Opus Dei's number two accused of trafficking poor women for labor exploitation in Argentina
Prosecutors are asking to charge Mariano Fazio along with the four clerics already accused by 43 women.
BarcelonaOpus Dei's number two, auxiliary vicar Mariano Fazio, was formally accused of trafficking women for thelabor exploitation within their religious order in conditions of semi-slavery, a practice that Opus Dei allegedly committed for four decades in Argentina. This is stated in the eight-page document to which access has been obtained. ElDiario.es, within the judicial process opened against the highest leaders of Opus Dei in Argentina. Opus Dei –that is, the number two in the order worldwide– and lives in the Vatican, asks to be charged along with four leaders of the order in the country who had already been accused. The request was sent on June 11 to federal judge Daniel Rafecas by prosecutors Alejandra Mángano_ initially included in the indictment, which did charge the three priests who had held the same position as him in previous and subsequent years: the former regional vicars of Argentina Carlos Nannei (1991-2000), Patricio Olmos (2000-2010) and Víctor Urrestarazu (2014) female member of Opus Dei in Argentina, Gabriel Dondo. Fazio had also been a regional vicar between 2010 and 2014.
Following complaints from up to 43 victims, the judicial process is investigating a system of trafficking of poor women. At the Lara women's residence in Buenos Aires, the maids who served high-ranking members of the Opus Dei hierarchy received no salary for their work and lived in conditions of semi-seclusion. The system has been described as common in Opus Dei in several states, including Spain. the documentary series by journalist Mònica Terribas The heroic minuteMariano Fazio lived for many years at the Opus Dei headquarters in Buenos Aires, where the Lara residence is located.
Several women who worked there have denounced the Opus Dei leadership in the country. Most managed to leave the order—some escaped—before 2008, the year the trafficking law went into effect in the country. Of the 43 victims, only four cases fall under this law, the only ones after 2008.
The accusation focuses on the case of a Bolivian woman who was recruited as a minor and served as a maid for Opus Dei for 31 years. MIE, her initials, was called to testify for the second time in April 2025 before Judge Rafecas, and it was then that she said she knew "Father Mariano [Fazio]" and that, in fact, between 2009 and 2014 she was assigned to clean Fazio's room while he was a priest. The prosecutors' brief highlights "the number of tasks required of her, the constant availability, the endless hours, and the psychological abuse," and points to a statement from the victim: "I walked down the street thinking I didn't want to live. I wondered how people could smile, and then they sent me to a psychiatrist." The religious organization's psychiatrists gave her antidepressants and sleeping pills.