The Archbishop of Madrid and vice-president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Cardinal José Cobo, warned on Saturday, October 24, five weeks before the general election on November 29, that «no party can claim: ‘We are the Christian vote'». He made the statement at the National Conference of Lay Apostolate Delegates and Leaders of Movements and Associations organized by the Episcopal Conference, during a dialogue on the Church’s social doctrine moderated by the director of Alfa y Omega, Cristina Sánchez, according to reports published on Sunday by the archdiocesan weekly and by Religión Digital.
Cobo encouraged Christians to discuss their vote with other believers, including those who vote for different parties, and to make decisions considering the complexity of society rather than what benefits oneself or one’s own. According to Alfa y Omega, he described it as a «prophetic provocation» that, in a polarized society, Christians with different political options look each other in the eye, speak normally, and show respect, and he defended that this conversation should continue after the polls, because voting also involves evaluating those elected. He warned against spaces where only people who think alike gather and against the so-called «cultural battle», which, according to the weekly’s report, turns society into an adversary and ties faith to specific political positions. He also pointed out as an obstacle subordinating faith to ideology, which happens, he said, when one selects from the Gospel only what confirms one’s own positions.
The cardinal also listed the values that, in his view, a democracy needs: human dignity, respect for life, welcoming the migrant, family and work, along with the separation of powers and control mechanisms. Neither report mentions that he referred explicitly to abortion or euthanasia, nor that he named any party.
The rest of his intervention focused on social doctrine. Cobo questioned whether work is considered a dispensable commodity or a dimension of human dignity, called for listening to workers, and demanded that the benefits of artificial intelligence not remain solely in the hands of capital owners. Regarding the housing protests in Puerta del Sol, he asked: «Has anyone listened to them?» and added: «We must listen to them, not label them». He presented synodality as an «antivirus against individualism» and, according to Religión Digital, lamented that within the Church, Cáritas is reduced to an NGO. More than 120 people followed the dialogue in the room, and more than 1,250 registered to watch it online, according to Alfa y Omega.
Cobo’s words come in the midst of the pre-campaign. On Saturday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez promised at a rally in Granada to include abortion in the Constitution and maintain euthanasia if he remains in La Moncloa, a day after PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo guaranteed abortion in public and private healthcare and announced that he would reform, without repealing, the euthanasia law. According to the published reports, the Archbishop of Madrid did not refer to any of these proposals.
Five weeks before the polls, the vice-president of the Episcopal Conference calls for no party to present itself as the Christian vote and places life on a list of values, alongside the separation of powers.
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