Bette Dangerous

Bette Dangerous

Share this post

Bette Dangerous
Bette Dangerous
REGISTRATION: Bette’s Happy Hour with Gareth Gore — Updates on the Opus Dei Cult’s Human Trafficking Prosecution

REGISTRATION: Bette’s Happy Hour with Gareth Gore — Updates on the Opus Dei Cult’s Human Trafficking Prosecution

Bette members: please register for our Tuesday Happy Hour, 8/19, with best-selling author Gareth Gore, who wrote Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy; 10 Pacific

Heidi Siegmund Cuda's avatar
Heidi Siegmund Cuda
Aug 15, 2025
∙ Paid
7

Share this post

Bette Dangerous
Bette Dangerous
REGISTRATION: Bette’s Happy Hour with Gareth Gore — Updates on the Opus Dei Cult’s Human Trafficking Prosecution
5
Share

***Registration link is below the paywall. My content is free at Bette Dangerous, but please upgrade to a paid membership to join our community events.***


TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, BETTE’S HAPPY HOUR WITH GARETH GORE, 10 AM PACIFIC, 1 PM EASTERN:

I am very excited to bring back financial journalist Gareth Gore, whose bombshell book, Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church, was just chosen as one of the best books of 2024 by Publishers Weekly.

If you are not yet a paid member, you can listen to RadPod’s interview with Gareth here — our most viewed episode:

Gore explains how an extremist sect within the Catholic church has infected the US at the highest levels in its lust for power, while being linked to the trafficking of young girls. He will update us on the latest developments in the prosecutions of the Opus Dei cult, how its leaders are responding, and what action Pope Leo may be taking to clean-up the mess.

You can follow his work at his substack:

Gareth Gore Substack

Here is a recent post detailing the Argentinian prosecution of Opus Dei’s alleged enslavement and trafficking of 43 women over four decades:

Gareth Gore
Argentinian prosecutors want to question top Opus Dei official in enslavement case
Federal prosecutors in Argentina have formally requested that Opus Dei’s second-most senior official be summoned for questioning about his role in the alleged enslavement and trafficking of 43 women over four decades…
Read more
a month ago · 53 likes · 4 comments · Gareth Gore

As he explained to RadPod:

Opus Dei has been very successful at taking advantage of the legitimacy that the church has given it, certainly since the early 80s — this special status that the Pope has given it to whitewash its image, its reputation, in the public arena.

So they talk about how they all they want to do is just help ordinary Catholics to live out their faith more deeply. But as I reveal in the book, the founder of Opus Dei, right from the start, envisioned the movement as a political movement. So he set this movement up against the backdrop of huge political change in Spain in the early 1930s — this was a time when the workers had risen up. They'd thrown out the monarchy. They were tired of the old regime, including the Catholic Church, tired of the way that the Catholic Church had been complicit in all kinds of abuses towards ordinary people, not the wealthy or the aristocracy.

And the founder of Opus Dei saw this and was horrified at what was going on. So he basically set up this organization, partly to fight back at this kind of progressive revolution that he saw unfolding before his eyes. He talked about how his followers were going to be a hidden militia who would basically infiltrate every element of society — government, the judiciary, the education system, the media. They would collect information on what he called the enemies of Christ, and they would basically orchestrate this re-Christianization of society. He saw his followers as going into battle against the enemies of Christ.

And this is what these people believe today. This isn’t what Opus Dei talks about when it's going out and recruiting, but this is what fundamentally drives the organization. I've been very fortunate in getting hold of many foundational documents… locked away and people aren't allowed to see them. They've been hidden from the Vatican. The Vatican hasn't had a clue about this kind of hidden agenda of Opus Dei, and so I've been very lucky in being able to get my hands on them and to tell the world about them for the first time.—Gareth Gore on RadPod

He will explain the links between Opus Dei and such Trump allies as Leonard Leo and William Barr, and what that meant for the US decline in rule of law; how the Opus Dei “cult” can be found at the nexus of power and how it was rooted in fascism; how Opus Dei engages in “litigation terrorism” to try to keep reporters from exposing its power grabs.

Plan on an illuminating hour.


  • Here’s the book link to Opus.

I am always so grateful to those who support our featured authors by buying their books!

If you would like to attend our community events, please take out a subscription.

Unlike the people I investigate, I am not funded by compromised billionaires or Russia. I rely on your memberships and donations as I do this work, which I believe adds value to our understanding of the threats we face.

Our Happy Hours began three years ago, when I noticed many community members in despair. So I choose an uplifting name, and like many of our global newsies, I also feel better when we come together.

Thank you as always for your support.

SCROLL DOWN FOR REGISTRATION LINK.

****

2016 Election Attack — The Book!

American Monsters — The Book — Buy Here!

Donations Welcome

****

Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members.

I expose the corruption of billionaire fascists, and your support is vital to me.

Thank you in advance for considering the following:

  • Upgrade to Paid Member

  • Upgrade to Founding Member

  • Gifting memberships

  • Share my reporting with allies

  • Buying my ebooks

  • Donating to the ko-fi fund or directly to venmo

Heidi’s Ko-Fi Fund

Heidi’s Venmo

A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.

🤍

Begin each day with a grateful heart.

🤍

REGISTRATION LINK HERE

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Bette Dangerous to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Heidi Siegmund Cuda
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share