Cardinal Cobo Aligns New Charisms With Madrid Diocese

On November 4, 2026, Cardinal José Cobo, Archbishop of Madrid, published his pastoral letter We are lives on the way, setting guidelines so new charisms, ecclesial realities, and methods of evangelization serve the life of the local Church rather than stand apart from it.

He opens by thanking God for the “deep and creative life” already present in parishes, consecrated life, new ecclesial realities, and varied evangelizing initiatives—gifts he attributes to the Holy Spirit. The letter is framed by words of the Pope that ask whether the Church still has life and room “for what is born.”

Charism and institution together

Cardinal Cobo insists that charism and institution need and enrich each other. “When they are harmoniously articulated, they express the continuity of tradition and also the novelty of an irruption that makes the evangelizing action of the Church more fruitful and alive.” He urges replacing an exclusive “either-or” with an integrating “both-and.” The pastoral task, he writes, is “to discern their authenticity and to embrace the charismatic cordially,” joining it to other institutional mediations that are “also charismatic.” Pastors are called “not to control, but to walk alongside movements, communities, methods and new ecclesial realities.” The letter cites the doctrinal note *Cor ad cor loquitur*, which describes such realities as “a breath of fresh air for the Church.”

Discernment criteria include spiritual fruits, missionary commitment, fidelity to the Church’s faith, communion with pastors, capacity for collaboration, and a social dimension that seeks “more just and solidary conditions in society” and “touching the flesh of the last.” On first-proclamation approaches driven mainly by emotion, he warns: “Feelings cannot be detached either from truth or from good.”

The parish and a clear procedure

The parish—“a community of communities”—is the privileged place of this harmonization, though not every parish need adopt every initiative. New groups must remain in contact with the local Church; their formation paths cannot replace Christian initiation under the bishop’s guidance; and they are invited to take part in parish pastoral councils.

The central measure is a formal procedure. Initiatives submit a project—objectives, actions, calendar, and links with diocesan levels—to the archbishop. The territorial vicar leads discernment with a commission. If the judgment is positive, the work may proceed *ad experimentum* under diocesan accompaniment for at least two years before the archbishop decides on definitive approval. The same path covers groups already active without written authorization. Parish priests must first present proposals to the parish pastoral council and the deanery. General public events require notice to the territorial vicar and the competent episcopal delegation. Initiatives from outside the archdiocese need the archbishop’s prior consent. After a “reasonable time,” an evaluation is to involve participants, pastors, deans, vicars, and delegations.

Cardinal Cobo’s horizon is clear: “unity is not uniformity but integration of legitimate diversities.” The letter thus seeks ordered freedom so that new gifts of the Spirit strengthen, rather than fragment, the communion of the Archdiocese of Madrid.