Archbishop of Madrid, Mons. José Cobo, takes stock of his first year as a cardinal

The Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, takes stock of his first year as a collaborator of Pope Francis in the government of the Church: “It has been a dizzying year,” he summarizes to the weekly Alpha and Omegaproperty of his archdiocese.

“It has been a dizzying year. First, I have had to digest it; second, to learn about each of the tasks and, third, to carry out the work as if it were a lifetime, without introduction time,” explains the person who was appointed archbishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church just a few hours apart.

Indeed, on July 8, 2023, he learned that he would succeed Cardinal Carlos Osoro, with whom he had collaborated as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Madrid. The next day, his name was among those chosen by Pope Francis to receive the cardinal’s biretta, which happened on September 30 of last year.

At this time, his greatest dedication in the Vatican is related to the Dicastery for Bishops, which consists of “talking to many people, reading reports and going to Rome with a certain assiduity to have meetings where the shortlists are presented to the Pope—which then he will accept or not—and thus elect bishops from all over the world, not just the Spanish ones.”

He is also involved in the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, which involves “concern and collaboration in conflict resolution and advice.”

To this we must add the tasks related to the Eastern Churches and, since last February, a special order from Pope Francis regarding the seminaries.

“I was tasked with coordinating a group to review and promote the ratio of the seminars to present concrete proposals to the synodal assembly and collect proposals for the future that make work or trigger all the synodal potential that the ratio has in the different countries and conferences. Episcopalians,” he details.

Election of bishops in synodal key

Elaborating on his task in the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Cobo explains that “There is an implementation that the Pope has made and it is very interesting: participation, or what is the same, synodality in the election processes,” which which implies that “the reports are broader and are increasingly requested from more varied people: bishops, priests, laymen and women.”

Asked about his adaptation to the Vatican bureaucracy, the Archbishop of Madrid confesses that “it would take a lifetime to understand it well, especially when I do not live there.” However, this Roman experience also helps him in the government of the Madrid archdiocese.

“When similar questions are raised in the Holy See, where they have been working on them for years, they give me light to provoke different reflections in Madrid, so that people can absorb the learning that I brought from the Vatican and we can implement it,” details the cardinal.

Regarding his work as a pastor of the people of God who are pilgrims in Madrid, he explains that he tries “more than providing solutions, to create work groups that think together and that solutions are found among everyone.”

In this sense, the implementation of a new Mixed Council that brings together members of the Episcopal Council and the Pastoral Council, the territorial vicars and episcopal delegates from different areas, including lay people, stands out.