Some time in the mid-1970s, in a secret "local council" meeting of celibate male numeraries of Opus Dei and an Opus Dei priest, in a centre of Opus Dei in the Barcelona area, a dire decision was taken to target for recruitment, Jack Valero, the Opus Dei Information Officer in London.

We know from a recent interview of Mr Valero with himself https://opusdei.org/es/article/entrevista-jack-valero-autor-opus-dei-sin-filtros/ that "his first truly significant encounter with Opus Dei took place at the age of 15, during a trip to Rome. There, he attended a meeting with St Josemaria". This probably means that he had previous less significant encounters with Opus Dei, perhaps through family, friends and/or youth activities, which are the usual pipelines for capturing children for Opus Dei.

Mr Valero goes on to say that: "Some time later, someone suggested that perhaps God was calling me to Opus Dei. My first reaction was fear. I didn't want to ask to face that question. "... after several weeks of prayer and reflection, I understood - with a certain interior difficulty to explain - that it [Opus Dei] was my way."

Earlier in the article, it is written that Jack Valero "has lived in London since the age of 17".

What we can deduce about Mr Valero's vocation to Opus Dei is the following:

1. Mr Valero likely met Opus Dei earlier than 15

2. Mr Valero was targeted for recruitment by the age of 15 by older numeraries and priests of Opus Dei in that he was invited on a trip to Rome to see Escriva. (Trips to Rome for teens to see the OD leader are a well-established high-pressure recruitment funnel)

3. At 15, the local council decided to move in hard and suggest to him that he has a vocation to Opus Dei

4. He was given a few weeks to think it over and said yes i.e. "whistled" as a numerary, which means in practice committing to God for life as a lay celibate; officially, "he asked for admission" and had to wait 6 months before temporary admission for one year

5. He had completed 18 months in Opus Dei by the age of 17 and made the "oblation", which is the first official commitment to be in Opus Dei permanently; I say this because it is unlikely that he would have been sent to England before the oblation.

6. A decision was made by Escriva and advisers in Rome to send Mr Valero permanently to London when he was 17.

Since then, over the last 50 years, the psychological, spiritual and financial damage that Mr Valero has caused to unsuspecting Catholics in Britain who have fallen prey to his charm offensives and behind-the-scenes gangsterism is incalculable.

When will his reign of terror end? I don't see any plans to bring on new, local talent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6JpxDebokM&list=RDM6JpxDebokM&start_radio=1

There is an online Spanish-language website for Catholic and religious news here religionenlibertad.com I discovered it because it is running a puff piece promoting the latest slew of half-truths emanating from the dismal dungeon of (Catalan) Opus Dei Misinformation Officer and Fixer-in-Chief based in London, Jack Valero.

Mr Valero is launching a book next months called "El Opus Dei sin Filtros", being a collection of stories from 20 Opus Dei members saying how wonderful they are and Opus Dei is. We will see the details in due course.

Back to the website: there is no easy way to find out from the website who runs it.

I asked ChatGPT to tell me if there are any links with Opus Dei figures and the result is yes - many and close ones. Search for yourself. All the articles about Opus Dei are 100% positive. No doubt the other coverage is there to give the impression that it is an independent media outlet.

More proof that morally bankrupt Opus Dei spin doctors will stoop to the depths to copy the reprehensible tactics of clickbait digital media sites set up behind the scenes by undisclosed political campaigning lobbies, especially in the USA.

In the UK, the modern term for vulnerable adults e.g. the mentally disabled, elderly with serious dementia, is "adults at risk". In general, the legal protections afforded minors are extended too to adults at risk. Courts can hear applications to make decisions on their behalf in their best interests.

I would argue that any adult, no matter how intelligent or competent, becomes an "adult at risk" in practice as soon as they fall victim to a cult like Opus Dei. Their freedom and consent is very quickly nullified by the heavy emotional pressure to conform to a mentally exhausting array of religious practices, with major social consequences for non-compliance.

Diagnosing psychological vulnerability

Obviously the difficulty lies in diagnosing a psychological vulnerability serious enough that the state and medical professionals need to be involved in protecting that adult from themselves. That can happen when a person is legally and forcibly sectioned (UK term) or committed (US term) to a psychiatric facility or when there is a sudden collapse and the family get involved, like in the Catherine Tissier case - see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DZStzLYzzn9UCbkHu533Xm4wyBrtBjoxztN9INyMO5E/edit?tab=t.0

A psychiatrist could then give an opinion that there was an association between Opus Dei abuses and the symptoms. In the Tissier legal case, a cult expert was also heard by the court and their evidence accepted that Catherine's Opus Dei environment was coercive.

The difficulties in using a diagnosis

However, it may then be difficult to make use of such a diagnosis, especially if the adult recovers and chooses to lie low or even go back to Opus Dei (though Opus Dei leaders have a reputation for offloading psychiatrically problematic members).

The diagnosis also may not help establish a case that the adult was known to be vulnerable by Opus Dei at the time of recruitment or up until the collapse. And this is also the problem many years later, when a person has sufficiently recovered from Opus Dei-trauma - which takes many years - to take steps to seek justice. They may be able to get a psychological opinion that they were an adult at risk while in Opus Dei, but legally that may not fix Opus Dei leaders and entities with actual or constructive knowledge of this.

It is in such loopholes that cults like Opus Dei continue to flourish, or at least survive, resting their shaky structures on the fundamental freedom of religious liberty, a liberty they abuse to remove others' liberty.

A loving pastoral response?

What would be the pastoral response? It would be to ensure that all Catholic groups that are in the business of attracting lifelong vocations, Opus Dei foremost, are required to pay for an independent psychiatric assessment of potential members, and regular follow-ups.

Dom Dysmas de Lassus, head of the Carthusian order and author of "Spiritual Abuses in the Religious Life", describes a religious vocation as a kind of extreme sport. What elite sportsperson is not willing to submit to regular check-ups to make sure they are competing and training safely?

Interestingly, such assessments have been mandatory in the discernment process for diocesan priests in England as far back as the 1980s. Perhaps Opus Dei leaders, in the run-up to that group's centenary, could learn from them, 40 odd years later. Or perhaps there are conclusions that bishops could draw from Opus Dei's unwillingness for the last 40 years to reach the same conclusion as they did, that love means safeguarding vulnerable people from major spiritual commitments.

From the Inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/cofg-reports

This is an extract from the Victorian report on coercive high-control groups. I have replaced "coercive high‑control groups" with "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church" throughout and generalised "Victoria" to "Government". This gives an accurate and concise description of the lived experience of growing up in the PBCC (Exclusive Brethren) and its "OneSchool Global" education system.

Children and young people in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church face a combination of risks that government child safety systems were not designed to address. Unlike adults, most children in these environments have no prior identity or external reference point to draw on. For those born into these groups, it is not something they joined—it is the only world they have ever known. Their sense of self, relationships, and understanding of right and wrong are shaped entirely within the group’s authority structures, often before they have the capacity to question them. Children brought in through a parent or carer’s involvement exercise no greater choice. In both cases, concepts such as ‘recruitment’ and ‘membership’ are misleading. They obscure the reality of these children’s experiences and create barriers to recognising their circumstances for what they are: clear matters of child protection.

The harm experienced by children in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is serious, cumulative, and often lifelong. Evidence before the Committee described pervasive psychological harm, including anxiety, depression, complex trauma, and profound disruption to identity formation and attachment. Protective relationships are systematically displaced, with group authority substituted for the parent‑child bond and children conditioned to regard questioning adults as spiritually unsafe. Physical harm, including corporal punishment and child sexual abuse occurring in conditions of enforced secrecy and limited access to mandatory reporters, were also documented extensively. Educational deprivation is often deliberate, designed to limit children’s capacity to think independently or function outside the group. Many survivors leave without qualifications, foundational life skills, and the social reference points that most young people acquire through ordinary adolescence.
Children born into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church do not recover a prior identity when they leave. Rather, they must build one, often for the first time in adulthood and without adequate support. The Committee considers this a distinct and severe form of harm that warrants specific recognition in policy and service design. Young people aged 18 to 25 who exit these environments occupy a clear service system gap: no longer eligible for child protection supports, yet poorly served by adult service systems not designed for their particular needs.

This article of 27 July 2026 gives a fascinating and heart-rending account of the 17 years in Opus Dei of Maria Minga, from Peru, a female celibate domestic servant ("assistant numerary") until 2022, when she left after significant psychological issues.

https://www.idl-reporteros.pe/sirvienta-del-opus-dei/

Maria's background

Maria came from from a poor, devout RC, rural family in Peru. As a young person (I think over 18), she got involved in spiritual activities at a women's centre for Opus Dei in Lima, where she helped with domestic chores.

The "vocations crisis" strikes

After some time she describes that:

"Suddenly everyone was speaking to me about my divine vocation, that God wanted me in Opus Dei. I said to the priest that I didn't see that vocation because I wanted to get married and have children. I resisted until one day he told me that I was being too selfish and not generous with God. That made me think and so I started to think about it." She then said "yes" to Opus Dei for life i.e. "whistled" in 2005, beginning her 17 year commitment to Opus Dei.

Decoding the manipulation

What we can decode from this is that even in 2005, all the manipulative recruitment practices that Opus Dei have been accused of over many decades were in full force.

"Suddenly everyone was speaking to me about my divine vocation": this means that the priest and local council members made a decision to put the moves on Maria.

She said to the priest that she wanted to get married and "resisted" the celibate "vocation" of a domestic servant. This means that the campaign to persuade her was sustained.

"One day he told me that I was being too selfish and not generous with God." This means that the priest manipulated her into whistling.

This is the story of almost every celibate vocation to Opus Dei through the decades.

The myth of meaningful reform within Opus Dei

Opus Dei information wallahs like to paint the picture that things have changed within the organisation over the years; in particular, they are keen to assert that conditions have improved for the female celibate domestic servants (called "assistant numeraries") who are probably the most exploited group in Opus Dei. (Some might argue that the priests are the most exploited but they are also the biggest abusers, and they don't get involved in domestic work.)

This presents a problem for people like me, who left in 2004 and have no inside knowledge of current conditions. We always suspect that little has changed in practice and that any cosmetic changes under pressure from the Vatican are facades. I was lucky enough to get witness evidence in 2024 from a current numerary to this effect, which I disclosed to English bishops, their lawyers and insurers.

Maria's story gives a lot more useful details, up to 2022.

Changes following the Tissier case

In the case of domestic servants of Opus Dei, there was a move from Opus Dei HQ to close down many hospitality training centres in, let's say, more economically advanced countries from around 2015. This coincided with the French appeal court case related to the collapse of French domestic servant Catherine Tissier in 2001. More details here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DZStzLYzzn9UCbkHu533Xm4wyBrtBjoxztN9INyMO5E/edit?tab=t.0 In this case, the court accepted the evidence of a cult expert that Catherine was in a coercive environment, which contributed significantly to her injuries.

This court case meant that Opus Dei had to adhere to employment law and improve living conditions for domestic servants but exactly how was not clear.

Crucially, from what I saw on exes' forums, there was a suspicion that little change was made for domestic servants from poorer countries, for example in Central and South America. Maria's story appears to corroborate this. I will give more details in subsequent articles here.

The Opus Dei information office in Peru refused to meet the journalist who met Maria.

Thank you for reading.

Michael Chambers, 30 July 2026

"Jack Valero, Opus Dei’s press officer in the United Kingdom and a longtime family friend, said Pedro’s concern for others defined him."

This quote is from: https://www.osvnews.com/english-student-remembered-for-joyful-faith-amid-cancer-inspires-hopes-for-sainthood/

Here, I will unpack what is behind Mr Valero's definition of himself as a "longtime family friend". To do this, we need to be clear about Jack Valero's past and his role in the cause of Pedro's canonisation:

1. Mr Valero has lived in London for around 40 years, since the age of 17. He came here from Spain/Catalunya following recruitment as a child numerary of Opus Dei. He is from a Carlist family. In my opinion, he is a coerced vocation (like almost all celibate leaders and priests) and no amount of protest from a coerced vocation can change that.
2. He has worked exclusively in internal governance in Opus Dei since leaving university, including internet and media work, liaising/making captive Catholic media, Catholic bishops and diocesan staff.
3. For most or all of that time, he has been a member of the Regional Commission of the UK men's region, then NW Europe, as "defender" of the spirit of Opus Dei. He is the eyes and the ears of HQ in Rome in England.
4. Mr Valero has been at the heart - mostly behind the scenes - of every major decision about the development and defence of Opus Dei in the UK for decades, including knowing the intimate details of the lives of the members (including me).
5. I knew him personally. I was on annual courses with him and lived next door in Orme Court in the late 90s. We share the same birthday - 10 June. I played football with him and others in Hyde Park. I composed and performed a song for him on his 40th birthday. I am not bitter. I am sad and angry. I grieve for the coercion he experienced as a child but I also understand him now as an adult.
6. He knows what goes on in the Vatican and the leadership of Opus Dei in Rome.
7. He has taken part in and driven secret council meetings in London dedicated to ruling the lives of members in key areas of their lives and strategising for the interests of Opus Dei.
8. Members of Opus Dei in Britain, especially the men, are in practice under his control because indications in spiritual direction are "the will of God". Because there is no confidentiality in spiritual direction, Mr Valero can guide the spiritual directors behind the scenes.
9. His control over the women is even more hidden, via the top women leaders and priests.
10. Mr Valero would have been intimately involved in orchestrated moves to get Pedro Ballester to commit to Opus Dei for life ("whistle") aged 16.5.
11. Pedro's father (also Pedro) is a married member of Opus Dei. His vocation too involves obedience to Mr Valero and the other directors of Opus Dei and priests. It is likely that Mr Valero and Dr Ballester (who moved from Spain to work in the north of England) met via Opus Dei.
12. Mr Valero's main mission now is to get Pedro Ballester made a saint. He will be in lockstep with Opus Dei HQ in Rome on this. They hope this will shore up Opus Dei's dire reputation for child grooming and coercion.

So when Mr Valero says that he is a "long-time family friend" of the Ballesters, it is my sincere and honestly-held belief that this friendship is fake and no more than a cover for his determined attempts to get Pedro canonised, mostly through promoting it in the media. I regard that friendship as yet more grooming by Mr Valero.

Having this friendship on record online is also useful cover for his involvement. Mr Valero knows the power of words on paper asserted as facts, and which can't be countered except by hit pieces.

If Dr Ballester ever grows tired of his son's canonisation circus, then it's tough luck: he'll be too far in to pull out. Mr Valero has him by the short and curlies now. And Mr Valero's fake honesty and joviality will help him navigate those who take a passing interest.

There are many many casualties of Mr Valero's determination to advance the interests of Opus Dei. The weaker but luckier ones (like me) break down in time to rebuild their lives. The stronger ones can have him as a monkey on their back for decades.

Mr Valero loves whistle-stop day trips to different parts of England. If anyone knows him, I'd like to pass on a recommendation to visit Lyme Regis in Dorset. It has things like a watermill, a chandlery and a pier. I'm sure Mr Valero would enjoy it there so much that he wouldn't want to come back. (Lk 17:2)

I recently chanced across this pro-Opus Dei puff piece on the BBC website from January 2026: Extraordinary student Pedro Ballester could be first Gen Z saint - BBC News It is a news piece from a Manchester-based journalist about the Opus Dei drive to get coerced child recruit Pedro Ballester made a saint. Pedro lived in Manchester.

Remarkably, the BBC simply summarised the information about Opus Dei and this saint-making business provided to them by Jack Valero, Opus Dei Misinformation Officer based in London. There was no context or balance.

Interestingly, if you search "Opus Dei" on the BBC news website, you will find a profile of Opus Dei from 2009 BBC - Religions - Christianity: Opus Dei This includes common criticisms, which the likes of Mr Valero never address specifically or openly.

There is also a BBC podcast from 2024 in which ex-domestic servants of Opus Dei were interviewed about how they were deceived and pressured into joining Opus Dei on pain of hellfire, and then mercilessly exploited as domestic slaves until they broke down. See BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Seeking justice from Opus Dei

What is so shameful is how Catholic bishops in England do not speak out about the abuses, so well documented, so well investigated even by them - see https://opus-info.org/index.php?title=File:The_Times_Profile_of_Opus_Dei_-_Jan_12,1981.pdf .

Instead, we have the dismal spectacle of at least 3 current bishops continuing to give full-throated, unqualified public support to Opus Dei, and glossing over all of the criticisms of its coercion and deception:

a) Bishop Egan of Portsmouth - sermon in public mass, June 2026 https://opusdei.org/en-uk/article/homily-of-bishop-philip-egan-on-the-feast-of-st-josemaria/

b) Cardinal Roche, formerly of Leeds, now in Vatican https://www.osvnews.com/cardinal-roche-pedro-ballesters-selflessness-a-witness-for-todays-youth/

c) Bishop John Arnold of Salford (Manchester) https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/cause-for-beatification-of-pedro-ballester/

Why is it that Cardinal Radcliffe and other English Catholic bishops could publicly show compassion, respect and support for gay Catholics in June 2026 at a mass in London but stay silent on Opus Dei - such hardened homophobes within the church - see https://nuntiatoria.org/2026/07/01/we-have-moved-on-cardinal-radcliffe-and-the-mass-that-betrayed-fiducia-supplicans/ ?

If pastorally-minded bishops - who understand the coercion in Opus Dei - need people like me to stop fulminating in public, then I am happy to do so and leave these issues to them. Just message me if you're reading. Or am I such an insignificant piece of s**t to anyone in a cassock that they will not stoop to deal with me? Or are they silenced by gangster tactics within the church?

Because I will say here and now that I will kick up f***ing s**t on the canonisation farce of Pedro Ballester; I will seek to embarrass the Catholic bishops of England for as long as there is no public confirmation that the coercion behind Pedro Ballester's vocation to Opus Dei - all our supposed vocations - will be investigated; and this must include the well-documented tactics to ensnare him in secret council meetings, confession and spiritual direction, as mandated in internal documents of Escriva that lack an imprimatur, and which the Vatican possesses but remains silent on.

This article is also fair warning to people close to Pedro who may be upset at this opposition.

Why go to such lengths? Because I care about the spiritual freedom of Catholics who had it robbed by the coercive and evil structure set up by Escriva at the age of 26, in the name of his god.

And this message of mine is straight from the heart of the true, living God who doesn't mind a bit of swearing to make a point against hardened enemies of God. If you don't believe me, meet me. This invitation is extended also to Pedro's family and friends.

Michael "The Fulminator" Chambers, 14 July 2026

John 2:16: To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”

This article adds to previous posts on this forum about Ronald Lloyd Spencer, the self-styled "Buddha Maitreya" and alleged reincarnation of Jesus and Buddha.

I listened to the first 30 minutes of Coffee And Cults Ep 50 Part Three Behind The Buddhas! - Coffee And Cults | Podcast on Spotify The journalists researched sources on Mr Spencer, for example his own website and information appearing on the Cult Education Institute website - see Search

All I will do here is summarise some of the snippets of uncorroborated biographical information and leave it to you, dear reader, to decide if this warrants:

a) deeper investigation and exposure of Mr Spencer

b) specific responses from Mr Spencer

Eyewitness allegations relating to his life before the

• He allegedly worked as a truck driver
• He allegedly lived for free in others’ houses in Hawaii
• Behind his wife’s back, he allegedly slept with a woman for her spiritual benefit, and allegedly would insert magical objects into her body
• He allegedly developed a small following in Hawaii (including a sex worker) of people who would buy crystals and spiritual teachings from him
• His followers allegedly supported him financially e.g. one person allegedly lent him $1000 and jewels but never got it back 
• He allegedly used weed and LSD
• One person allegedly challenged him and he left Hawaii suddenly 
• There are allegations of multiple ex-wives and abandoned children in various places

Uncorroborated assertions by Mr Spencer

- Tibetan Buddhist monks came to his house in Oregon aged 9, said he was divinely appointed, wanted to take him away but his parents did not agree (like the storyline of "Little Buddha") 

-  He served in Vietnam 1969-1973 (aged 18 to 22) and then left on the grounds of conscientious objection. The effects of 4 years in that combat zone ....

Thanks for reading.