The Spanish Episcopal Conference opens today Monday an important week for the Church with the election of the successor to Cardinal Joan Josep Omella who, due to his age, does not have the option of re-election at the head of the Catholic community. The assembly will elect the new positions of the ecclesiastical leadership for the next four years.
Although Omella submitted his resignation as head of the archbishopric of Barcelona when he turned 75, in 2021, the Pope has kept him as one of the most trusted prelates who advise him in the Vatican while he remains in charge of the Spanish Episcopal Conference until the election that will take place this week.
The place left vacant by Omella can be filled by any of the 79 electors of the assembly who are under the age of seventy-five. however, two names have stood out these weeks as possible successors. On the one hand, the Archbishop of Valladolid, Luis J. Argüello, and on the other, the young Archbishop of Madrid, recently elected, José Cobo.
Omella, in a recent interview granted to Televisió Española, did not speak openly about either name. “Either of the two will do better than me,” he said.
According to the planned schedule, the assembly will begin today Monday at 11 a.m. with President Omella’s speech, the last one he will deliver in this position, and then the Nunciature Counselor Roman Walczak will intervene, on behalf of the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain.
During the week, the bishops will elect the president, vice-president, members of the executive commission, the presidents of the episcopal commissions and subcommissions, the president of the Episcopal Council for Legal Affairs and the three members of the Episcopal Council for Economy.
Elections will begin tomorrow Tuesday morning, after a non-binding trial vote this afternoon.
The assembly’s agenda includes, among others, the study of the comprehensive reparation plan for victims of sexual abuse in the ecclesiastical sphere, one of the issues that Joan Josep Omella has had to deal with during the his mandate The Church is preparing for reparations and compensation to all victims, whether they have judicial recognition or not.
Politically, the new Episcopal Conference born from this assembly will have to take a position on the controversial Amnesty law, which is being debated these days. In 2021 Omella expressed resounding support for pardons granted to those convicted by the Supreme Court. The amnesty seems to be provoking debate within the Church, as was made clear in the statements of the general secretary and spokesman of the Conference, César García Magán.
