The late cardinal of Florence and right-hand man of Pope Paul VI, Giovanni Benelli who crossed swords with Escriva over the years nevertheless once said that what Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was to the sixteenth-century Council of Trent, Escriva was to the Second Vatican Council.

NPR: A Glimpse Inside a Catholic 'Force': Opus Dei

Founded by a soldier turned mystic, Saint Ignatius Loyola, in the 16th Century, they have a tradition of intellectual and spiritual rigour which suggests that the Vatican is about to undergo a reset with huge implications for the future of the Roman Catholic Church in the 21st Century.

BBC: Pope Francis' first moves hint at break with past