Jesuit close to Pope determining episcopal appointment

Jesuit Elías Royón, the Pope's confidant in Spain

A member of the Community of Lanceros has provided an interesting piece of information that is going unnoticed. It came as a surprise to the Lanceros Community that the Pope had personally appointed Fr Elías Royón as a full member of the Synod of Synodality, the Synod of all Synods. An appointment that gave the whiff of being grateful for some little job. 

It is customary to think of the Pope's confidant in Spain as the Jesuit Fr Germán Arana, the Jesuit Fr of great power. In the case of the new Archbishop of Madrid, everyone pointed out that Cobo was not Arana's man, who had proposed the Bishop of Zamora, Don Fernando Varela. 

Whose then was José Cobo's proposal? Elías Royón, Vicar of Consecrated Life in the Archdiocese of Madrid since the arrival of Osoro, who appointed him precisely to campaign with the Pope. The thing is that Osoro did not realise that just as Fr Royón, with his usual joy and good humour, was telling the Pope about the excellencies of his Eminence the Cantabrian, he began to tell him about the problems of the Diocese of Madrid. 

This explains the appointment of José Cobo as Archbishop of Madrid. Cobo, a lynchpin for a career, stuck to Royón and made him his confidant. Thus the candidacy of the auxiliary of Madrid for archbishop and cardinal began to gain ground. We need say nothing of Royón's good relations with Auxiliary Martínez Camino. Two Jesuits neck and neck in the Episcopal Council. 

Fr Royón is not just anyone in religious life in Spain or in the Society of Jesus. He was president of the Spanish Confederation of Religious (CONFER) in two periods, from 1994 to 1995 and from 2009 to 2013; provincial of Toledo from 1987 to 1993; provincial of Spain also on two occasions, from 1993 to 1995 and from 2004 to 2010, and assistant for Southern Europe of the Society of Jesus from 1995 to 2004.  

Elías Royón met the Pope in Alcalá de Henares (Spain) during the period of the so-called third probation, from September 1970 to April 1971, under the direction of Father José Arroyo. They became friends and have been in contact since. 

Another of the "virtues" of Fr. Elias, not the one in the famous novel, is the incomprehension he shows towards the new movements, among others, Opus Dei. But this is another story or the same story. 

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