The Beeb behaved like a Da Vinci Code villain
26 April 2008
Jack Valero, a director of Opus Dei, says that even Dan Brown would be hard-pushed to invent the strange and circuitous business of complaining to the BBC
The last time Opus Dei was portrayed as a murderous, self-flagellating, power-hungry secret society of monstrous hypocrites was — you may remember — in The Da Vinci Code, first in the novel, then in the film starring Tom Hanks. Millions read the book, millions saw the film, millions decided that we were the personification of evil.
On the upside, for a few weeks the world’s media camped on our doorsteps, so we had a chance to respond. We invited the press in, gave them tea, and pointed out that we had nothing to do with the death in 1982 of Roberto Calvi (an Italian banker who died under suspicious circumstances), and that we don’t murder people or beat ourselves to a pulp with whips in orgies of unexpiated guilt. We talked about our founder, Saint Josemaria Escriva, and explained that we use the time we save not murdering folk to help Catholics to find God in their work, through a life of prayer and cultivation of the virtues, without them having to enter the cloister or become priests.
The media — including this magazine — gave us a clean bill of health. Even the tabloids had to admit that Dan Brown was wrong about Opus Dei. Of course, Opus Dei still gives some people the creeps, because mud is harder to remove than to sling. But we were more thoroughly examined than any religious organisation in history and the myths melted in the spotlight. Phew, we thought, and went back to our day jobs: retreats, theology courses, giving spiritual guidance to working people. All that sinister stuff.
So imagine how dispiriting it was when, in January last year, the BBC dragged all the old, debunked stereotypes about Opus Dei back on to the screen. And imagine how bewildered we were when, after a year of chasing through a labyrinthine process of complaints, dealing with characters just as evasive as any Da Vinci Code villain, we were eventually, last week, forced to abandon our attempts to make the BBC tell the truth.
It all started when the BBC televised a drama called Waking the Dead. It featured a self-flagellating Opus Dei assassin called Philip who kills his lover, a serial adulterer who also belongs to Opus Dei. The detectives investigate, suspecting (bravo!) Opus Dei as the link. Fraud is uncovered. The oleaginous, sanctimonious, corrupt London director of Opus Dei (who at least didn’t look like me!) stays mute when the detectives reel off as facts a list of Opus Dei ‘crimes’, not least the death of Calvi. And he expels Philip from Opus Dei, not for being a killer, but for the unpardonable sin of being found out.
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james
April 24th, 2008 9:55am Report this commentInteresting article but not entirely honest.
The mysterious workings of Opus have interested the world for a very long time and it was for that reason that Dan Brown used it in his book.
When I first came to Spain more than thirty years ago it was an open secret that Opus Dei was involved in the government and financial system of Spain and behind most of the many dictatorships in South America.
It is said that the reason why it enjoys such autonomy from local religious authority is because of the financial help it has given to the church.
It is also said to be like a sect where people are brainwashed into contributing all their money,living in a community forcibly seperated from their families. There are in fact Catholic orgnaizations which help people whose family members have been'sequestered' in this way by Opus Dei. The internet abounds with these stories and I have personally heard of one here in Spain.
Some of these stories may be fanciful but anyone who has spent time in Spain knows there is little smoke without fire.
Notting Hill Nonsense
April 24th, 2008 1:21pm Report this commentI think you give us a good indication of Opus Dei's strange paranoia in your description of its obsessive attempt to get an apology for what was a work of fiction - one that I had never previously heard of.
Dodgy Geezer
April 24th, 2008 1:34pm Report this commentGiven the BBC decision-making processes so aptly illustrated here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/08/bbc_blog_bully/
I wonder why you didn't get an immediate reversal of all smears?
Chris
April 24th, 2008 1:41pm Report this commentHmm. I don't know what 'fact' is - but the BBC do seem exempt from having to provide any level of neutrality or unbiased reporting in both their 'non-fiction' programmes such as the news(!) and 'fictional' programmes such as drama.
Conspiracies abound, i've never read much about Opus Dei, but isn't the reason why the BBC are free to do as they please because they're actually just a mouthpiece for the government propaganda machine? Maybe the problem lies between the government and Opus Dei rather than with the BBC?!!
John Thomas
April 25th, 2008 6:36pm Report this commentJack - you say the BBC claim to be fair to religious minorities - er, but - remember - not Christian ones (and yes, the Salvation Army would receive bad treatment as well, just like opus Dei). Actually, the documentaries bashing the Salv. Arm. a few years ago encouraged me to support them (well, that may have been Channel 4, but they're both the same). As the government's propoganda mouthpiece, it is a function of the BBC, in our society, to bash Christianity.
Paul Potts
April 25th, 2008 7:00pm Report this commentOpus Dei constitutes, among other things, a spy network on local clergy, who have to watch their words in case they are reported. No wonder there are so few of them left.
Paulo
M. A. McClavey
April 30th, 2008 12:52am Report this commentMore and more hearsay, James. And as far as your idea that "It is also said to be like a sect where people are brainwashed into contributing all their money,living in a community forcibly seperated from their families.", seems to me that convents and monasteries did exactly that as well in former times. If the member chooses to join up it's his or her choice seems to me, just like joining a religious order. And it makes sense because it is hard to be a religious person in today's society which is rabidly anti-faith and especially anti-Catholic. Funny thing is, the first person to tell me that Opus Dei interrupted family life was herself a nun. It's all in one's point of view I think.
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