Advertise on podcast: Untold: Opus Dei

We meet Sarah – a young girl drawn to Opus Dei’s message that professional work can be a path to holiness. At 18, Sarah says goodbye to her family and moves into an Opus Dei centre to learn how to make her work an offering to God. But what she experiences there feels different to the organisation she thought she knew. Sarah chafes at unexpected rules, unquestioning obedience and dehumanising treatment. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Opus Dei’s founder taught his followers that spiritual formation is a continual development of character. But some find that the views spread by Opus Dei do not always match the Church’s official teaching – particularly its attitudes towards women and homosexuality. Insiders describe a complex youth recruitment network that offers some clues to the kind of person Opus Dei molds – and what kind of person it is interested in. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the past decade, elite universities have become home to a network of influential conservative think-tanks fighting against the “woke secular creed”. Meanwhile, at Opus Dei student centres, the next generation of ambitious leaders hear similar moral teachings creep into partisan politics. Is it just ideas that link the two – or more? Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A sleepy Catholic bookshop and events space run by Opus Dei priests in Washington, has turned into a central networking hub for an ascendant conservative movement. Some of the biggest names on the right gravitate around it. People close to Opus Dei say that is not a coincidence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Opus Dei, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Antonia Cundy uncovers the cultural and political influence of a controversial Catholic organisation in America. Opus Dei exists to help people get closer to God, but some members say they found other agendas – and unexpected harm – entangled in that spiritual mission. The first episode of Untold: Opus Dei launches on March 25. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading across the countryside. It’s undetectable to humans, nobody knows it’s there — until they fall ill. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK has some of the oldest housing in the world. Although the use of lead paint is banned, what happens to the paint already on your walls? Laura Hughes speaks to families fighting for answers and the children poisoned by their own homes. She learns that it’s not only old homes that pose a serious risk. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A toddler in Leeds died from lead poisoning. Laura Hughes speaks to doctors in the UK to learn what must be done to prevent it from happening again. She learns that truly addressing the problem will be a massive undertaking. It would require a complete overhaul of the housing, environmental and food standards systems. But first, we need to find out where the lead is.  Learn more about Untold: Toxic Legacy. For more information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed. The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22. For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit the LEAPP Alliance website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Valentina learns of raids and arrests at the European parliament and a scandal unfolds. They talk to the face of the scandal, Eva Kaili, and hear about the day of the raids through her eyes. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through wiretap transcripts and surveillance footage, captured by Belgian intelligence, Valentina and the investigative reporting team learn just who is involved with this scandal and how it all worked. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It seemed like the Belgians had everything they needed to bring a case against the people involved with Qatargate, but the investigation hit a wall. Valentina and the reporting team speak to the prosecution side to find out why. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With elections just weeks away, and news of more foreign interference scandals in the European parliament, the reporting team gives an accounting of where the investigation and the suspects are to date. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madison Marriage receives an email from a desperate father named Stephen. Over the past five years, he says, his twin daughters have changed drastically. They were bright and outgoing, with exciting plans for their future. But over their early twenties, they became increasingly distressed, struggling to eat or sleep and disassociating from normal life. Stephen believes the root of his daughters’ problems is a particular network of intensive meditation retreats. For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website. If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Note: This podcast previously included a YouTube clip that described a Vipassana meditation retreat that was not linked to the Goenka network, as originally implied. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily’s twin sister spirals after going on a Goenka retreat, and she’s not the only one. Madison Marriage hears multiple accounts of terror, hallucinations and psychosis. Was meditation just the catalyst that unleashed psychological problems? Or did this network of silent meditation retreats actually cause their suffering? For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website. We also spoke to Miguel Farias and Jonny Say to corroborate claims in the podcast about adverse meditation experiences. You can find out more about Farias’s work here, and Say’s here. If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.