Pope urged organisers to hold conference after 43 women alleged they were exploited as minors by Catholic group
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.
