While there is a bishop in exile, the one from Barbastro wants to be exiled and is losing patience, and in yesterday’s homily, he states that the Vatican’s solution to his litigation with Opus Dei is a betrayal of the deceased pope. He says that Pope Francis told him: “Ángel, do not give in”. He cites private letters and messages from Pope Francis that would support his position in the dispute with Opus Dei over the Torreciudad sanctuary. The bishop also revealed a comment that the pontiff would have made to him in “a public audience in St. Peter’s Square, on September 18, 2024, seven months before his death. He expressed to me clearly and directly when greeting me: ‘Ángel, have they already brought down the Virgin?’”. Pérez resorted to “that support” from Pope Francis to claim “that our beloved Virgin of Torreciudad, which for more than a thousand years has been in the hands of our people, who have loved, touched, kissed, and protected her even at the cost of their own lives during the war, return to the hermitage where she has always been”. “This is not a trivial request, but a claim for the same dignity that is respected in other places like Fátima or Lourdes”. The conflict arose when Pérez decided to regain control of the sanctuary, demanding to personally appoint the rector, increase the annual payment from the current symbolic 19 euros to more than 600,000 euros, and move the original image of the Virgin back to the primitive hermitage. Opus Dei rejects these conditions arguing that they would make it “impossible” to maintain the sanctuary, which already operates with losses exceeding 200,000 euros annually.
Pérez was emboldened and in the second part of his homily alluded to the difficulties that maintaining this dispute with Opus Dei poses for him, asserting that “this claim of our dignity has not been easy. Nor has it been easy to raise my voice to defend that our people deserve no less”. He refers to another letter from Pope Francis “dated October 13, 2024”, the bishop assures that the Pontiff indicated to him “to be careful with the ‘mafia intrigues that are underway’ around this matter”. “I gladly come fighting to exhaustion in defense of our people, of their dignity, of their devotion and popular religiosity, without caring about any sacrifice”. He argues feeling like the elderly Eleazar, whom they tried to force to eat pork: “If I were forced, as a pastor, I would repeat the same words of the elderly Eleazar, in the face of pressures to accept what I cannot accept: that I cannot do it ‘without bringing stain and dishonor to my old age’ that could serve as a bad example to my parishioners”. “I want to convey to you the assurance that your pastor will always remain faithful to his people, to that small flock of giant dignity that it is my greatest pride to serve. And so it will be until the end”. Opus Dei states that “the Prelature values a reaction to the words of the Bishop of Barbastro-Monzón, although it considers that it has already sufficiently explained its position”. It points out that the Prelature “awaits the Pontifical Commissioner to make some decision regarding this».
It seems evident that the entire anti-Opus movement had Pope Francis as its most significant source.