Opus Dei “kidnapped” Banco Popular to use it as an “ATM” for the organization

Gareth Gore is a British journalist and editor with two decades of experience. He has covered financial news from more than 25 countries, and his work has been published in BloombergThomson Reuters, and International Financing Review magazine. To this we must add that he is a presenter of The Syndicatea podcast that chronicles the ins and outs of the biggest financial deals in recent history.



Gareth Gore He came to Spain to document and write about the bankruptcy of People’s Bank in 2017. He thought it was going to be a short-term job and, finally, he spent five years researching because of the interest that each step of knowledge he took on this matter aroused in him. Finally, Gore shed light on the secrets and internal issues of the almighty Opus Dei. In his book, published in Spain by Criticism (Grupo Planeta)‘Opus: Financial engineering, manipulation of people and the rise of the extreme right within the Catholic Church’Gare details in its almost 500 pages, how the leader and founder of the “Obra”, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer He used the Popular Bank to clandestinely finance the international development of Opus Dei. To this end, he did not hesitate to infiltrate prominent members into the highest levels of politics and the economy.

Based on his exhaustive research, the Briton explains how the bank was looted and details the secret history of Opus Dei, from its founding and consolidation during the Franco era to the current global organization, whose financial ties with large companies and governments has allowed them to accumulate billions in assets. This wealth paid for its infiltration into political, university and media institutions, both national and international, in order to impose an ultraconservative ideological agenda worldwide and eroding of democracy, such as the anti-abortion policies of the conservative majority of the United States Supreme Court.

Based on bank records, exclusive interviews with those involved and an international investigation, Gore reveals how some of the most important managers of the Popular – a group of men who shared religiosity, obedience and celibacy – used other people’s money to attract people to a life of servitude, to penetrate countries and institutions around the world and to accumulate power for their organization. An exciting piece of research that reveals more than sixty years of a real conspiracy, masked in plain sight and protected by money and religion.

The journalist narrates how the Opus Dei “kidnapped” Banco Popular through the Receivership (10% of the bank, the largest shareholder of the entity) to use it as a “ATM” for the organization. He assures that the money from Banco Popular was used for the creation of networks for the recruitment and exploitation of girls in countries such as Nigeria, the Philippines, Australia, Belgium and even France, among others.

Gore believes that currently “the Opus Dei is going through a bad time and praises the attitude of Pope Francis in relation to the “Work”. “The Opus is trapped, it is its worst moment in almost 100 years of history,” he concludes.

Despite this, although in Spain it is at its lowest point and the Vatican condemns it, its expansion outside our country was enormous. In chapter 13 of the book, Gore unravels the enormous influence of the Opus among American Republicans, its power in the judiciary, in the economy and in politics, as well as its relationship with donald trump and Trumpism.