Project 2025's Kevin Roberts and his association with the secretive far-right Catholic group Opus Dei [View all]

Source: The Advocate

July 26 2024 6:58 PM EST


Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, often described as the architect of Project 2025, has ties to the far-right and secretive Roman Catholic group Opus Dei. “Roberts acknowledged in a speech last September that — for years — he has visited the Catholic Information Center, a K Street institution headed by an Opus Dei priest and incorporated by the archdiocese of Washington, on a weekly basis for mass and ‘formation,’ or religious guidance,” The Guardian reports. “Opus Dei also organizes monthly retreats at the CIC.”

In his speech, which can be viewed online, Roberts talked about banning contraception, which he said will be the most difficult goal for him and his allies to achieve. But they can win this and other fights with a strategy of “radical incrementalism,” passing legislation that gives them some of what they want and can be built upon, he said. The same approach can be used for abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights, including marriage equality, Roberts said.

“Like Project 2025, Opus Dei at its core is a reactionary stand against the progressive drift of society,” he said. “For decades now, the organization has thrown its resources at penetrating Washington’s political and legal elite — and finally seems to have succeeded through its close association with men like Kevin Roberts and Leonard Leo.” Gore further called Opus Dei “a political project shrouded in a veil of spirituality.”

Leo is the former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a right-wing group that influenced Donald Trump’s judicial choices, and is now cochair of its board. He is a funder of many conservative causes, including the campaign against Bud Light for its marketing partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Read more: https://www.advocate.com/news/kevin-roberts-project-2025