In 2007, Bonelli was the organizer of an academic conference in Graz with the subject „Religiosität in Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie“ ("Religiosity in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy"), which led to controversies concerning unscientific presentations like "Konversionstherapie" (conversion therapy) and exorcism. Bonelli was said, by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, to be a member of the "ultraconservative" Catholic Opus Dei in 2007, whereas more recent report of 2021 considered him as a former member of Opus Dei.
