(ZENIT News / Rome, 06.14.2025).- On June 11, 2025, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei, marked a significant in the institution’s history. In a message to members of the prelature, he confirmed that a new proposal of statutes has been formally submitted to the Holy See, concluding a lengthy process initiated after Pope Francis issued the motu proprio «Ad charisma tuendum» in 2022.
The development is more than procedural. It represents the culmination of three years of discernment, consultation, and adaptation—an exercise in ecclesial fidelity that has unfolded against the backdrop of both papal transition and internal evolution.
The Vatican’s 2022 directive called for a clearer legal alignment of personal prelatures like Opus Dei with the broader canonical structure of the Church. This entailed re-examining how the prelature understands its own identity, governance, and mission in light of the Church’s ongoing emphasis on synodality and pastoral transparency.
The process began with a global consultation that invited all members of Opus Dei to offer their perspectives on the structure and language of the statutes. From this input, an initial draft was crafted and brought to an Extraordinary General Congress in April 2023. This stage was marked by deep internal engagement, and perhaps unusually for such ecclesiastical deliberations, a tone of openness and shared responsibility.
Yet just months later, a second papal intervention—an August 2023 «motu proprio» revising canons 295 and 296 of the Code of Canon Law—added new layers of complexity. These changes prompted further technical dialogue between the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy and a team of legal and theological advisors from the prelature. What had begun as a juridical refinement evolved into a more comprehensive rethinking of how Opus Dei articulates its charism and position within the hierarchical life of the Church.
Monsignor Ocáriz, in his brief but characteristically message, emphasized the spiritual dimension of the journey. He invited members to entrust this final stage to the Blessed Trinity and to St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, whose 50th anniversary of death is being commemorated this month. The prelate noted that although the original plan was to finalize the statutes during the ordinary Congress—delayed due to the papal interregnum—the positive consensus from delegates allowed the leadership to proceed with submission once the new papal administration was in place.
For decades, Opus Dei’s canonical configuration as a personal prelature—granted by St. John Paul II in 1982—has stood as a unique model of clerical and lay collaboration. The current revision aims not to undo that framework, but to refine it under the evolving legal and pastoral priorities of the universal Church.
The Vatican will now examine the proposed statutes, a process that could take several months. In the meantime, Opus Dei continues its ordinary work of formation, spiritual direction, and evangelization across the world. But internally, the act of submitting the revised statutes signals a symbolic closure of one chapter and the cautious opening of another—an era of clarified identity, deeper communion, and renewed purpose under the guidance of the Holy See.
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