Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Opus Dei P2: more pain, less gain
Transcript
- 0:03From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
- 0:06us on a journey to the fringe. Hello and welcome
- 0:15to Journey to the Fringe. If we haven't made
- 0:17it clear yet, just email us. We're lonely. Please.
- 0:25We are your lonely podcast hosts, Taylor and
- 0:27Chelsea. Weirdly that we are too, and still lonely,
- 0:31but here we are, nonetheless. And weirdly enough,
- 0:33also a two -parter on the part two. And I'll
- 0:36let Chelsea go from here. Wow, that was incredible.
- 0:39Okay, so if you remember from last week, we recapped
- 0:43Opus Day. We were talking about Opus Day. Right,
- 0:47right. I'm pretty sure that's what happened last
- 0:50week. It's been a long time. It's been a week.
- 0:52So we're into the fringy business of Opus Dei.
- 0:56Last week, we talked about how they were kind
- 1:00of implied with Banco Ambrosiano. What else did
- 1:05we talk about? Oh, the original Vatican Bank
- 1:08fraud one. Yeah, that was the one I just said.
- 1:12Oh, was that? Banco Ambrosiano. I thought that
- 1:15was the Spanish Bank. And then... Also, another
- 1:18bank, Spain's Banco Popular. Two banks. We talked
- 1:23about two banks. Two bancos. Yeah, two bancos
- 1:25last week in which Opus Dei had ties in. I'm
- 1:30not going to tell you all about it in this episode
- 1:32because that was last week's episode. You can
- 1:35always listen to it again. We do make that available
- 1:37for you. It's just a special benefit of listening
- 1:40to us. Just email us the 20, okay? Email us.
- 1:43It's kind of on the honor system. So let's just
- 1:47jump right into the other allegations, I guess,
- 1:51of what Opus Dei is up to in this day and age.
- 1:55I hope I summarized that good enough. If not,
- 1:58too bad. Allegations of human trafficking. Yep.
- 2:02Okay. Yep. And these are called the Little Sisters.
- 2:06Okay. That's a terrible name. I'm not looking
- 2:10forward to this. Yep. This one's a very dark
- 2:13one. currently being discussed, and I believe
- 2:17in court as well, in 2025 -2026, in Argentina,
- 2:22a group of women, former numerary assistants,
- 2:26if you will remember back from our Kohl's Notes
- 2:29of Opus Dei, these are the women who are segregated
- 2:33to be nannies, cooks, you know, take care of
- 2:37all that stuff, because that's what you do as
- 2:39a female. who have filed lawsuits alleging that
- 2:44they were trafficked. They claim they were recruited
- 2:47as teenagers from poor families with the promise
- 2:50of an education under the guise of attending
- 2:53hospitality schools, but were instead allegedly
- 2:57trafficked across borders, Paraguay, Bolivia,
- 3:01Uruguay, where they were instead forced into
- 3:04unpaid domestic servitude. cleaning the houses
- 3:08of wealthy members for decades without pay or
- 3:11social security, essentially being indentured
- 3:15servants for God. In a major 2024 -2025 legal
- 3:20battle, federal prosecutors in Argentina accused
- 3:23Opus Dei of human trafficking and labor exploitation.
- 3:2843 women, mostly from rural backgrounds, who
- 3:32were recruited as teenagers, some as young as
- 3:3512 or 16, are the victims. I'm sure there's more.
- 3:39These are the women who are currently involved
- 3:41in this legal action. I'm just curious, Chelsea,
- 3:44are they from one particular country or are they
- 3:46just kind of from all over? It sounds like they're
- 3:49kind of from all over. It sounds like as... being
- 3:52trafficked, and it looks like mainly Argentina,
- 3:56but we're looking at Paraguay, Bolivia, a lot
- 3:59of Central South America countries. For decades,
- 4:03they worked 12 to 15 hours a day cooking and
- 4:07cleaning for the elite members. They alleged
- 4:09they were never paid, had their wages redistributed
- 4:13back to the organization, and were often denied
- 4:16social security or pension contributions. This
- 4:19is an active and evolving legal situation. Federal
- 4:23prosecutors in Argentina have officially indicted
- 4:26high -ranking members of Opus Dei. I'm going
- 4:29to post some of the sources for it. this up in
- 4:33the episode notes. I have an article from The
- 4:36Guardian titled, I Became Like a Slave, Why 43
- 4:40Women Are Suing the Secretive Opus Dei Catholic
- 4:43Group in Argentina. So the indictment specifically
- 4:46names Monsignor Mariano Fazio the second in command
- 4:52of Opus Dei worldwide as a defendant. So I guess
- 4:56there are people who are, like, in charge and
- 4:59stuff. So I wonder. I am curious about how. Nobody's
- 5:02in charge. He's just a number two. He's number
- 5:04two. But who would be the number one? No number
- 5:07one. There's lots of number twos. He's the highest
- 5:10they go. Yeah. So remember back from the last
- 5:15episode, Gareth Gore, who wrote that book, which
- 5:18was a little bit of a spoiler alert because in
- 5:20along with that, when I told you the topics,
- 5:23I did say human trafficking. He got into the,
- 5:27he's a pretty interesting, I've listened to some
- 5:28podcasts with him on there. He originally got
- 5:31into this doing some investigation on the Spanish
- 5:34bank and he got into like, he ended up writing
- 5:37this crazy book. He's the guy who was on majority
- 5:40report. Gareth Gore. Yeah. Yeah. So there you
- 5:44go. I will give that a listen. So he reports
- 5:47on this as well. And he just goes crazy into
- 5:52Opus Dei after finding this out about investigating
- 5:54the Spanish bank and their ties to Opus Dei.
- 5:57So he interviews whistleblowers and looks into
- 6:01investigations, particularly in Argentina, involving
- 6:05the recruitment of young girls from low -income
- 6:07families. He alleges they were lured into the
- 6:10organization and forced into years of unpaid
- 6:12domestic labor at Opus Dei centers. So there's
- 6:16that. Pretty good. That one's ongoing. we'll
- 6:19do a mini in the future just to update what's
- 6:21going on with it the next is as i mentioned in
- 6:26our last episode as well opus day Like, you kind
- 6:29of get some cult vibes off of it, right? Oh,
- 6:32yeah, for sure. Gore also delves into the secretive
- 6:36world of numeraries and their cult -like practices
- 6:39of Opus Dei. If you'll remember, the numeraries
- 6:42are celibate members who live in gender -segregated
- 6:46houses. He details the mortification of the flesh,
- 6:50which is the use of the cellus, the spike chain
- 6:52around the thigh, and the discipline, whip. I
- 6:56guess that means, with no further details. So
- 7:00good notes, Chelsea. Good work. No notes. No
- 7:04notes. No more details. Just whip. I did watch
- 7:08an interview with, they're funny with their secretive.
- 7:12They're not allowed to do interviews, really,
- 7:15if they're a member of Opus Dei. regarding practices
- 7:18or anything makes sense probably unless it's
- 7:21portrayed in the proper light yeah like recruitment
- 7:24videos or something or you know yeah it's another
- 7:26Opus Dei person doing the interview yeah yeah
- 7:28so it was only ex -members that they were able
- 7:31to some wouldn't even give their identity but
- 7:34one of the guys that I watched he showed the
- 7:37thing that goes around the thigh he still had
- 7:39it for some I don't know why you would keep that
- 7:42as like I think at some point you start to like
- 7:44it or like mean I don't know that he would be
- 7:47wearing it. Do you think that he would be wearing
- 7:50it if he left Opus Dei? Maybe. I don't know.
- 7:53He didn't lift up his pant leg and it was on.
- 7:58Old people are constantly wearing ties out in
- 8:00public despite the fact that they're not comfy
- 8:02and not required for their everyday life. I never
- 8:04thought about how uncomfy a tie would be. Is
- 8:07it uncomfy? Yeah. I mean, it's something that's
- 8:09threatening to strangle you the entire time you're
- 8:11out using it. That's true. Just like lightly
- 8:15strangling you throughout the day. Never thought
- 8:18of it that way. Just give me a reminder that
- 8:20your life can be taken very quickly. Due to your
- 8:24own personal choice, or at least your boss's
- 8:27personal choice. I should give people more ties
- 8:28for presents. I really don't hope you get me
- 8:33for Secret Santa this year. That is a threat,
- 8:36I will tell them. I'll write it in their card.
- 8:40You could have gotten a tie. No, I got you this
- 8:45tie as a threat. Oh, good. Don't forget, you
- 8:48could die. Recruitment tactics used include grooming
- 8:52child numeraries as young as 14. As I was saying,
- 8:56it was... We knew about that, yeah. In the other
- 8:58one, it was young girl. It's almost like grooming.
- 9:03Oh, it is grooming. Completely like grooming.
- 9:06Weirdly, there haven't been sex allegations,
- 9:09which I'm not saying... As like, I don't know.
- 9:13I don't know how to move forward with that. Other
- 9:16than making that statement and being quiet. I
- 9:18mean, it's just an assumption at this point because
- 9:20they're part of the Catholic Church. Yeah. I
- 9:23don't think I directly address any sexual stuff
- 9:27in this. But you gotta think. They are Catholics.
- 9:30You've got a lot of celibate men that, like,
- 9:32that's how the entire Catholic Church is supposed
- 9:34to work. And man, that did not work out. No,
- 9:37it does not work out at all. Which is something,
- 9:39actually, I'm glad you brought that up. Because,
- 9:41I mean, that alone has huge implications of all
- 9:45the celibate men altogether. Like, that's never
- 9:47good. So, yeah, they have their grooming. They
- 9:51have psychological control. Allegations of members
- 9:54being prescribed heavy psychiatric drugs to remain
- 9:57compliant. We've already discussed... Like how
- 10:00heavy? 20 pounds? 30 pounds? Yeah, maybe. Yeah.
- 10:03And we've already discussed emails being monitored,
- 10:07financial control. So there are a lot of cult
- 10:11-like practices going on in this. Control of
- 10:15banks, right? That you see in cults. Yeah. I'm
- 10:18just waiting to hear which news source they own
- 10:21at this point. Yeah. Because that's when you
- 10:24really know you've made it as a cult, is when
- 10:25you own a newspaper. That is very true, actually,
- 10:28if I've learned anything from our podcast. Next
- 10:31point is, I can't wait to find out what this
- 10:34means, because I can't remember. the pinky and
- 10:39the brain level of influence. There is a persistent
- 10:42theory that Opus Dei operates like a white masonry,
- 10:46a secret society of the elite. High -level reach
- 10:49because they target intellectuals and leaders.
- 10:53People have accused them of placing members in
- 10:56the U .S. Supreme Court, the FBI, and major European
- 11:00governments to steer global policy toward ultra
- 11:03-conservative religious goals. Why are there
- 11:06so many that want ultra -conservative? Why can't
- 11:08we have one that's pushing towards socialism?
- 11:10I know, right? I know. Like, just give us one.
- 11:14Come on, Opus Dei. You don't have it in you,
- 11:17obviously. You're Opus Dei. But, like, I get
- 11:20what you're saying. Like, why not have, like,
- 11:23a liberal, very liberal cult? Do they exist?
- 11:26I don't think they would. I'm sure they do. I
- 11:29would have to think about it. That's kind of
- 11:31off the top of our head at this point, but I'm
- 11:33sure somebody will be screaming at us for it.
- 11:35Oh, that would be a good episode. We should find
- 11:37one and do an episode on that. I'd be interested
- 11:39in that. Maybe I'll join them. I don't know.
- 11:42I don't know yet. I haven't heard the episode,
- 11:44so I don't know if I'm interested yet. Maybe
- 11:46one day I'll find out. Okay, so they have high
- 11:48-level reach. Which we kind of had to discuss
- 11:52in this episode or the last one. I can't remember
- 11:54now. They're all blending together. It's been
- 11:56a week. How am I supposed to remember? Well,
- 11:58J .D. Vance is out there. Like we talked about
- 12:00him fairly early on. Yeah, J .D. Vance. Something
- 12:02about him. The shadow government. Critics point
- 12:05to their $47 million headquarters in Manhattan
- 12:09and their influence in Washington, D .C. as evidence
- 12:12that they aren't just a prayer group, but a political
- 12:15lobbying machine disguised as a ministry with
- 12:18ties even to the current president. Good point.
- 12:21That's a very good point, my notes. I still don't
- 12:25know what pinky in the brain level of influence
- 12:27means, though. Who came up with that? The next
- 12:33one is modern slavery in plain sight. Whistleblowers
- 12:39like Eileen Allen, whose memoir, I Am Eileen,
- 12:43was recently released, describe a life of total
- 12:46control. She was an Opus Dei member, in case
- 12:49I don't say that. Quick question for you, Chelsea.
- 12:51Are most of the people that are complaining about
- 12:53Opus Dei women? Yeah. Okay. So the celibate men
- 12:58actually don't, like, overall aren't complaining
- 13:00that much about the situation. No, I can't say
- 13:03that. No, and you did say some, like he does
- 13:05interview them, but it just seems like the specific
- 13:07ones that were coming out, like the lawsuit and
- 13:09then this woman are women. Yeah, you're not wrong.
- 13:14I... Did not include any men it looks like so
- 13:18far. I don't believe I do. No, but you did talk
- 13:20about that. You did talk about that one that
- 13:23Gareth Gore did interview who still keeps his
- 13:25thigh slasher thing. That was not Gareth Gore.
- 13:29That was just a documentary that I... Just an
- 13:32interview. Okay, okay. There were lots of men
- 13:35in there speaking out about them. These ones
- 13:38are more... It seems like women are more... easily
- 13:42going on a record about it then. But they're
- 13:44not getting, it doesn't seem like, to positions
- 13:48of power within Opus Dei. They're actually treated
- 13:52quite poorly. And it basically is modern slavery.
- 13:56Their role within this organization is being
- 14:02a slave. Oh, is to be a maid. An unpaid maid.
- 14:04And that is slavery. So they do have more to
- 14:10complain about. I mean, the men just have to
- 14:13complain about being celibate. Yeah, but the
- 14:17women complain about being celibate, but also
- 14:19a slave. Yes, exactly. So, I mean, the men can
- 14:24come out and talk out against it. These are what
- 14:27I believe to be a lot more controversial than
- 14:29just the men being like, ugh, like, I had to
- 14:33self -flagellate. But do the men technically
- 14:36not meet the definition of slavery, too, in that
- 14:39they don't have any money? That's true. Because
- 14:41they have to give it all to the church. That's
- 14:43true. But also, I don't know, does that meet
- 14:46the definition of slavery? I don't know. What
- 14:48is the definition? I have a vague idea of what
- 14:51slavery is. But then they have to give it all
- 14:53to the church. How do you define it? point slavery
- 14:56like what is the definition the state of being
- 14:59a slave oh good that's exactly you've been optimized
- 15:05so well okay let's see miriam webster dictionary
- 15:11defines slavery as the practice or institution
- 15:16of holding people as chattel involuntary and
- 15:20under threat of violence The state of a person
- 15:23who is forced, usually under threat of violence,
- 15:25to labor for the profit of another. A situation
- 15:29or practice in which people are coerced to under
- 15:32conditions that are exploitative. Submission
- 15:35to a dominating influence. Yeah, I mean it does
- 15:39fit that. Yeah, I guess they both do. So. It's
- 15:42just like different coercions and like situations
- 15:45that they find themselves in, but yeah. Yeah,
- 15:47so Opus Dei slave owners. Slaves. Just in general,
- 15:53not just female slaves. Let's continue to talk
- 15:57about... modern slavery in plain sight. Whistleblowers
- 16:00like Eileen Allen, she describes a life of total
- 16:03control. Directors allegedly read all incoming
- 16:06and outgoing mail, even phone calls to parents
- 16:10were monitored or forbidden. Members were often
- 16:13told that leaving the group was betraying God
- 16:15and would lead to eternal damnation for their
- 16:18entire family. That would be hard if you, like,
- 16:21really believe in a religion. That's like, the
- 16:25Jehovah's basically say that too. Yeah, no, that's
- 16:27true. Although the question really is, are they
- 16:29cults too? Yeah. And yeah, we run into really
- 16:32fine questions about what makes a cult versus
- 16:35a religion. Yeah, in my eyes all the same. But
- 16:38slavery probably makes the cult. Yep, it does.
- 16:41I believe that's a fact. Many members found themselves
- 16:44with zero savings or even bank accounts after
- 16:47decades of service, leaving them trapped because
- 16:50they had no financial means to escape. That's
- 16:53financial abuse. That is the hard thing, yeah.
- 16:56No, nobody can leave because, like, where are
- 16:58they going to go? Because nobody has a bank account.
- 17:01That's crazy. Allen describes how the organization
- 17:04allegedly used the blacklist of forbidden books
- 17:07and films and how directors would routinely read
- 17:10and censor members' personal letters to family.
- 17:13That's insane. She details the vocational trap
- 17:17where leaving the group was equating with losing
- 17:20your soul or spiritual suicide. Eileen's account
- 17:23provides the internal perspective of the psychological
- 17:27and physical control used within the centers.
- 17:30Yeah, so, slaves. Next one, the Silas and mind
- 17:35control. Pop culture, thanks to the Da Vinci
- 17:38Code, loves the scary monk trope. Celibate members
- 17:41do use the celis, the spike chain, as we've clarified
- 17:46multiple times in these episodes, and the discipline,
- 17:50usually for two hours a day or during specific
- 17:53prayers. Ex -members have described psychological
- 17:56coercion, where directors... I almost called
- 18:00them dictators, read their outgoing mail, dictated
- 18:04which books they could read and force them to
- 18:06confess their private thoughts to lay superiors,
- 18:08not just priests, which is a huge no -no in standard
- 18:11Catholic practice. While Opus Dei publicly downplays
- 18:15corporal mortification as minor discomfort, whistleblowers
- 18:19describe a more intense psychological environment.
- 18:22The Celis? Former members confirm the use of
- 18:25the spiked thigh chain for two hours daily to
- 18:28describe it as leaving small prick holes in the
- 18:31flesh that made them self -conscious about ever
- 18:33wearing a swimsuit or shorts around non -members.
- 18:36Some members were encouraged to sleep on the
- 18:39floor or without a pillow as a form of nightly
- 18:41mortification. I did see one that was made to
- 18:45use a phone book instead of a pillow. Like as
- 18:48punishment or because they had to memorize it?
- 18:50The phone book. Yeah. Both. Okay. Yeah. Founders
- 18:55allegedly taught that the body must be beaten
- 18:57into a slave so it doesn't turn traitor to the
- 19:01spirit. Aha. Yeah. A source for this one, The
- 19:05Case Against Opus Dei, National Catholic Reporter.
- 19:08I'll throw it into the episode notes for you
- 19:11to do much more research or little research.
- 19:15It's a do as you choose type thing. It'll be
- 19:18in the notes waiting for you if you want those.
- 19:20We have no force to work on this podcast. Yeah,
- 19:22it's true. So we have some current drama going
- 19:26on with the Pope. The current Pope, Pope Leo
- 19:29the, I think we landed on 9th. 9th, yes. This
- 19:33is actually a hot topic in the church right now.
- 19:36As of late 2025, early 2026. Pope Leo IX, following
- 19:42the lead of Pope Francis, has been tightening
- 19:45the leash on Opus Dei. For decades, the leader
- 19:48of Opus Dei was usually made a bishop. What?
- 19:52Like, at the Vatican? Yeah, just a high up person.
- 19:56That is insane. Now, the Vatican says he cannot
- 20:00be a bishop no more. Huh. Yeah. The Vatican wants
- 20:04to make sure Opus Dei is seen as a group of regular
- 20:07people, the lay people, as they had said, serving
- 20:12God, rather than a mini church within the church.
- 20:15They're basically being told you're a service
- 20:18club for the soul, not a private kingdom. By
- 20:21Pope Knight. Leo the Knight. Yeah, Leo. Forgot
- 20:24the Leo there. So I'm sure you were really anticipating
- 20:29this one. And this is modern political influence
- 20:33that Opus Dei had. It got my juices flowing with
- 20:37all that talk about their headquarters in Washington,
- 20:40D .C. and stuff like that. Even Taylor talking
- 20:43about J .D. Vance. Gore's book goes into this
- 20:46as well. Sounds like a really good read. He looks
- 20:50into this and makes waves by connecting the organization
- 20:54to current U .S. politics. Gore tracks Opus Dei's
- 20:58role in bankrolling right -wing causes and its
- 21:01links to figures like Leonard Leo and the Heritage
- 21:04Foundation. Leonard Leo, he's the head of the
- 21:06Heritage Foundation. Leonard Leo and the Heritage,
- 21:09head of the Heritage Foundation. They're basically,
- 21:11and if you need an idea of who this is. He tells
- 21:15Trump who to appoint as judges. Okay. And he
- 21:18got a ton of money. Like somebody donated several
- 21:21billion dollars to them two years ago. And like
- 21:24all three of the Supreme Court justices that
- 21:27Trump put up there were members of the Heritage
- 21:29Foundation. And pretty much everybody who's been
- 21:31appointed as a federal judge is a member of the
- 21:33Heritage Foundation. They're on a list of people
- 21:36that Leonard Leo just gives to Trump to appoint.
- 21:38Cool. Sounds fantastic. Probably a good episode
- 21:41of its own at some point. Probably. Yeah. We're
- 21:44not quite a politics show. We're a fringe topic
- 21:48show where we talk about how shitty the politics
- 21:52are at this point. And not to that point, but
- 21:56it was a good point that we're not a politics
- 21:59show. Kind of. We're a fringe show. I mean, don't
- 22:06come here for the politics because you're going
- 22:08to get Bigfoot too. But I gotta say, Bigfoot
- 22:14is probably an anarcho -socialist. We do it all
- 22:20here, Journey to the Fringe. Investigative journalists
- 22:24have documented deep ties between his administration
- 22:28and individuals closely associated with the organization.
- 22:32The connection is generally described not as
- 22:35a direct religious affiliation, but as a strategic
- 22:38alliance between Trump's mega movement and the
- 22:41traditional Catholic power structure in Washington,
- 22:44D .C. The legal architect, Leonard Leo. The most
- 22:48significant link is Leonard Leo, the longtime
- 22:51leader of the Federalist Society. Oh, sorry.
- 22:54Yeah. Federalist Society, not the Heritage Foundation.
- 22:56Heritage Foundation is different. It's the Federalist
- 22:58Society that he's the head of. Okay. Well, now
- 23:00I'm confused. Yeah. Okay. Heritage Foundation
- 23:03is something different. Okay. So what you were
- 23:06talking about was the Federalist Society? Yes.
- 23:09Okay. The Federalist Society is the thing that
- 23:11lawyers join and are members of. Okay. So...
- 23:14And my next point is exactly what Taylor pretty
- 23:18much gave a rundown of. So Leo, he's the primary
- 23:22architect of Trump's judicial appointments, including
- 23:26the selection of Supreme Court Justices Neil
- 23:29Gorsuch. Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
- 23:35Leo is a prominent Catholic layman with deep
- 23:39ties to Opus Dei. He has served on the board
- 23:41of the Catholic Information Center, CIC, and
- 23:44DIC, which is run by Opus Dei priests and serves
- 23:50as a hub for the conservative Catholic elite.
- 23:53So weird. Gore's book argues that the overturning
- 23:57of Roe versus Wade was the culmination of decades
- 24:00of lobbying by this Opus Dei adjacent network.
- 24:04I hate that. Okay, so Project 2025 and Kevin
- 24:08Roberts. Kevin Roberts, the president of the
- 24:12Heritage Foundation, which is a totally different
- 24:14thing, I guess, from the Federalist Society,
- 24:17from what I've learned so far. They are. Yeah,
- 24:19that one's a, oh, what was their name? Koch Brothers.
- 24:23thing they funded it as a political movement
- 24:26we did something with that didn't we we've talked
- 24:29about the Koch brothers before David and I think
- 24:32David's the one that's left but um probably just
- 24:35keep going yeah I intend to thank you So Kevin
- 24:41Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation
- 24:43and the driving force behind Project 2025, is
- 24:46another key figure. Roberts has publicly stated
- 24:50that he receives regular spiritual guidance from
- 24:52the Opus Dei -led Catholic Information Center.
- 24:56Critics and journalists like Gore point out that
- 24:58many of the policy goals in Project 2025, such
- 25:01as restructuring the federal government and implementing
- 25:05strict socially conservative laws, align with
- 25:08the integralist philosophy often found in Opus
- 25:11Dei circles which seek to integrate Catholic
- 25:14teaching into civil law. Several high -ranking
- 25:17members of Trump's first and current administrations
- 25:20have had documented ties to the organization
- 25:22or centers. Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former acting
- 25:26chief of staff and OMB director, was a frequent
- 25:29visitor to the Catholic Information Center and
- 25:32has been linked to the network Gore describes
- 25:34as the Opus Dei syndicate in D .C. Pat Cipollone.
- 25:39Trump's former White House counsel also has longstanding
- 25:43ties to the same conservative Catholic circles
- 25:46in Washington. And apparently J .D. Vance. I
- 25:49don't even think that J .D. Vance makes it onto
- 25:52this list. Because he doesn't do anything, let's
- 25:55face it. It's true. If he actually did something
- 25:57or was entertaining in any way, maybe we would
- 25:59talk about him. He gets booed a lot. Interestingly,
- 26:05as of late 2025, early 2026, the relationship
- 26:09has shown signs of strain. Trump has recently
- 26:13lashed out at Leonardo Leo, calling him a sleazebag
- 26:16on Truth Social after some of Leo's judicial
- 26:19picks did not rule. Yeah, they didn't do what
- 26:21he wanted. Yeah. Conversely many traditionalist
- 26:25Catholics associated with Opus Dei have expressed
- 26:28conflict over Trump's shifting rhetoric on certain
- 26:31issues even while supporting his broader judicial
- 26:34and regulatory agenda. And then there's the Black
- 26:38Pope myth. Because of their unique legal status
- 26:41reporting directly to the Pope, they have often
- 26:44been called a church within a church, operating
- 26:47with a level of autonomy that makes outsiders
- 26:50and even other Catholic priests highly suspicious.
- 26:55Hmm. Well, and that weirdly makes sense with
- 26:58the amount of people who are Catholic within
- 27:00the Trump administration who say they know better
- 27:04than Pope Leo. like like they understand catholicism
- 27:08better than the pope which is like categorically
- 27:11as a catholic you can't think that because the
- 27:15pope is literally god's voice on earth oh yeah
- 27:20no it's like not it's not necessarily outright
- 27:23said but they constantly say how they disagree
- 27:26with how the pope views things which would make
- 27:29sense if they kind of have their own like view
- 27:31of what the pope is or a separate pope yeah interesting
- 27:35and i don't think that that's like Something
- 27:38I could imagine. I don't know, like, that much
- 27:41about the Catholic Church. Like, I know about
- 27:44the asshole popes. Like, the important ones so
- 27:46far. I'm sure there's going to be more that I'll
- 27:48learn about asshole popes. Oh, there's some good
- 27:51asshole popes out there that we'll cover. Oh,
- 27:53they probably don't like to be told that, like,
- 27:56Catholics don't agree with their views. Because
- 27:58they're, like, the almighty. Yeah. It also weirdly
- 28:02brings up, this is a weird topic, that, like,
- 28:04J .D. Vance was one of the last people to meet
- 28:06with Pope Francis. before he died. Interesting.
- 28:09There's an Opus Dei tie there as well. Yeah.
- 28:14I didn't even think of that. And here I thought
- 28:16it was just the black hole of his charisma that
- 28:20sucked into the last fleeting life force of the
- 28:24Pope. And then he dies. Anyhow, we got this tie
- 28:28as well between Trump and Opus Dei. It's essentially
- 28:32transactional. Trump provided the political power
- 28:35to appoint conservative judges and enact specific
- 28:38policies, while the Opus Dei -linked intellectual
- 28:40and legal network provided the dark money, the
- 28:43vetting process for judges, and ideological blueprint,
- 28:47like Project 2025, to run the government. So,
- 28:50that's the end of my Opus Dei episode. It's two
- 28:54episodes with Kuhl's notes. I can't do a 25 part
- 29:00or Opus Dei episode for you. I just can't. They
- 29:03use influence. They use money. They have two
- 29:06corrupt banks, at least so far. And apparently
- 29:10everybody's wages that they're just of the slaves
- 29:14that they own. So they have a lot of money and
- 29:17it's just crazy. And they just seem to be getting
- 29:20more powerful. They do because they're just getting
- 29:23more and more money. And then. This is where
- 29:25you see people with a lot of money then go to
- 29:29Washington, D .C., for example, and then they
- 29:32use their influence there to influence conservative
- 29:36politics because they have the money. They have
- 29:39the people and influence. And it's just crazy
- 29:42how kind of far it goes. And that's where I can
- 29:45see the connection. And how easily it moves.
- 29:47Yeah. With secret societies because of like the
- 29:50tentacles that it reaches out. And it's not a
- 29:54good organization. And which is crazy that money
- 29:58has that much influence. It shouldn't have that
- 30:01much influence when it comes to politics. You
- 30:04see it all over the place. And it's just another
- 30:07tentacle. don't know why i'm thinking so much
- 30:09about tentacles right now but there's like tentacles
- 30:15all over the place tentacles of influence tentacles
- 30:17of money tentacles into politics um it's just
- 30:22a tentacle it's just tentacles that's all the
- 30:25world really is yeah so that's opus day huh yeah
- 30:30and tentacles Sadly, I don't think this will
- 30:34be the last time that we have to talk about them
- 30:36because I don't see their power waning in the
- 30:38near future. No, hopefully a little bit with
- 30:42number nine, Leo. Yeah. Taking it away a little
- 30:46bit. No, that's with the church. I'm worried
- 30:48more so that it's going to be a political movement
- 30:50in the States for a long time. Yeah, no. Yeah.
- 30:53I mean, the Pope's not going to take that away.
- 30:56Um, he's just not. So I guess we just kind of,
- 30:58this will likely sadly be an update in the future
- 31:01where we talk about how, remember that time where
- 31:04we weren't all ruled by Open Bay? Yep, that's
- 31:09where my mind went as well. Yeah. But I guess
- 31:12in the meantime, I have been Taylor, here with
- 31:15Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe. Thank
- 31:17you all for listening and we'll see you next
- 31:18week. Tentacles. Thank you for listening to Journey
- 31:23to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have
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