BODY:
Santiago Mayor Joaquin Lavin traveled on Wednesday night to Rome to take part on
the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Monsignor Jose Maria
Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the Catholic Church's conservative Opus Dei
religious order.
Lavin, head of the rightist Alliance for Chile political coalition, is a leading Chilean member of Opus Dei. Others include businessman Ricardo Claro, businessman Jose Yuraseck and UDI Sen. Jovino Novoa.
The Santiago Mayor will stay in Europe through Wednesday and will take part in a seminar called 'The grandeur of ordinary life,' organized by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, as one of the many commemorative events to celebrate Balaguer's birth. Balaguer will soon be canonized by the Catholic Church.
Lavin will also meet with his brother Andres, a priest living in Lithuania, and with his son Joaquin, who is studying in Barcelona.
Msgr. Escriva de Balaguer was born in Spain on January 9, 1902. He founded the Opus Dei prelature in Madrid on October 2, 1928. Currently, the organization has more than 80,000 members from all over the world. Most members of Opus Dei prelature are supernumerary members, which, according to the prelature itself, 'generally are married men or women, for whom the sanctification of their family duties is the most important part of their Christian life. '
Detractors say Opus Dei is based on a far-right ideology and caters to the nation's conservative elite.