Both forces embodied for each other the corresponding counterbalance to communism: the Vatican-ideological, and Washington-military-political. In 1985, in his article in the journal “Trayelog”, Zbigniew Brzezinski in this regard will point out: “I believe that everything that Pope John Paul II does is of paramount historical importance. It is necessary to put an end to the schism of Europe and return the great and immortal Russia to the bosom of the Christian community and the market economy. ” 14 The same defining role of the Pontiff was highlighted by Gorbachev, who declared in March 1992. in the pages of the Turin newspaper “BA 81atra”: “it can Now be said that everything that has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would have been impossible without the Pope’s enormous efforts and the role he plays in politics on the world stage. I think the very significant steps we have taken in our country have been important in developing relations with the Vatican. Pope John Paul II will play an enormous political role now that European history has undergone profound changes [15].

The mutual interests of the Vatican and Washington became the basis for the agreement concluded in August 1982 between Reagan and John Paul II on joint actions in Poland in order to destroy the “Communist camp”. The agreement, dubbed the “Holy Alliance”, was published in Time magazine by journalist Carl Bernstein, who received information from the Vatican’s top brass and top officials of the American establishment. According to D. Kalaich, the disclosure of this Pact to “the entire world village” was intended to show all Catholics that the Vatican is on the side of the new world order, and to invite them to follow the Pontiff [16].

In the formation of this Union, Opus Dei played a key role. The order used its ties to the North American clans of the Italian mafia, as well as the close relationship of The Pope’s private Secretary Stanislav Dzivic [17] with the American members of the Trilateral Commission, and most notably with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s former national security aide. It was Zbigniew Brzezinski and Josef Tomko, head of the Vatican’s propaganda Department and then head of the papal counterintelligence Department, who developed the so-called operation Open book, which was to flood Eastern Europe and regions of the Soviet Union such as Ukraine and the Baltic States with anti-Communist literature. This operation was coordinated by the CIA and the Holy Alliance (SA) [18] through priests working in these territories.

After the election of President Ronald Reagan, but before his inauguration, a relationship of strategic importance was established between him and John Paul II. As the researcher E. Lebeck wrote, “in the early years of the Reagan administration, one could observe the emergence of convinced Catholics in the highest positions, which had never happened before in the history of the United States” [19]. Active role in cooperation with the Vatican played the head of the CIA W. Casey and Secretary of state A. Haig, both Catholics and knights of the order of Malta, called the “armed hand” of the Vatican, as well as national security adviser Richard Allen, who later claimed that “relations with the Vatican represented one of the greatest secret alliances in history.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski retained the position of liaison between the White house and the Sacred Alliance, which, as the main coordinator of the actions of Western intelligence services in Eastern Europe, has become in fact a center for secret operations in these countries.

Representatives of the Reagan administration later admitted that the level of awareness and analysis of the situation in Poland “Holy fathers” ahead of American intelligence and diplomats. Reagan’s national security aide William Clark, in particular, argued: “the Vatican’s Information was absolutely superior to ours in quality and speed in almost every respect. At one difficult moment, when the administration was hesitating what action to take, the Pope’s representative in Washington, PIO Lagi, told Vernon Walters, Deputy Director of the CIA [20]: “Listen to the Holy father. In this case, we have two thousand years of experience” [21]. From 1981 to 1988, Walters personally met with the Pontiff seven times.

This cooperation was connected with another important fact. In January 1983, the Vatican adopted a new Catholic code of Canon law, which was no longer valid for 200 years Canon 2335, which forbade Catholics on pain of excommunication from the Church stay in Masonic lodges [22], which meant an end to the fight against Freemasonry and facilitated the maintenance of relations with the mafia prelates circles [23]. In the same year in the month of April, the Pope received members of the Trilateral Commission in full (about 200 people) [24], and in 1984 diplomatic relations were established between the Vatican and Washington. In the United States, at least fifty Opus Dei centers are opened, members of the order appear in the White house, in the middle and upper echelons of the Pentagon, and since then and to the present time the influence of the order here does not cease to expand.

The Vatican played an indispensable role as a mediator in establishing contacts with the Soviet leadership and in the perestroika processes in Ukraine. In 1988, a message from John Paul II was delivered to Gorbachev in Moscow through cardinal Casaroli, followed by a meeting between Gorbachev and the Pope on December 1, 1989, during which they had a 70-minute face-to-face conversation in the Pontiff’s private library. At the end of the conversation, the Soviet delegation left for Malta to meet with J. P. Elder bush.

After this meeting, the activity of Catholics in the Soviet Union begins to intensify. First of all, the activities of the Uniates, which were granted significant benefits to the detriment of the Russian Orthodox Church, are legalized. In Western Ukraine, demonstrations of Uniates against Orthodox Christians, pogroms and seizures of their churches, accompanied by beating and abuse of priests and laity, begin from one center. As a result, three Orthodox dioceses – Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv-were defeated in Galicia. In the last of the 1,000 existing parishes, only 40 remained. In 1990 there was a split in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church were formed. Catholic parishes in the Western lands of Ukraine and Belarus are being restored as of September 1, 1939. through private invitations, a powerful cast of missionaries began, local authorities allocate significant budgetary funds for the restoration of churches. If in 1992 there were 92 Catholic parishes, in 1996 – 651. There were 22 monasteries, 193 Sunday schools, two seminaries and the Higher College of St. Thomas at the University of Kiev.

In 1991, the hierarchical structures of the Catholic Church, which had ceased to exist since the late 20s, were also restored in Russia, and Catholics moved to active proselytizing activities

THE MAFIA ESSENCE OF THE GLOBAL WESTERN ECONOMY

If before the revolution in Russia there were 150 Catholic parishes and 2 dioceses (Mogilev and Tiraspol), now there are more than 200 parishes and 4 dioceses United in the” ecclesiastical province ” of the Roman Catholic Church headed by the Metropolitan. These are dioceses in the North of the European part of Russia with the center in Moscow, in the South of the European part of Russia with the center in Saratov, in Western Siberia with the center in Novosibirsk and in Eastern Siberia with the center in Irkutsk. The Catholic Church began to conduct extensive preaching and missionary work here, refusing to recognize these dioceses as the” canonical territory ” of Orthodoxy. In 1992, the society of Jesuits officially began its activities in Russia, which opened its branches in Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

In June 2001, at the invitation of the then President of Ukraine L. Kuchma, the Pope visited independent Ukraine for the first time with the so-called “state visit”, which took place despite the protests of thousands of Orthodox believers. During it, the Pope not only visited Kiev and Lviv, but also held services in these cities, which clearly went beyond the “state visit” declared by the authorities.

The active participation of the Vatican in the implementation of Washington’s plans was intended to “spiritually” legitimize the change of power in Eastern European countries. As the Serbian researcher Dragos Kalaich wrote, the Pope was prompted to go to this state of General decline of Catholicism in the West and “the bitter consciousness that the last hearths, keeping the flame of the Catholic faith, burn with dignity only in the countries of Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Croatia.” But at the time “he did not yet suspect that by taking part in the destruction of the Communist tower of Babel, he thereby opened access to materials for the completion of another, much larger tower of Babel, called the “new world order”.

Ecumenical openness

Strengthening the international influence of the Vatican accompanied by widening external openness of Catholicism and active part in the Ecumenical movement, committed with “purification of the historical memory” working on “reconciling” with other religions. If the second Vatican Council only outlined this restructuring of consciousness, then John Paul II brought it to its logical end. The image of the Vatican-conciliator was created during the transition to the final stage of the collapse of the USSR, so that the” theology of morality ” of John Paul II served as an excellent justification for the need to move from confrontation to dialogue between East and West. In his summary report, which the Pontiff presented at the meeting of the European Parliament on October 11, 1988, he said: “the times have come favorable: peace on Earth, cooperation between States, human rights, democracy – all this has entered the mass consciousness.”

The policy of John Paul II was distinguished by deliberate openness: in 1986 he appealed to representatives of the leading religions of the world to organize a “world day of prayer for peace”, choosing for this unique event the city of Assisi, where about 60 delegations of Christian and non-Christian denominations arrived. In order to reconcile, the Pontiff undertook an unprecedented campaign of repentance, which consisted in recognizing the responsibility and guilt of the entire Catholic community in various spheres of its activities during the last ten centuries, the culmination of which was the so – called “examination of conscience”, proclaimed in 1994. The Pope’s self-critical statements were made in relation to Galileo, the schism of the churches, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the responsibility of Catholics for wars, for behavior towards American Indians and Negroes, for integrists, for a split with the East.

One of the important results of the policy of “building bridges” was the rapprochement with the Lutherans

John Paul II became the first Pontiff to visit the Lutheran Church in Rome, where he took part in the Ecumenical “Liturgy of peace”. In 1999, on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ, Catholics and Lutherans signed a joint Declaration that put an end to theological disputes over whether a Christian is justified by faith alone or by faith and good works. John Paul II became the first Pope to visit on April 13, 1986. the main synagogue of Rome (this was the first visit of its kind in the history of Catholicism), where he met and prayed with the chief Rabbi Dr. Elio Toaf. And in November of the same year, the Pope delivered a speech to the participants of the Second international Judeo-Christian dialogue on “the meaning of salvation and redemption in the Jewish and Christian traditions”, in which he spoke about “mutual acquaintance with the respective heritage in the faith of each of us” and “about our ties… in our understanding of salvation.” In 1993, the Vatican took an important political step by establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which had previously been recognized only de facto. As important theological conclusions followed from this confession, many scholars have assessed it as having revolutionary significance.

Under John Paul II, a dialogue with Muslims was also initiated, which takes place in both theoretical (doctrinal) and practical spheres. In practical terms, the Church “atonement for the sins of the Crusades and the Reconquista” began to assume the role of the messenger of Islam in Europe, taking the initiative or agreeing to the implementation of projects for the construction of mosques, as it was, for example, in Lyon, Madrid and Rome. But if in this sphere the dialogue can develop without questioning the basic doctrinal positions of both religions, in the sphere of theoretical search for a “new dimension of theology” it takes Catholicism so far that the line between philosophical systems begins to blur. Some sections of classical theology are rebuilt, Scripture is re-read, permitted the reading of the traditions of one culture in the light of other traditions that appear to be “competition” between Christianity and Islam, which should lead to a better understanding of the two traditions.

All this laid a new understanding of apologetics, designed to change the image of the papacy in the eyes of the world community, renewing and fully incorporating it into the modern culture of tolerance and freedom [25].

However, despite the openness of this policy in its Ecumenical activities, the Vatican consistently pursues its clear interest. Although the revision of history also touched the papacy – the Pontiff acknowledged the errors of the Popes in the division of churches, in their statements regarding the rejection of religious freedom and modernism – he never allowed himself to touch the main cause of all deviations in the life of the Western Church – the position of the primacy of the Pope and the dogma of the infallibility of his doctrine ex cathedra. The apparent ambivalence in the behavior of the Vatican-the willingness to make concessions in matters relating to certain provisions of Christian doctrine (the Pope’s idea of “seeds of the Word”, contained, allegedly, in all religions), and the inflexibility in defending the rights of the Roman Pontiff-has become characteristic of the cooperation of the Catholic Church with the world Council of churches. Sending its representatives as “observers” to all Ecumenical assemblies, conferences and participating in joint prayers, the Catholic Church never joined the WCC. Cardinal Willebrans, Chairman of the Department of Christian unity at the Vatican, explained this in a letter to the General Secretary of the WCC on July 4, 1983: “the Roman Catholic Church, to a much greater extent than other churches, considers its structure of universal community and universal mission to be an essential element of its identity… The decision to join the world community of churches could be misinterpreted. from the position of power (authority) in the Roman Catholic Church and the ways of its implementation” [26].

Meanwhile, the main consequence of the Ecumenical “openness” of the Vatican was the further erosion of the religious consciousness of Europeans. With the transition to globalization, which turned the “welfare society” in the “welfare for the chosen”, the usual way of life, established social ties began to break down, and with them began to break and the previous ideas, and the very spiritual structure of the individual, resulting in the erosion of traditional religious values took a threatening character. As cardinal Ratzinger stated before his election as Pope, ” aggressive secularism threatens religious freedom in Europe by marginalizing the faithful. We have abandoned Christian culture in favor of aggressive secularism with intolerant traits… The mention of God is very marginalized. In the political sphere, it seems almost obscene to talk about God, as if it violates the freedom of those who do not believe” [27]. The most significant in this regard was the fact that in the process of drafting the EU Constitution, European officials did not include a reference to the Christian roots of Europe, limiting the provision on the cultural, religious and humanistic heritage of Europe [28].

The weakening of the position of the Catholic Church is expressed in many indicators: this is a decrease in the number of its adherents, and the fall in the number of clergy. Religious values themselves are increasingly eroded, knowledge of the fundamental foundations on which the Christian faith is based is disappearing. As a result, Catholicism in Europe has lost the value of a force that determines the generally accepted norms of behavior and forms a social system of values. As John Paul II himself admitted, ” Jesus Christ seems to have disappeared from European life. European culture gives the impression of a kind of silent apostasy of intellectuals who live as if God did not exist.” In the context of erosion of traditional concepts and values, their uncertainty, loss of understanding of the true norm, Europeans are becoming increasingly susceptible to the influence of alien religious cults, which behave very actively and aggressively. We are talking about both traditional Eastern and new pseudo-Eastern, pseudo-Christian, anti-Christian, neo-pagan teachings, most of which are occult in nature. They are characterized by interpenetration, mixing of traditions, that is, syncretism, which replaces a holistic, coherent worldview.

This means the transition of pluralism to another level, turning it into a “global religious market” or, as they now write, a “supermarket of spiritual goods”, in which free enterprise penetrates into the sphere of salvation, offering everyone a choice of any religious or pseudo-religious idea. Left to himself, the layman as a consumer chooses what he likes, what is suitable, forming his own system of values. And here Christianity faces the strongest competition, because religion in this “market” is valued not from the point of view of the truth advocated by it, but from the point of view of the spiritual and spiritual comfort that it provides. Therefore, to the greatest extent here succeeds occultism, passion which acquires a mass character.

This is the result of the consistent application of the fundamental principle of modern European culture-the principle of freedom of conscience, understood as freedom of choice, the assertion of which was promoted by the Catholic Church itself.

15. There.
16. 2G
17. Calais D. a Pact with the devil. The tragedy of the modern Vatican. URL: http: veruem.narod.ru/Tragedy Vaiticans.html.

18. Some researchers believe that Bishop Zivic, head of the State Secretariat entered into Opus Dei. When he later became Archbishop and cardinal of Cracow, he had overall control of the service ladder in the Vatican (See: Terras Ch. Op. cit. P. 1S).

The Holy Alliance was created in 15bb by order of Pope Pius V, and although the Vatican has never recognized its existence, it is recognized by some researchers as one of the best and most effective security services in the world.

19. Lebec E. the secret history of Vatican diplomacy. Moscow: Ripol Classic, 2004. Pp. 232.

20. Vernon Walters, a knight of the order of Malta, was then Deputy Director of the CIA.

21. Papa Karol’s dolls and puppeteers. URL: http://www.zaistinu.ru/old/Ukraine/church/papadolls.shtml.

22. Rome et Frans-macons. Histoire d’un conflict. Paris: Berg International Éditeurs, 1996. P. 21-22.

23. In October 1983, the Italian magazine Oggi published a scandalous photograph of Pope John Paul II at a Masonic Banquet in an issue that was almost confiscated: He is included with his arms crossed in the “fraternal chain” formed by Masonic guests around the Banquet table (See: Hieromonk Savva (janich). Apostasy. Moscow: Russian idea, 2004).

24. VanHelsing J. Sociétés secrets.

26. L. Quand le pape demande pardon. Paris: Albin Michel, 1997. P. 19-20. Archias. Seraphim (Alexiev), Archim. Sergius (Yazadjiev). Waiting for new “Messianic times” / / Orthodoxy or death. No. 5. P. 18.

27. In Europe, the mention of God is considered marginal / / Week: Orthodox news for the week, 176 issues of the mailing list. URL: www.sedmica.ortodoxy.ru / 176-26-11-04.php.

28. Constitution of the European Union: a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (with commentary). Moscow: INFRA-M, 2005. Pp. 93-94.

CONTENT

The post GEOPOLITICS OF JOHN PAUL II first appeared on Global Policy.

His support was to be a prosperous “middle class” and a new type of citizen – a carrier of purely secular morality, not burdened by restrictive Christian norms and principles. In these circumstances, in order to maintain its influence, the Western Church has taken the path of adaptation to the new liberal standards, adapting to the requirements of the era. This was most characteristic of Protestant theology, which had so deeply imbibed a liberal understanding of human rights and freedoms that it became perfectly safe for secular culture, completely fitting into the ideological pluralism it advocated. Catholicism could not resist the pressure of modernism, but its path was more difficult.

In the first postwar years, in the conditions of the acute period of the “cold war”, the Catholic Church was designed to ensure the cohesion of Western society, and Pius XII, who stood at the head of it, did not allow any reformist deviations, adhering to strictly conservative views and rigidly integrist line of behavior. But after his death and the coming to power of John XXIII (1958-1963) in Catholicism begins a period of profound changes, the most serious since the Council of Trent (1545-1563). They resulted in the development of the “aggiornamento,” which was understood as openness to new ideas the changed the world, “modernizing” the Church and bringing it into line with the spirit of the time. The idea of the papacy on earth centralization of the Church, as the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope and his supremacy over all the Christian world, in no way been questioned, but on the contrary, had strengthened the authority of the Vatican as a political force in the context of liberalization exercises.

The modernist turn of the Church was realized at the second Vatican Council, which became a turning point in the history of Catholicism. Opened in October 1962, the Cathedral has completed its work in December 1965, having 16 papers, the most important of which was the dogmatic Constitution “On the Church, On religious freedom, On Liturgy and On ecumenism, On the Church in the modern world”, highlighting the teaching focus of Christian ecumenism. However, these Renovationist decisions and the practice that followed had the most serious consequences for the Church.

Their main result was the establishment of religious pluralism and tolerance, which led to the fact that the Catholic teaching began to acquire an increasingly blurred character, and among some Catholics religious indifferentism began to spread. Many in the Church leadership feared the situation would spiral out of control. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), who was a theological consultant at the Council, wrote in this regard: “the results Brought by the Council, as we can judge today, cruelly disappointed the expectations of all… The popes and fathers-delegates of the Council hoped to achieve a new Catholic unity, but instead conflicts began, passing, in the words of Paul VI (Pope since 1963-FR. CH.), from self-criticism to self-destruction. Instead of the expected breakthrough, we are dealing with a process of gradual decline.”.

Since the end of the 60s, the Church fell into a state of internal crisis and secularism, which accelerated the de-Christianization of Western society, which actively continued throughout the 70s. It was in these conditions that Karol Wojtyla came to power in the Vatican under the name of John Paul II, whose pontificate lasted 26 years and 5 months (1978-2005).

The main activities of the new Pope were determined by the changes that occurred in the Western world in the second half of the 70-ies.

In socio-economic and political terms, they were characterized by the transition to a neoliberal course of development, which meant the gradual dismantling of state “welfare”, and in international relations, the escalation of the cold war, caused by a new U.S. leadership on tough confrontation with the Soviet Union. In these circumstances, seeking to strengthen the authority of the Vatican as a religious and political force, John Paul II used all opportunities to strengthen its influence on world politics, taking a clear course for an Alliance with Atlanticism.

Considering materialistic atheism and communism as his main opponent and having set himself the task to achieve the return of religion to Western society, the Pope proclaims a “new evangelization” of Europe and the whole world, aimed at restoring Catholic values and positions of the Church not only in the private but also in the public sphere. The mainstay of John Paul II become in-tigritsa organization and the new Catholic traditionalist movement orientation, which brings together spirituality with everyday life or have made it into the socio-political sphere. They were called upon to play a decisive role in the restoration of the position of Catholicism. It is primarily about organizations such as the order of Opus Dei, the Legionaries of Christ, Focolare, Community and Liberation, the Ark, the Community of St. Egidius, neocatechumenates, Daughters of Mercy, various French “charismatic renewal” movements inspired by American Protestantism.

The “brain and heart” of Catholicism, determining the new policy of the Vatican and the activities of the Church as a whole, becomes Opus Dei, completely replaced the Jesuit order, which for four centuries played a key role in ensuring control over the minds of the elites. This was possible because of the unique characteristics of the organization, so secret that in Spain, where it comes from, it is called the “white mafia”.

Created in 1928 by the Spanish priest Josemaria escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975) in Franco Spain, Opus Dei was a fundamentally new type of order Association, being the first secular organization of the Catholic Church, approved by decree of Pius XII in 1947 (finally approved on June 16, 1950). In addition to the clergy, it includes lay people who can “find Holiness” in the mundane everyday Affairs, performing perfectly their professional duties in a certain social sphere. Escriva aimed at the formation of “lay spirituality”, which actually reproduced the Protestant ethics with its sacralisation of worldly activities, in which a person is called to fully realize themselves, achieving success and prosperity. It is no accident that many researchers define the teachings of escriva as a Catholic version of Calvinism. The performance of any business is considered here as a religious service and is inextricably linked with the desire for leadership and installation on belonging to the elite.

The aspiration for success in the world led to the initial interest of the order to the economy, banking, to participate in state government (if formally declared apolitism), as well as special attention to schools, universities, centers for training managers, experts, Finance etc. It is the technocrats and politicians involved with Opus Dei, played a decisive role in transforming the economy and governmental structures of Spain in the 60-70 years after the release of the country from international isolation, adapting it to Western European standards. So the use of modern technology for “universal mobilization of the laity” was the main innovation of the order, which developed a strategy based on the old principle: “Who governs the country determines its religion.”

Another feature of Opus Dei, which ensures its extreme effectiveness, is that It is created on the model of a sect, in which a rigid management structure, a centralized hierarchical structure and iron paramilitary discipline (full subordination to spiritual leadership) are combined with a network type of organization. The order is based on a strictly clerical and hierarchical Constitution, in which the priests, United in the Priestly society of the Holy cross, play a decisive role and are engaged in educating the laity. Discipline is expressed in strict obedience to his superior, in accordance with the instructions of the escriva: “laymen can only be disciples, if you want to be saved, obey, obey, as obeys the instrument in the hands of the artist, does not stop to reflect.” As a result, Opus Dei members find themselves in a closed, closed world, being absolutely sure that it is here that they achieve complete freedom of self-realization.

All members of the society are divided into three stages. The first-numeration (priests and laity) – full-time, are full members of the organization and perform leadership functions, with a University education, living in celibacy, observing all vows and rules, giving all earnings in favor of the organization of the order (20% of members). The second consists of aggregates-full-time members who are also single and deduct part of their earnings (25%). The third includes supernumeraries-supernumeraries, married (55%. It is important to note that in the order there is also a category of “employees” who are not officially members of the organization, but are listed as its supporters. In 1950, the order received the consent of the Vatican that the lists of these “employees” included not Catholics and not even Christians, which dramatically expands the scope of its coverage.

In accordance with this structure builds the entire activities of the order of the, with also three-level system

The main role is played by official centers and institutions representing the spiritual prelature. Despite the fact that the number of priests does not exceed 2.1% of the members, they play a decisive role and perform the main administrative functions. Then there are the organizations created by Orthodox laymen, both members and sympathizers and sympathizers of the order. These include University centres, vocational training centres, often registered as foundations, cultural centres, associations, institutes, where the bulk of young people are recruited. The names of these organizations do not contain the name opus Dei, but they are closely associated with It on a religious level. Often Opus Dei takes responsibility for the spiritual aspects of their activities, as indicated in the respective prospectuses of these organizations (“spiritual education is entrusted to Opus Dei, the personal prelature of the Church”). Finally, the third level includes various financial, political and ideological institutions, also created by the people of Opus Dei, but not related to the order of religious relations. These include personal funds operating internationally and associated with banks and industries, political clubs and family associations. These institutions, created and in those countries where Opus Dei has no representation, is so discreetly embedded in the structure of the order that they are very difficult to recognize. The leaders of these organizations act as individuals, and the order bears no responsibility for their actions. This system allows the order to penetrate into various spheres and involve a wide range of people in its activities. According to the order itself, at present the number of its members reaches 85 thousand, while about 900 thousand people participate in the activities of related organizations.

The order’s unique religious and organizational discipline and its methods of “mobilizing” the laity made it indispensable in the Church’s transition to”new evangelization.” In the late 60’s-early 70’s positions Opus Dei so strengthened that he set himself the task to carry out a deep “infiltration” into the body of the Church, the main channel of which was the Roman center of meetings of Ministers of worship (Centro Romano di Incontri Sacerdotali – CRIS), which turned into an elite organization, where the processing of promising clergy, among whom was the Archbishop of Krakow, cardinal Karol Wojtyla. It is known that each Wojtyla and his fellow Prelate of the Roman Curia Andrzej Maria Deskur was close to two key figures of Opus Dei Portillo, who became head of the order after escrivá’s death in 1975, and Julian Errans Casado. It was Descour who introduced Wojtyla to Portillo, after which they established close ties.

Having played an important role in Wojtyla’s rise to power, the order set itself the task of achieving a new status within the Church that would allow it to exert a decisive influence on Vatican policy. This happened 28 November 1982 (the date on which apostasty became known as the “historical date”), when John Paul II received the Apostolic Constitution Ut Sit, in accordance with which the order was granted the status of “personal prelature, there” the Pope vivadelli it from the jurisdiction of the diocesan leadership, transforming virtually independent, territorially not restricted to a diocese. The next stage, which strengthened the position of the order, was carried out at an accelerated pace beatification (beatification) of Josemaria escriva in 1992, after which Opus Dei finally “came out of hiding”, silencing his opponents. It turned out that he has influential patrons, among whom were cardinals of the Rat-Zinger (already then head of the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith), Angelo Sodano (gasteretal – man # 2 in the Curia), Paul Poupard, etc. the Order, in particular, appreciated the support of Ratzinger, giving him in 1998 the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Navarre in Pampelune – one of the main educational centers of Opus Dei. In 2002, escriva was canonized as quickly as ever, and as a result, his theological ideas were considered part of the Holy tradition of the Catholic Church.

Thanks to the relationship of deep trust between the Pontiff and Opus Dei, The latter has become a privileged, elite squad of the Pope. Some researchers argue that the order was so integrated into the environment of John Paul II that it began to play a dominant role, becoming essentially a “Church within the Church”. The order actually managed to penetrate all levels of the management system Vatican city, blocking any internal criticism, to sustain their views. Its strength lies not in the number of members represented in the Curia, which at first glance seems modest, but in the importance of the posts and offices they hold. We are talking about key positions.

The order put its man in charge of one of the most important departments in the Curia, the Vatican press office. They became numerary (layman) Joaquin Navarro-Valls, to which the Pope felt a great confidence and which has become over time one of the leading figures in the government of the Vatican, providing the image of the Church for 22 years. Under him, the press service separated from the Pontifical Commission on public relations and became an independent Department of the state Secretariat, subordinate directly to the Pope and at the same time being an instrument of Opus Dei. Another important figure, also shaping the image of the Vatican, was the numerarius (priest) Iago de La Cierva, who headed the international television Agency Rome Reports, created in 2004, representing in the media all the main events concerning the Church and the Pontiff’s activities. One of the two cardinal members of the order, Julian Errans Casado, was a direct adviser to the Pope and headed the Pontifical Council for legislative texts and the disciplinary Commission (local Ministry of justice) until his retirement in February 2007 due to old age. It was he who was responsible for interpreting the meaning and subtext Of the code of Canon law, preparing decrees, texts and implementing the decisions of the Pontiff. Gio Maria Poles, a lay member of the order, was also in charge of the Vatican personnel service (the local personnel Department).

Being represented in all departments of the administrative apparatus, congregations and Pontifical councils, the order is aware of everything that happens in the Church. To Rome, and it receives information from all departments in which due to the rigid system of subordination compiled detailed reports on the activities of each member of the order of this possibility, of course, deprived of local bishops and priests. All this has led to its unique role within the Church: analysts call it the unofficial center of the Vatican’s intelligence service or the Pope’s main intelligence service, carrying out important political missions through the use of peculiar methods and methods of penetration. Opus Dei is characterized by a closed, secret nature and “point” work, that is, the involvement of specific influential, and possibly key figures, who become the core of the “agents of influence” of the Vatican. The order does not have official lists of its members, the members themselves are not required to advertise their affiliation to the organization and keep secret all that relates to their methods of work, which makes it difficult to identify the institutions that are associated with it. In addition, there are no official financial reports, and the print organ of the order “Chronicle” is available only to numeraries.

The main activities of Opus Dei, which are of paramount importance for the leadership of the Vatican, are, first, providing intellectual development of strategic importance and, secondly, control over finances.

With regard to the first, the order is designed to solve the most important ideological task, which is such a restructuring of the consciousness of European elites, which ensures full acceptance of the basic provisions of the Anglo-Saxon neoliberal project, which has been consistently implemented since the late 70-ies. Ideological attitudes of the order, which is a kind of symbiosis of neoliberalism and religious fundamentalism, was actually a Catholic analogue of the theory of economic freedom F. Hayek, designed to justify the state’s withdrawal from the socio-economic spheres of society. (Hereafter highlighted by me. – O. C.) They became the basis for the development of appropriate training and research programs carried out in the order-controlled institutes and educational centers.

The inspiration for these neoliberal ideas was the American Institute for the study of religion and freedom. Acton (Michigan), and the main center of distribution – established in 1986, the international Academy of philosophy in Liechtenstein (1AR), closely associated with the Polish Catholic University of Lublin (it taught Karol Wojtyla). The latter has its own theological school, which is based on the doctrine of “eternal philosophy”, taken from the ideas of Husserl. According to them, the world is presented in a Manichaean spirit: all things are initially divided into good and bad, and people – on the morally bad and good, which actually justifies the elitist approach, which is so characteristic of Opus Dei. This philosophical and spiritual trend, to which belongs the personalism of Karol Wojtyla and other Polish theologians, is carefully studied in 1AR, and it is on this Foundation that the order seeks to produce a “spiritual renewal of Europe”. The rector of the Academy, Josef Serfert, even speaks of the LL school (Lublin-Liechtenstein), which can be considered the main instrument for spreading the dominant Catholic ethics. On the basis of neoliberal worldview formed a new generation of European politicians, financiers, economists, who replaced the old staff in the late XX – early XXI century.

Another main concern of the order is the financial provision and management of the Holy See’s funds.

Another main concern of the order is the financial provision and management of the Holy See’s funds

With its vast financial network, the order ensured the Vatican had far more power over the banks than it had in the Christian Democrat era. The main support structure of SV. The throne is the Institute of religious Affairs (ETAL), called the Vatican Bank, which, after exposure in the early 80s banker-mafia Marcinkus managed to restore its positions through appropriate reforms initiated by John Paul II in order to create a “positive” image of ETAL. It is also important to note that, since the 80s, among the areas of financial activity of the Church in the foreground were the United States, where there is the richest Catholic community. It was here that Vatican investments began to move, and in 1987 a special John Paul II Fund was opened in Washington, the amount of investments of which in 1998 amounted to 44 million dollars.
Sources:
Ibid. P. 62. Investigations and documents. Paris: Editions Golias, Fourest, C., Venner F. Op. cit. P. 102.

The key figure here was close to the order of the Archbishop of Vienna, cardinal Koenig, associated with the”Grand national Lodge of Austria.” Three days before the opening of the Conclave on the initiative of Koenig was held a secret meeting at the Pontifical College “Pio Latinoamericano”, where he managed to enlist the support of some cardinals from France, Holland and Germany in the nomination of Wojtyla (see: Putilov S. Sinister footsteps of Freemasonry // Orthodoxy or death: Journalistic almanac. М., №5. С.1; Norman F. The troubling rise of the ‘Opus Dei // The diplomatic World. September 1995. 22).

Hertel P. Op. cit. P. 239-24G.

Opus Dei is still the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church.

Hertel Р. Op. cit. P. 273.

Tincq H. The usury of a reign of nearly twenty years // the world. 11 August 1997.

Currently, Opus Dei is represented in 87 States and has 1,654 parishes and dent of pastoral care.

Opus Dei: the soldiers of Christian communitarianism.

In 1994, IAP created a Foundation in support of the Academy, headed by former Italian head of state and lifelong Senator Francesco Cossiga (Terras Ch. in collaboration with P. Hertel and R. Libero. Opus Dei. Investigation at the heart of an occult power. Editions Golias, 2006. 60-61).

CONTENT

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