Francis Dumps U.S. Cardinal Who Is Outspoken Critic Of Abortion, Gay Marriage

[happyslug]

89. Opus Die and the Jesuits have NEVER liked each other.

And Pope Francis is a Jesuit. Let quote Wikipedia:

Based on reports from Spain, the Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Wlodimir Ledochowski (1866–1942), told the Vatican he considered Opus Dei "very dangerous for the Church in Spain." He described it as having a "secretive character" and saw "signs in it of a covert inclination to dominate the world with a form of Christian Masonry."[1] These allegations against Opus Dei from within well-regarded ecclesiastical circles ("the opposition by good people," as Escrivá called it), which happened time and again in its history, are considered to be some of the roots of present-day accusations coming from the most varied quarters. This is the conclusion of some writers, including John L. Allen, Jr., CNN's Vatican analyst.

According to John Allen, one of the original sources of criticism of Opus Dei are some members of the Society of Jesus who did not understand the big difference between Opus Dei and the religious orders. Opus Dei is composed of ordinary lay Christians who are taking their baptism-based calling to become holy, as the first Christians did without in any way being externally distinguished from other citizens of the Roman Empire, as Escriva explained.

Aside from this full-blown campaign in the 1940s, there were other attacks from Jesuits in the 1950s who told some Italian parents of members of Opus Dei that their sons were being led to damnation. Another Jesuit writing against Opus Dei was Michael Walsh, who later left the Society of Jesus.
Messori also blames the Jesuits and perceivedly-liberal sectors of the church for the "myth" that Opus Dei supported fascism. From its early association with the far-right Franco regime in Spain, Opus Dei has been associated with ultra-right wing regimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_Opus_Dei

Jesuits and liberal Catholics[edit]
Also, these critics were concerned that Opus Dei would take away vocations from the religious orders.
Allen talks about a rivalry between the Jesuits and Opus Dei. Intellectual Richard John Neuhaus said the following: "The opposition to Opus Dei cannot be explained without at least some reference to jealousy. Competition and jealousy among religious movements in the Catholic Church is nothing new, and some Opus Dei members are not hesitant to suggest that theirs is now the role in the Church once played by the Jesuits. The Jesuits, who were once viewed as the elite corps of the papacy, have in recent decades had a sharply attenuated relationship to the hierarchical leadership of the Church. The famous "fourth vow" of allegiance to the pope is now frequently understood by Jesuits as a vow to the papacy in general—meaning the papacy as they think it ought to be."

"Nothing attracts criticism like success," says Robert Royal, author of several books and president of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington D.C. "In the seventy years since its founding, the Work has grown to almost eighty thousand members, over half in Europe, another third in the Americas, and the rest scattered throughout the world. As Vittorio Messori notes, this movement, which was once thought of as a pre-Vatican II fossil by progressives, has not only survived the heyday of progressive Catholic movements, but continues growing while the left in general, religious and lay, is shrinking."
According to Time Magazine, "church liberals, once riding high, have understood for decades that Rome does not incline their way. They feel abandoned, says Allen, 'and whenever you feel that way, there's a natural desire to find someone to blame.'"

The animosity from within the Church derives from the conflicting views of the role of the Church following Vatican II. At the time, the superior of the Jesuits, Pedro Arrupe, "symbolised the new post-Vatican II ethos, calling his Jesuits to be 'men for others', which in practice sometimes meant joining movements for peace and justice," while "Escrivá walked another path, insisting on the primacy of traditional forms of prayer, devotion, and the sacramental life." Making Opus Dei a "personal prelature" and Escrivá a saint "seemed like a clampdown on the Jesuits - almost as if a torch was being passed." As Allen points out, some of Opus Dei's harshest critics were once Jesuit priests."[43]

According to Vittorio Messori, a major source of hostility towards Opus Dei is the application of political categories to a religious phenomenon such as Opus Dei. These groups against Opus Dei, he says, see everything happening in the world only with the prism of power-seeking, that is, of political spectrums of people in the left versus people on the right. Since Opus Dei is one of the major religious groups, the application of politically motivated campaigns against it is even stronger.

According to Allen, Opus Dei became the lightning rod for the attacks of liberals in the culture wars when John Paul II, perceived to be a conservative by the liberals, granted several favorable things to Opus Dei such as beatification, canonization of the founder, and personal prelature status.