Stakes high for conservative group
MADRID -- As cardinals prepare to elect a new pope, one Catholic community in particular has much at stake -- Opus Dei, the ultraconservative movement at the center of the furor generated by ''The Da Vinci Code."
Founded in Spain in 1928, the movement has more than 80,000 members worldwide, many of them lay people but also bishops and hundreds of priests. Two cardinals from Opus Dei are among those who will cast votes at the Vatican.
Its mission, to give lay people a dynamic role in spreading the word of God, enjoyed firm support from John Paul II, who championed the movement as a means of confronting the secularization of society and reinforcing his conservative doctrine.
But Opus Dei -- Latin for ''God's work" -- has also been accused of secretive, cultlike practices, brainwashing of members into blind devotion, and murky financial dealings.
''There is obviously some concern over whether the next pontiff will be open to something like Opus Dei," said Anthony Figueiredo, a priest and professor of theology at Seton Hall University who was once based at the Holy See.
''I can be sure in this pre- conclave period, this is one of the areas they are discussing," he said, referring to the gathering of cardinals that begins Monday. Figueiredo is not a member of Opus Dei.
Opus Dei is what is known as a ''personal prelature," which in practical terms means its leader, Monsignor Javier Echevarria, answers only to the pope.
It plays a central role in Dan Brown's runaway bestseller, which has provoked unprecedented protest among Roman Catholic and Protestant conservatives. ''The Da Vinci Code" depicts the movement as a mysterious center of political and economic power that tries to hide the historical truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene -- namely, that they married and created a bloodline.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a former Vatican official who some consider a possible papal candidate, has criticized the book as espousing heresy and distorting the origins of Christianity.
Theologians in Spain and elsewhere say Opus Dei probably will emerge unscathed from the conclave, although this is far from certain.
