| http://observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,577830,00.html
Split in Vatican on Opus Dei's miracle Giles Tremlett, Madrid Sunday October 21, 2001 The Observer The relentless advance of one of the Roman Catholic Church's most mysterious, powerful and conservative groups, Opus Dei, is about to gain further momentum, thanks to the hands of Spanish surgeon Manuel Nevado. Nevado, 69, has assured the Vatican that his hands were crippled by overexposure to X-rays in the days when Spanish clinics were short of protective equipment. Now, according to a report being considered by the Vatican authorities, those hands have been miraculously cured after he prayed for help from Opus Dei's founder, the Spanish priest Josemaría Escrivá. That cure, Opus Dei claims, provides proof that Escrivá should be canonised. Escrivá already holds the Vatican record for the quickest beatification - a first step towards full sainthood - for five centuries. That took only 17 years after his death in 1975. His powerful supporters want Pope John Paul II, an Opus Dei admirer who has surrounded himself with the group's members, to canonise Escrivá by the end of next year. That would provide Opus Dei with even greater moral and religious weight inside the Vatican - where some fear it already has a grip on the reins of power. The group, which flourished during General Franco's dictatorship and brings together wealthy, conservative lay Catholics and priests across the world, already controls some of the Vatican's most important offices. Its grip is strongest in the Vatican's public relations department, where an Opus Dei member, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, has become the ailing Pope's all-powerful spin doctor. Not surprisingly, Escrivá's canonisation process is causing bitter conflict in the Vatican. The Jesuit order, home to some of the Church's most left-leaning members, is said to be fighting a fierce opposition campaign. Full saints need not just one miracle, but two. Escrivá's first miracle, which ensured his fast-track beatification, was said to have occurred in 1976 - when members of the family of a Spanish Carmelite nun prayed for his heavenly intercession to cure abnormal fat deposits. Nevado told the Vatican's investigators that within 15 days of praying to Escrivá, his illness was cured. 'The wounds disappeared and the hands were completely cured,' he said. Fellow doctors in Almendralejo were surprised by the news. 'He is a strong man,' one colleague said. 'His radiodermatitis never became cancerous. I think it stopped when he stopped using X-rays.' That is not what the Vatican doctors say about what they claimed was a chronic and irreversible disease. 'The diagnosis was terrible and without hope. He could have had to have his hands amputated,' one doctor said in a report from 50 Vatican doctors being reviewed by a commission of cardinals in charge of appointing new saints. A final report is due to be taken to Pope John Paul II within weeks. Opus Dei's status as the new power at the Vatican could well be confirmed then. |
