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'Da Vinci Code' puts shadowy Opus Dei in the spotlight

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Posted on 11 Mar 2006 # IANS Post your comment

'Da Vinci Code' puts shadowy Opus Dei in the spotlight

Madrid: The influential but esoteric Catholic organisation Opus Dei that has invited undue interest after its negative portrayal in the best-seller "The Da Vinci Code" has mounted a counter-offensive, using the publicity to promote its ideas.

The organisation was thrown into the spotlight by the US author Dan Brown's much-acclaimed book that brought criticism of the Opus Dei into the open, giving the group a devastatingly negative image globally.

But the organisation, often depicted as a power-hungry bastion of ultra-conservatism with a reputation for secrecy, is using the unwanted publicity to promote its ideas.

Opus Dei is quick to point out mistakes in "The Da Vinci Code", such as portraying Opus member Silas as a monk. The organisation has about 1,800 priests, 20 bishops and two cardinals, but no monks or nuns in its ranks.

"It is the kind of book that generates hatred" towards the entire Catholic Church, said Opus Dei spokesperson Raquel Rodriguez.

However, the book has "increased interest in Opus Dei, and gives us an opportunity to make our social work better known," Rodriguez said at the organisation's imposing Madrid headquarters.

The religious order has about 85,000 members in more than 60 countries, mainly southern Europe and Latin America, including over 30,000 Spaniards.

Opus Dei is gradually evolving towards more transparency, leading some experts to conclude that its power has been exaggerated, according to the Spanish daily El Pais.

Founded by Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer in 1928, Opus Dei ("Work of God") is a laymen's organisation emphasising the holiness of everyday work.

"The Da Vinci Code", which has sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide, depicts Opus Dei as a kind of religious mafia whose members practise masochistic rituals of self-torture and murder people in an attempt to cover up that Jesus Christ sired a bloodline with Mary Magdalene.

Visits to its revamped website have soared to 21,000 a day in the US, where publishers Doubleday have launched a book by expert John Allen on the organisation and will re-edit Escriva de Balaguer's book "The Way".

"After the Da Vinci phenomenon, I hope we will be able to talk of an Opus Dei phenomenon," remarked Doubleday vice-president Bill Barry.

Allen estimates the Opus Dei's assets at $2.8 billion, a modest figure compared to Brown's portrayal of a very wealthy and powerful organisation.

Sony Pictures has rejected a request by Opus Dei that its name be eliminated from the film version of "The Da Vinci Code", starring Tom Hanks, due for release in May.

Opus Dei propagates its conservative ideas through its prominent members in countries like Spain, where they reportedly include senior officials, bankers, judges, army and police officers.

The orders' members and sympathisers even served as ministers during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco in the 1950s and 60s and under 1996-2004 conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Opus Dei's influence grew rapidly also in the Vatican under the late Pope John Paul II, who promoted it to the unique status of a "personal prelature" and had Escriva de Balaguer proclaimed a saint in one of the fastest canonisations in the church's history.

Some former Opus Dei members have backed criticism that it exercises tight control over its members' private lives, something the group denies.

"It is true that some Opus members voluntarily exercise self-mortification," but Brown's descriptions of a character mercilessly whipping himself and wearing a spiked chain which draws blood were wildly exaggerated, remarked Rodriguez.

"We may only wear for instance a small band around the wrist or leg which causes some discomfort," she said.