Vatican warns against splinter group devoted to angels
(November 5, 2010) The Vatican's doctrinal office has asked the world's bishops to
be vigilant over the activities of members of a wayward splinter group that is pretending
to be part of the Church-recognized Opus Angelorum association. In a letter, the
Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the splinter movement was
trying to revive practices banned 18 years ago, including liturgical ceremonies that
focus on angels. Opus Angelorum, the Latin for "work of angels," was reformed after
a 1992 Vatican decree and today is a "public association of the church in conformity
with traditional doctrine and with the directives of the Holy See.” The association
"spreads devotion to the holy angels among the faithful, exhorts them to pray for
priests, and promotes love for Christ in his Passion and union with it," said the
letter sent to the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences. But it said bishops
should be aware that there are a certain number of members, including priests who
left or were expelled from the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, who "have
not accepted the norms given by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and
seek to restore what, according to them, would be the 'authentic Opus Angelorum.'"
The splinter movement "professes and practices all those things which were forbidden"
by earlier Vatican documents.