Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, prelate of Opus Dei, in Rome. / Credit: Courtesy of Opus Dei/Flickr

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 24, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The Catholic personal prelature Opus Dei has significantly reduced the scope of its two-week general congress that began this week due to the death of Pope Francis two days before the assembly’s scheduled start date.

Opus Dei had planned to revise its statutes to conform them to Pope Francis’ motu proprio Ad Charisma Tuendum. Essentially, the pontiff’s directive subjected Opus Dei to the leadership of the Dicastery for the Clergy rather than the Dicastery for Bishops and ended the practice of elevating the prelate of Opus Dei to the role of a bishop.

The pope had also directed Opus Dei to revise its statutes to reflect this new structure, which was meant to be accomplished during the general congress. The revision would have then been submitted to the Holy See for approval after its adoption by the general congress.

Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, the prelate of Opus Dei, announced on April 21 that those statute revisions will be delayed and the general congress will only focus on the administrative tasks of renewing positions in the general council and the central advisory, which are appointed or renewed every eight years.

“The other questions that were to be dealt with at the congress … will be studied later,” Ocáriz said in a statement. “Now is a time of mourning, prayer, and unity with the whole Church.”

Ocáriz wrote that he decided not to delay the renewal of those positions because many of the participants had already arrived in Rome. Yet, it will be “reduced to the minimum necessary.”

“Let us take advantage of these days to live in communion with the whole Church during the mourning and funeral rites for the Holy Father,” Ocáriz said. 

In addition, Ocáriz issued a separate statement to commemorate the life and the papacy of Francis, saying: “In these moments of sorrow, together with the whole Church, we address our prayers to the Lord for the soul of our beloved Pope Francis.”

“The pope had great faith in the mercy of God and one of the main orientations of his pontificate has been precisely to announce it to the men and women of today,” he added. “By his example, he urged us to accept and experience God’s mercy, who never tires of forgiving us; and, on the other hand, to be merciful to others, as he tirelessly was himself, with so many gestures of tenderness that are a central part of his witnessing magisterium.”

Opus Dei had also planned to study ways to further their apostolic work in light of the conclusions of regional assemblies, but this will also be postponed.