"Madrid Cardinal Cobo Performed Worst at Pre-Conclave"
Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid, Spain delivered by far the worst intervention: empty in substance, clumsy in form, and, of course, in Spanish. His speech was simply irrelevant.
Cardinal Cobo entrenched himself in his ignorance of Italian. Unable to string together a sentence in Italian, he was excluded from informal conversations. He did not understand, nor was he understood. His isolation was total.
After the papal election, Cardinal Cobo was ignored by Leo XIV and had no choice but to launch himself into an operation of adulation to the new Pontiff. He showered Leo XIV with praise in every intervention, act, and interview. It is not conviction; it is survival.
The most ideological intervention was undoubtedly that of Cardinal Angel Sixto Rossi, Archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina. Although he displayed a high level of knowledge, his progressive radicalism frightened the Cardinals.
Cardinal Burke was direct, forceful, and sharp in his second intervention. He veiledly but unequivocally criticized Vatican policy toward China. He did not mention Cardinal Parolin, but he did not need to.
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