He has now been appointed a coadjutor, which means nothing in the governance of the diocese since an apostolic administrator had already been named for it on August 1 of this year.
It rather seems to point to an imminent dismissal of the Salesian, which with this latest appointment would be resolved as soon as the cardinal steps down, since from that very moment there would already be an archbishop of Rabat, the Oblate Mario León Dorado.
The case of López Romero, the Salesian cardinal archbishop of Rabat, was one of those absurdities that so pleased the previous pontiff and that he multiplied. It is an archdiocese without sense that has 21,000 Catholics. For Francis, a progressive Salesian with nothing favorable, on December 29, 2017, appointed him archbishop of Rabat and in 2019 created him cardinal. And the Salesian continued to be as progressive as when he was a priest, although now dressed in red. A cardinal’s attire that he did not take off even to sleep. And I fear that if the accusations were confirmed, not even to abuse. Pope Francis came to see him, taking him from this world, thus sparing him the scandal that has occurred so far and that hopefully will not go further. Although from that Salesian, anything is possible.
Let us hope that nonsense like Francis’s will instruct his successors not to repeat it. And avoid the Church embarrassments like this one.
The career of León Dorado was also very Francis-like, since that Pope, while León was a priest, appointed him Prefect of Western Sahara, another absurdity of 350 Catholics. For with that overwhelming nonexistent workload, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of Rabat and a month and a half later coadjutor.