Dear Listeners,
We are so honored to share today’s episode with you. Our guest is Gareth Gore, a financial journalist and editor with nearly two decades of experience who has reported from more than twenty-five countries and covered some of the biggest financial stories of our time. His work has appeared in Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and International Financing Review. He is the author of Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church, and the host of The Syndicate, a podcast about the hidden stories behind history’s biggest financial deals.
It’s not every day that we get to sit down with someone whose reporting has changed the way people understand a Catholic institution — and we felt truly grateful for Gareth’s honesty, clarity, and depth of insight.
Our conversation covered:
How a banking story opened up a much bigger investigation into a powerful Catholic organization.
The high-control practices that shape the lives of ordinary members.
The cult of personality around founder (and Saint) Josemaría Escrivá, and how he built an empire through charisma, money, and political connections.
The way Opus Dei attracts young people — sometimes even those looking for an escape from wrestling with their sexuality — and the overlaps we see with Side B Catholicism, covenant communities, and even manosphere spaces.
Opus Dei’s growing role in Catholic nationalism and authoritarian politics, both in Spain and the United States.
And what we can learn from how the papacy — from Francis to Leo XIV — has responded.
For us, this episode was a chance to name the patterns of High Control Catholicism within Opus Dei and to see how they continue to shape our Church and our politics today. As queer Catholics, we know how important it is to create space for these conversations, and we’re grateful to have Gareth with us to do just that.
🎧 You can listen to the podcast here on Substack, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
📅 A quick note about scheduling: there will be no recap essay this Wednesday. Instead, we’ll be back on Friday with a deep dive into Opus Dei, continuing the themes from this conversation.
Thank you, as always, for being here and listening with us.
With warmth and gratitude,
Max Kuzma & Emma Cieslik
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