Opus Dei and Politics

Opus Dei and politics is a discussion on Opus Dei's view on politics, its role in politics and its members involvement in politics. There were accusations that the Catholic personal prelature of Opus Dei has had links with far-right governments worldwide, including Franco's and Hitler's regimes. Recent studies meanwhile have done much to counter these claims, especially the work of John L. Allen, Jr. who spent a year studying the organization. He says that Escrivá was staunchly nonpolitical, and that Opus Dei's cardinal principle is that "it can never take political positions corporately. It would compromise the notion of secularity—that political thinking is something for lay people to do, not for a church organization to do. Therefore, on questions that don't deal with faith and morals, there's great pluralism."

Allen states: "two of the most visible Opus Dei politicians in the world—(Paola) Binetti (a senator-elect) in Italy, and Ruth Kelly, the Minister of Education in England—are now women who belong to center-left parties," "still there is a sociological reality that the kind of people attracted to Opus Dei tend to be conservative, theologically and politically."