work of God", and the organization is sometimes known simply as "the Work".

Most of its 87,000 members, called supernumeraries, lead traditional family lives and have secular careers. The celibate numeraries and numerary assistants live in special centers, while associates are celibate members living in their private homes.

Opus Dei was founded in Spain in 1928 by a Roman Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá and given final approval in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. In 1982, it was made into a personal prelature &mdash; its bishop's jurisdiction is not linked to one specific geographic area, but instead covers the persons in Opus Dei, wherever they are. Opus Dei is the first and so far the only Catholic organization of this type. Various Popes and Catholic leaders have strongly supported what they see as Opus Dei's innovative teaching on the sanctifying value of work, and in 2002, Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Josemaría Escrivá.

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