233: DC’s Catholic Power Center (w/Gareth Gore)
Conspirituality21 Nov 2024

233: DC’s Catholic Power Center (w/Gareth Gore)

Josemaria Escriva founded Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative, high-demand, secretive Catholic organization in Madrid, Spain, after receiving a supposed vision from God in 1928. His small inner circle initially initiated university students into strict obedience, celibacy, medieval practices of self-flagellation, and deceptive recruitment techniques to convert their friends. Operating outside of the mainstream church, Opus Dei rose to prominence under Spain's authoritarian dictator, Francisco Franco. Escriva was eventually canonized as a saint while the group amassed enormous wealth and influence around the world. Today, their reactionary religious and political mission has established a foothold in Washington DC through the Catholic Information Center—the tabernacle closest to the White House.Bill Barr, Leonard Leo, and Project 2025 mastermind, Kevin Roberts, all visit for spiritual guidance. Meanwhile, scandals and lawsuits involving child sex abuse, money laundering, and human trafficking plague Opus Dei's reputation. Gareth Gore joins us to discuss his controversial new book on the past and present of this secretive organization, Opus. Show Notes Pew Research Center: America’s News Influencers How Opus Dei Converted DC Gareth Gore Author page for his book, Opus Opus Dei Paid $900K to Settle Sexual Misconduct Claim Argentine Prosecutors Accuse Opus Dei of Human Trafficking Maria del Carmen Tapia Book Summary on Opus Dei Financial Times on Opus Biblical omen uncovered in aftermath of Hurricane Helene | Daily Mail Online Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episoder(752)

292: Women of Jan 6 (w/ Noelle Cook)

292: Women of Jan 6 (w/ Noelle Cook)

Noelle Cook’s The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging is the first ethnography of conspirituality, and it comes via someone who was able to really embed themselves in a volatile...

22 Jan 1h 8min

Bonus Sample: Oil, Power, and Theocracy

Bonus Sample: Oil, Power, and Theocracy

In 1953 the CIA and MI6 participated in a coup d’etat in Iran. That true sentence (and what usually follows) can create an oversimplified distortion of history—and present. But Iran is in the news aga...

19 Jan 7min

MAHA’s Selective Skepticism

MAHA’s Selective Skepticism

Whole milk is back! The war on protein is over! Mainline meat! Derek investigates the new inverted pyramid and everything lacking in the new dietary guidelines. Show Notes The New Dietary Guidelin...

17 Jan 23min

291: My Chinese Buddhist Israeli AI Guru

291: My Chinese Buddhist Israeli AI Guru

“Train your mind gently, not to deny what is hard, but to see what is still good” implores the monk sharing spiritual messages to his 2.5 million Instagram followers. Clad in an orange robe—well, some...

15 Jan 1h 6min

Bonus Sample: Overwelled

Bonus Sample: Overwelled

From Andrew Huberman's Goop collab and Mel Robbins' protein shots to MAHA flipping the long-defunct food pyramid and making meningitis great again, the first full week of 2026 was off to quite a start...

12 Jan 4min

Brief: Censorship Industrial Complex

Brief: Censorship Industrial Complex

Marco Rubio’s office published an official press release last month titled “Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship Industrial Complex.” The memo discusses the decision to impose visa ...

10 Jan 22min

290: Trump Derangement Science

290: Trump Derangement Science

What do fascists need to do to convince their rank and file that they’re the smartest in the room? They invent new science to trash the old science they didn’t like. First, we look into how RFK Jr is ...

8 Jan 1h 6min

Bonus Sample: What My Late Mom Would Have Thought About Jordan Peterson

Bonus Sample: What My Late Mom Would Have Thought About Jordan Peterson

Matthew reflects on the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death and revisits how her life, trauma, and values helped him understand the appeal—and fatal flaw—of Jordan Peterson’s worldview. Toughness ...

5 Jan 5min

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