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«Looking for young auxiliary bishopor head of a small diocese, close and well connected to Madrid for a position of high responsibility and public visibilitya». Since the appointment of Luis Argüello as Archbishop of Valladolid was announced last week, this poster could well receive him at the window of the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference, on Añastro street in Madrid. Given his new responsibility, Argüello has already announced his intention to leave the General Secretariat of the Episcopate in advancewho will have to find a substitute for him at the next plenary assembly, scheduled for November.
Five months ahead that go a long way in the game of candidates, pools and speculation for a position that, in practice, is number two in the Episcopatesince he is a member of all the decision-making bodies and is directly responsible for the ‘plumbing’ of the Conference.
It even gets to have more public visibility than the president himself, by assuming the functions of spokesman.
Argüello’s natural replacement would be a bishop, but it would not be strange for a priest to occupy the position, with the particularity that it would have a voice but no vote. It has already happened three times, although two of them ended up being elevated to the episcopate in the final phase of his mandate. In a way it is the natural way out after five years (or ten if he is re-elected) for a priest who has participated in all the plenary, permanent and executive meetings and has more information about the Spanish Church than most of the titular bishops.
Nevertheless, nothing prevents, according to the statutes, that the general secretariat of the Episcopal Conference be occupied by a lay person or even a woman. A decision that would be in line with the recent conclusions of the Synod that Cardinal Omella will take to Rome, and which point out the importance of greater “co-responsibility of the lay faithful” and the need to give greater recognition to the “role of women in church”.
In fact, there are already precedents. the religious
Anna Mirijam Kaschner She has been Secretary General of the Scandinavian Episcopal Conference for years. Also, since February 2021, Beata Gilles is the general secretary of the German episcopate. A decision of the Teutonic bishops which was interpreted as an attempt to improve the public image of the German Church —very affected by the cases of abuse— and to stop the bleeding of the faithful, which, through the religious tax, has a direct impact on a decrease in income.
In that sense, one of the names that sound to replace Argüello is that of Raquel Pérez Sanjuán, the consecrated Teresian who directs the Commission for Education and Culture of the Conference. Pérez Sanjuán assumed this responsibility two years ago, but she has been associated with the Conference for much longer.
In February 2021, the then Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, incorporated it into the State School Council. A recognition that, however, it is not well seen by some of the bishopswho at that time showed their displeasure with the decisions that the current ambassador to the Holy See was making in the Ministry of Education.
If finally the bishops do not imitate their German colleagues, the candidates who respond to the description at the head of the article are few. The auxiliary of Toledo, Francisco Díaz Magán, is one of those who meet the conditions, if we make the exception that a bishop of 60 years must be considered young. He was consecrated last January, so he has just started his episcopal career and a change of headquarters in the next few years would be very strange. However, his candidacy is weak because he does not enjoy strong support from the majority sector of the plenary.
Another possibility is that the secretary is occupied by one of the assistants from Barcelona —the AVE shortens distances— or Madrid —Cardinal Osoro has been promoting José Cobo for some time, with little success—. But being a bishop, he would add a vote in the Permanent and Executive, which could undo the fragile balance of forces in the veiled dispute between Cardinals Omella and Osoro.
The option of a priest would remain and, in that sense, the best placed is the current number two of Argüello, the deputy secretary general, Carlos Lopez Segovia. This expert in canon law has been in office for eight years and has played a relevant role in the negotiation, with the Government, on unregistered assets. There are those who also place among the candidates, with little conviction, Luis Manuel Romero, responsible for the lay apostolate in the Conference and who has taken advantage of his role at the head of the synodal team to gain a certain intra-ecclesial role.
In any case, as in most decisions in which the bishops are involved, the possibility for surprise will remain open until the last moment. We will have to wait until November when the plenary assembly, which meets from the 21st to the 25th, assesses and pronounces on the proposal of the Permanent Commission. It will be then when it will be revealed if the new face of the Episcopal Conference has feminine features.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism