Buenos Aires will host the first-ever international gathering of former Opus Dei members who allege they were tricked and trafficked into domestic servitude as minors. The conference, which begins on Tuesday, has been privately encouraged by Pope Leo XIV, the Guardian has learned.
Forty-three women in Argentina say they were lured to Opus Dei schools as children and teenagers under promises of education, but instead were forced to work up to 12-hour days cooking and cleaning for elite male members without pay. They report extreme control, including censored letters, discouraged family visits, and bans on reading anything other than children's books or religious texts. Upon escaping, they say they were left without money, clothes or qualifications.
Federal prosecutors in Argentina have launched an investigation into senior Opus Dei leaders in South America for allegedly overseeing the exploitation and trafficking of girls and women between 1972 and 2015. Lawyer Sebastián Sal, representing the women, said the case has been delayed because two Opus Dei witnesses have postponed their testimonies.
Paula Bistagnino, an Argentine journalist whose reporting highlighted the allegations, said it is essential that the Vatican listens to victims as it prepares to decide on Opus Dei's new statutes. Opus Dei, present in over 70 countries, categorically denies the accusations, stating it shares the aim of eradicating abuses within the Catholic church.
Claudia Carrero, one of the claimants, said she was taken to an Opus Dei school at age 13 in 1979 after being promised hotel management training, but instead was made to work. She hopes the conference prompts institutional changes within the church, adding that similar accounts have emerged from women in Mexico, Italy, Poland, Spain, Ireland, Peru and Chile.
