Cardinal Cobo at centre of very tangled web of financial dealings. Active involvement in battles for power and money that conveniently ousted his predecessor.

Judge dismantles Foundations' complaint and exposes Cardinal Cobo

InfoVaticana has exclusive access to the court rulings dismissing the criminal case brought by the Archdiocese of Madrid against the foundations' former management team. The rulings cast the current archbishop, José Cobo, in a very bad light. He once endorsed the decisions that were the subject of the complaint, only to later support criminal actions against them. An absurd move that demonstrates a lack of prudence and knowledge unbecoming of a Cardinal with a law degree.

For years, the management of the foundations of the Archdiocese of Madrid was one of the best-kept secrets of the Spanish Church: more than 70 legal entities linked to the archdiocese, with hundreds of employees, tens of millions in assets, and an organisation that combined the public, ecclesial, and private sectors. Everything began to change in 2017, when Cardinal Carlos Osoro commissioned the consulting firm PwC to carry out an audit to streamline this complex structure. What was initially intended as a technical reform eventually became a relentless war for control of institutional power, the echo of which has reached all the way to Rome.

It was in this context that the figure of José Cobo emerged. At the time, an Auxiliary Bishop, he chaired the Diocesan Commission on Foundations, was intimately familiar with the structures he now wanted to reform, and actively participated in their appointments. Alongside him, David López Royo acted as Episcopal Delegate for Foundations, Antonio Javier Naranjo coordinated management, and the Fernández Clemente Abogados firm provided legal advice to more than twenty of these entities. All worked under the umbrella of Cardinal Osoro, and all, without exception, enjoyed sweeping powers granted by their respective boards of trustees.

The balance was upset when Javier Belda, a priest recommended from Rome despite his shady track record, arrived in Madrid as the Cardinal's new advisor. His plan was lightning-fast: file criminal complaints against the previous team, accuse them of abusive protections, and rebuild the power network around his own office, which would later bill the foundations millions of dollars. It was at that moment that Cobo made a key decision: instead of defending the legality of what he himself had supported, he traveled to Rome, exposed the alleged chaos in Madrid, and presented himself as the only one capable of restoring order. Months later, he was appointed Archbishop of the capital.

From then on, everything moved in one direction: shielding the new leaders, keeping Belda as legal advisor despite not being a qualified jurist, and consolidating a narrative in which the previous managers were guilty of institutional embezzlement. To create a semblance of legitimacy, three canonical foundations filed criminal complaints against the previous officials. It was, on the surface, the final reckoning.

But the complaint reached the 24th Court of Instruction in Madrid. And justice, when it works without pressure, has one virtue: it puts everything in its place. In May and June 2025, Judge Javier Martín Borregón issued two orders that amount to a controlled demolition of the strategy of Cobo and his entourage.

The first, dated May 12, decreed the provisional dismissal of the case. The second, issued on June 17 after a formal annulment by the Provincial Court, more forcefully reaffirms the dismissal. In both, the judge not only finds that there is no crime of disloyal administration or fraud, but also clearly states that all decisions were made within the law and with the full knowledge of the boards. What's more, he expressly records that both Cardinal Osoro and José Cobo knew about, authorized, or even suggested the contracts and addenda now in question.

“Everything was done at the Cardinal's direction and with the knowledge of the Foundation Coordinator, His Excellency Mr. Cobo (now Cardinal),” the ruling states. It adds: “It is difficult to believe that the Cardinal was not behind the appointments.” The judge even regrets that Osoro and Cobo were not invited to testify as witnesses in time, which would have served to definitively clarify their involvement. The procedural omission prevented the recording of what all the documents indicate: that the signatories of the contracts and those who approved the powers of attorney were the same people who later filed the lawsuits.

The court rulings also refute all the accusations:

• Hiring was legal, motivated by workload and approved by the boards of trustees.
• The agreed severance payments were not criminal, but were typical for top management in reorganisation environments.
• The annual accounts were approved unanimously.
• There is no contractual simulation or intention of illicit enrichment.

In short, justice has said what many knew and few dared to write: that there was no embezzlement, that everything was authorised, and that those who brought the criminal case did so to divert attention and rewrite history.

José Cobo is not charged. But he has been portrayed. Portrayed as the co-ordinator who endorsed a structure and then denied knowing about it. As the prelate who travelled to Rome to accuse his predecessor while hiding his own involvement. Like the Archbishop who kept his trusted advisor on the payroll while nurturing an operation of institutional overthrow.

The Foundations case, far from being a clean-up, has turned out to be a mirror. And in that mirror, Cardinal Cobo appears clearly: not as a victim of the inherited chaos, but as an actor in the set-up and architect of the story. If Rome wants to see, it already has the cars. And if Pope Leo XIV seeks to restore credibility, Madrid is a good place to start.

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