The Archbishop of Madrid, instead of explaining what he signed with Félix Bolaños and with what authority, opts to send internal messages against those who are reporting what happened
Infovaticana has had access to an internal communication sent from the Archdiocese of Madrid to parish priests and rectors in which prudence is requested regarding the information circulating about the process of resignification of the Valley of the Fallen. The text, far from clarifying the substance of the matter, attempts to discredit the published information and shift the focus toward supposed “partial interpretations.”
The problem for José Cobo is that here we are not discussing a mere speculation or an exaggeration born on social media. What is on the table is the existence of a document signed with the minister Félix Bolaños on an extraordinarily sensitive matter, and the question remains the same: with what authority did the Archbishop of Madrid act in a matter that did not depend on him?
Because it is worth remembering: the Valley of the Fallen is not a set piece available for backroom political pacts nor a matter that can be resolved with a hasty signature between an incompetent prelate and a socialist minister. It affects a pontifical basilica, a Benedictine community, and a legal and canonical framework that cannot be trampled upon at the convenience of the political power of the moment or those who decide to accommodate themselves to it.
That is why Cobo’s subsequent reaction is so serious. If he has really not overstepped, the logical thing would be to provide complete, transparent, and documented explanations. But no. Instead of rendering accounts, what he does is circulate internal messages to sow suspicions about those who report.
In his particular obsession with Infovaticana and other critical media, the communication makes a pejorative insinuation toward the digital nature of the media that have uncovered the scandal (Infovaticana and ElDebate). It must be, apparently, that print media are not spreading that José Cobo overstepped his functions by handing over the Valley of the Fallen to the Government. Not the content of the signed agreement. Not the invasion of competencies. Not the opacity. The problem, it seems, is that some of us report it and the priests read us.
The maneuver is too crude not to see it. When an ecclesiastical authority feels solid in its position, it explains. If it is sure of its competencies, it displays them. But when it opts for the nebulous, for the internal warning and for the generic reproach to the media, what it projects is not strength, but a mixture of nervousness, imprudence, and institutional weakness.
José Cobo would do well to understand that the scandal was not created by those who publish it, but by those who provoke it. And that, in a matter of this magnitude, pretending to cover up with internal circulars an overstepping of functions that can be investigated by canonical justice and that further aggravates his discredit. Is a canonical complaint being filed against the Cardinal of Madrid for this signature without authority? Let us remember that if an archbishop signs an agreement on a matter that does not fall within his competencies, he violates canon 135 §2, which requires the exercise of governing power only within the limits established by law. If functions are exercised that do not correspond to the office, it could even configure the crime of usurpation of functions provided for in canon 1381.