Luis Argüello (70 years old), current archbishop of Valladolid, has been elected this Tuesday as the new president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), replacing Cardinal Juan José Omella, while the young cardinal archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo (58 years old) ), has been elected vice president.
As reported by the CEE, the election of Argüello took place in the first vote by an absolute majority (48 votes) of the bishops with the right to vote (78 in total) gathered in the Plenary Assembly, while Cobo was elected in the second vote with 39 votes.
Argüello and Cobo will respectively be the president and vice president of this institution for the next four years, during which they will have to face, among others, the challenge of implementing the comprehensive reparation plan for victims of abuse within the Church. In this regard, both Argüello and Cobo have committed this Tuesday to having “a fluid dialogue” with the victims.
This was indicated in the first press conference they held after their election. According to Cobo, in recent years the institution has promoted “a line” in addressing this scourge. “We have made an effort and we are in it” and with “transparency” to “change our culture” with a “voice of hope” and taking into account “the centrality of the victim and listening”, regardless of the data, he said .
“We will continue staying with them, as with all associations, so that there is a fluid dialogue, we are learning,” said the cardinal after greeting representatives of the Association of Victims of Abuse in the Church in Navarra, the National Stolen Childhood Association and the European Justice Initiative campaign.
The rapprochement of the prelates occurs after this same Monday the representatives of the victims predicted “a setback” in the Episcopate if Argüello was elected president.
In a political key, the new Episcopal Conference must take a position on the controversial Amnesty law that is being debated these days. In 2021 Omella expressed resounding support for the pardons granted to those convicted by the Supreme Court. The amnesty seems to spark debate within the church as evidenced in the statements of the general secretary and spokesperson of the Conference César García Magán, who will continue in the position that is not renewed. The deputy secretary of Economic Affairs, Fernando Giménez Barriocanal, is also not renewed now. Both positions are for five years and their renewal is usually held in the November plenary session.
In total, 49 Spanish bishops were eligible as president. In the preliminary and non-binding poll vote held this Monday, Argüello already received the most votes with 32 votes, followed by Cobo, with 13 votes. The archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz, obtained 10 votes, followed by the archbishops of Granada and Burgos, José María Gil Tamayo and Mario Iceta, with 4 votes each.
Argüello García (1953, Meneses de Campos (Palencia)) thus returns to the EEC, where he already served as general secretary and spokesperson between 2018 and 2022. He studied in Valladolid, at the La Salle Brothers school and then at the University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Law. He studied ecclesiastical studies at the center of the Augustinian Fathers in Valladolid.
He was ordained a priest on September 27, 1986 for the archdiocese of Valladolid, where he has held the following positions: trainer at the diocesan seminary of Valladolid (1986-1997); episcopal vicar of the city and member of the episcopal council, during three stages: (1986-1997, 2003-2009 and 2010-2011).
Likewise, Argüello was delegate of Vocational Pastoral (1997-2012); moderator of the chaplaincy of the ‘Concepción del Carmen’ Monastery (1997-2011); rector of the diocesan seminary (1997-2011); and elected member of the Permanent Commission of the Presbyteral Council (2003-2008).
Until his episcopal appointment, he was vicar general and moderator of the diocesan Curia, since 2011; member of the college of consultants, since 2000; member of the Permanent Commission of the Presbyteral Council, since 2010; member of the Economic Affairs Council and the Episcopal Council, since 2011; member of the Permanent Commission of the Pastoral Council, since 2013, and member of the Commission for the Permanent Diaconate, since 2014.
On April 14, 2016, Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Valladolid. He received episcopal consecration on June 3 of the same year.
On Friday, June 17, 2022, he was appointed archbishop of Valladolid by the Pope and on July 30, he took office.
In the Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Permanent Commission and since the Plenary Assembly of November 2022 he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for Clergy and Seminaries. He also, since the Plenary Assembly of April 2022, is responsible for the Vocational Pastoral Service of the Episcopal Conference. He has also been a member of the Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care and the Episcopal Commission for Seminaries and Universities (2017-2018).
José Cobo, 58 years old and a native of Jaén, was named archbishop of Madrid in June 2023, replacing Carlos Osoro, and created cardinal in September of that year.
The new vice president of the EEC is currently Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, a position he has held since 2023 and, as such, in the EEC he has been a member of the Executive Commission and the Permanent Commission since July. Before being named archbishop, he was auxiliary bishop of Madrid since 2017.
He has been a member of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral and Human Promotion since March 2020, although he already belonged to this commission, previously called Social Pastoral, since April 2018.
Last September his appointment as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops was made public and in October as a member of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.
Pope Francis appointed him on March 1, ordinary for the Eastern Catholic faithful residing in Spain.
He has a degree in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and studied Moral Sciences at the Redemptorist Institute, linked to the Comillas Pontifical University.
In 1994 he was ordained a priest and began his pastoral ministry as vice-conciliar of the Brotherhoods of Labor of Madrid.
In the next few hours the bishops will also vote for the members of the Executive Commission, the presidents of the episcopal commissions, the president of the Episcopal Council for Legal Affairs, the members of the Episcopal Economic Council and the presidents of the subcommittees.
