Like good wines, he has gained a great deal with the years.
He appears very active, approachable, smiling, cordial, accessible to all who seek his presence, and there are many of them. Despite his advanced age, it can truly be said that he doesn’t stop. And he seems delighted with the exploitation to which he is subjected.
I believe his Madrid pontificate was the best of those there have been in this diocese, which has not yet reached 150 years. Of them, twenty were led by him. He arrived from Santiago in 1994, and his resignation was accepted in 2014. His two successors have contributed, with their mediocrity, to further magnify the figure of this wise Galician. Poorly advised, Osoro—by whom we all know—arrived in Madrid with the decision to dismantle the great work of Rouco and also his persona. When he didn’t even come close to the sole of his predecessor’s shoe. With his stupidity, he managed to make the Madrid clergy close ranks with who had been their excellent archbishop and abandon him to striking extremes. When his resignation was accepted, no one regretted it, and he found himself utterly alone. Even his favorite lamented what he judged a betrayal. The current one, whom Osoro now abhors, is equally mediocre and has less sympathy than the also emeritus Osoro. To whom sympathy in dealings cannot be denied, although he did not know how to capitalize on it.
So, in reporting on a conference by Cardinal Rouco on the visit of Pope Leo to Madrid, I did not want to let the event pass without expressing my admiration and gratitude for his person, both as Archbishop of Madrid and as Emeritus Archbishop.
