.png)
A five-year dispute between the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón and Opus Dei over the Torreciudad shrine escalated this week when Bishop Ángel Pérez Pueyo said he would resign if the Vatican ruled against his plans for the site.
The conflict began in 2020, when the bishop sought to take control of the appointment of the shrine’s rector and reclaim the image of Our Lady of Torreciudad. Opus Dei has since refused to relinquish authority unless ordered to do so by the Holy See.
On 8 September, in a homily at Barbastro Cathedral, Bishop Pérez Pueyo warned that if the Vatican commissioner ruled against him, he could not accept it “without defiling and disgracing my old age”, and that he would follow the example of Eleazar in Scripture by resigning.
Reports in the Spanish media have suggested that Archbishop Alejandro Arellano, dean of the Roman Rota and appointed by the Vatican to mediate the dispute, is expected to side with Opus Dei.
The shrine, which dates back to a hermitage founded in 1084, has been under Opus Dei’s care since the 1960s. A new complex was inaugurated in 1975 and now attracts around 200,000 pilgrims each year. Though popularly referred to as a shrine, canonically it remains a “semi-public oratory” attached to the prelature.
Attempts to regularise its status as a diocesan shrine broke down over questions of governance, finance, and who should appoint the rector. Tensions rose in 2023 when Bishop Pérez Pueyo installed his own candidate rather than accepting one proposed by Opus Dei, breaking with the custom in place since the site’s inauguration.
In recent months, the bishop has insisted that the return of the Marian image to its original chapel is at the heart of the dispute. He has claimed that Pope Francis encouraged him to persist, citing private correspondence and remarks made during audiences in Rome.
Earlier this summer, negotiations appeared close to resolution, with a draft agreement that would have seen Opus Dei retain control while the diocese formally designated the site as a diocesan shrine. Under that plan, the bishop would have chosen the rector from a shortlist provided by the prelature, and the image would have been carried in procession twice a year to the original chapel.
The bishop, however, rejected the terms, later proposing instead that the site become an international shrine under direct Vatican authority—provided that Opus Dei returned both the image and the cathedral’s historic baptismal font, which has been kept in Rome since the 1950s.
With no settlement in sight, the Vatican’s commissioner is expected to deliver a ruling in the coming weeks.
