| Thomas is a member of Opus Dei, the personal prelature of the Pope comprised of lay persons. |
| All the faithful of the prelature are responsible for providing for their own personal and family needs by means of their ordinary work. |
| The authorities of the prelature must totally avoid even so much as giving advice on these matters. |
| These are the elements that led to giving Opus Dei the specific juridical form of a personal prelature. |
| Recently the Vatican announced the offer of a personal prelature, a sort of nonterritorial diocese, to reincorporate the traditionalists. |
| Pope John Paul II made Opus Dei a personal prelature in 1982, and he named Don Alvaro its first prelate. |
