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Natural Product. Opus Dei's great and growing influence in Spanish life is no conspiracy or intrigue but the natural product of a unique organization whose members, drawn largely from the professions and the managerial class, were bound to rise to the top in any case. Its message is a sort of Catholic moral rearmament—an opportunity for serious and dedicated men to live Christian lives outside the cathedral as well as in it. Its founder, Escrivá, gave up a law career to join the priesthood. But instead of encouraging others to take up the habit, Escrivá began preaching that laymen who dedicate their work to God have as much chance as priests to achieve sanctity.
"Opus Dei," he said in a rare interview with TIME'S Madrid bureau chief, Peter Forbath, "was born to tell men and women of every country and of every condition, race, language, milieu and state of life—single, married and priests—that they can love and serve God without giving up their ordinary work, their family or their normal social relations. My teaching has been that sanctity is not reserved for a privileged few. Every profession, every honest task can be divine." In Spain, the membership of Opus Dei includes movie directors, jet pilots, labor leaders, high-fashion hairdressers and, as Escrivá proudly points out, even a barber in Seville.
Directed at Youth. Given official Vatican recognition in 1950 as the Church's first "Secular Institute," Opus Dei is no longer a purely Spanish organization. Its headquarters are in Rome, and it is now active in 68 countries, including the U.S.—where it has established residence halls and study centers (which teach such mundane subjects as oceanography) for students in 20 cities.
In Colombia, the two leading candidates to become the nation's next President are both supporters of Opus Dei. In Britain, where Right-Wing Tory M.P. John Biggs-Davison is an Opus Dei proponent, the Queen Mother presided six months ago at the dedication of the organization's London residence hall. Opus Dei members run a language school in Japan, teach Indians in the Peruvian Andes how to read, and founded Kenya's first racially integrated high school and a secretarial school for African girls. Total worldwide membership of the organization now approaches 60,000, of which only 25,000 are in Spain.
In Spain, as elsewhere, most organized Opus Dei activity is directed principally toward youth. The organization operates more than 100 residences and study centers for students and young workers throughout the country. Its Universidad de Navarra, with twelve separate faculties and an enrollment of 5,220, is acknowledged to be Spain's best university by far. Its graduate school of business administration, opened in Barcelona nine years ago in conjunction with Harvard, was the nation's first institution to teach modern management techniques on a graduate level. It operates a trade school in a Madrid working-class district known as "Little Moscow," a center for the ever-rebellious coal miners of Asturias, even maintains a "spiritual retreat" where bullfighters can escape at least the horns of the devil.