SPAIN
The Local
On the eve of the beatification of its previous leader, the elitist Opus Dei Catholic group portrayed in Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” is struggling to hold on to the power it enjoyed under former Spanish dictator Franco.
The group expects around 150,000 faithful will flock to the beatification — the last step before sainthood — of Alvaro del Portillo, who headed Opus Dei from 1975 until his death in 1994.
The ceremony will be presided over by the head of the Vatican department that oversees the making of saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, aided by 1,300 priests and 300 cardinals, bishops and archbishops.
Although it has its headquarters in Rome, Spain remains one of Opus Dei’s strongholds — it has roughly 30,000 members there, representing one third of its 90,000 following.
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