prelature
- n prelates collectively
- n the office or station of a prelate
- Pope John Paul II, also a creative traditionalist interested in labor and faith, granted Escriv's wish that Opus be a "personal prelature," a global quasi-diocese, able in some .
- In 1982, John Paul bestowed on the organization the unique status of "personal prelature," which grants Opus Dei unusual independence from the normal church hierarchy.
- The prelature, a position achieved by no other church group, gives Opus autonomy as a worldwide, nonterritorial jurisdiction with its priests and laity subject to Opus' prelate.