Madrid Cardinal Embraces Heterodox LGBT Network: A Cardinal at Variance with Catholic Teaching

Madrid Cardinal Embraces Heterodox LGBT Network: A Cardinal at Variance with Catholic Teaching

Cardinal José Cobo Cano, Archbishop of Madrid and vice-president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, has courted fresh controversy by addressing the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC), a group that rejects Catholic moral teaching on sexuality. In a letter read at their assembly in Madrid, he called for a “culture of dialogue, accompaniment, and effective inclusion,” urging Catholic communities to avoid “all types of unjust discrimination” and to embrace “new pastoral attitudes.”¹

The cardinal stressed the “centrality of the person and their dignity” as normative for Christians, but omitted any reference to the Church’s perennial teaching that homosexual acts are gravely sinful and that the homosexual inclination itself is “objectively disordered.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear: homosexual acts are “contrary to the natural law” and “under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2357).

GNRC: A Heterodox Umbrella
The GNRC serves as an international umbrella for dissident groups such as New Ways Ministry and DignityUSA.² Its co-presidents, Marianne Duddy-Burke and Christopher Vella, are both in same-sex relationships, and the movement openly campaigns for changes to Catholic teaching.³ At this year’s Madrid assembly, which gathered some 160 participants from five continents under the theme “Travelling together: rainbow challenges after the Synod,” attendees declared that “LGBTI rights are human rights and any Christian should defend that.”⁴

After a private meeting with Cobo before the conference, GNRC leaders announced with satisfaction that they would co-organise their next “World Assembly” in Madrid and that “we continue to build bridges towards a more inclusive Church.”⁵ In extending such courtesies, Cobo has placed the weight of his office behind those openly dissenting from Catholic doctrine.

The Spanish Context
Cardinal Cobo’s trajectory reflects a deliberate shift in the Spanish hierarchy under Pope Francis. Appointed Archbishop of Madrid in 2023 and created cardinal in the same year,⁶ he has consistently aligned himself with Francis’s pastoral line. In 2024 he vowed to “fully apply” Fiducia Supplicans, the papal document authorising blessings of homosexual couples, and warned that priests who resisted would face sanctions.⁷

Spanish society itself has been shaped by decades of aggressive secularisation. Since Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s government legalised same-sex unions in 2005, successive socialist administrations have pushed an agenda of cultural liberalisation. The Church, once a bulwark against such policies, has in recent years softened its public voice. Cobo’s intervention therefore signals not a correction of course, but a consolidation of Spain’s cultural drift into ecclesial policy.

Reactions Within the Church
Neither the Vatican nor the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has officially responded to Cobo’s intervention. His approach, however, aligns closely with Rome’s current emphasis on “inclusion” under Francis. It also resonates with recent comments by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, who has urged “a new pastoral attitude” towards LGBT Catholics.⁸

By contrast, sectors of the Spanish Church critical of Cobo’s stance have expressed unease in private, concerned that pastoral initiatives are being advanced without doctrinal clarity. The lack of explicit public correction underscores the degree to which heterodox pastoral practice is being normalised.

A Wider European Pattern
Cardinal Cobo is not an isolated case but part of a broader European trend. In Germany, bishops are sharply divided: dioceses such as Cologne, Augsburg, and Regensburg refuse to implement Fiducia Supplicans, while others, like Berlin and Essen, have endorsed blessings for same-sex couples.⁹ Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich has been one of the most vocal progressives, openly blessing homosexual couples and claiming that the Catechism “is not set in stone.”¹⁰

In Italy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has promoted dialogue and inclusion while remaining less confrontational, seeking to reconcile hospitality with traditional categories.¹¹ Cobo’s actions, however, go further than Zuppi’s more cautious approach: by publicly endorsing GNRC and welcoming its future world assembly, he has lent formal legitimacy to a network defined by open rejection of Catholic teaching.

Doctrinal Implications
The implications are grave. By lending his authority to GNRC, Cobo confirms dissenting Catholics in error rather than calling them to conversion. As St. Paul warned Timothy, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but according to their own desires they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3). The true mission of the Church is not affirmation of sin but the proclamation of repentance and grace.

True inclusion means opening the door of mercy through conversion and sacramental grace. To promote “inclusion” without conversion is not pastoral sensitivity but doctrinal betrayal. In his pursuit of an “inclusive” Church, Cardinal Cobo risks reducing the Gospel to mere affirmation, hollowing out its power to transform sinners into saints. 🔝

¹ Katholisch.de English Service, “Cardinal in favour of more inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics in parishes,” 26 August 2025.
² LifeSiteNews, “Madrid’s cardinal welcomes dissident LGBT group prior to annual gathering,” 22 August 2025.
³ LifeSiteNews, “Any Christian should defend LGBTI rights, says dissident Catholic group,” 25 August 2025.
⁴ Katholisch.de English Service, “Cardinal in favour of more inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics in parishes,” 26 August 2025.
⁵ LifeSiteNews, “Madrid’s cardinal welcomes dissident LGBT group prior to annual gathering,” 22 August 2025.
⁶ Wikipedia, “José Cobo Cano,” updated August 2025.
⁷ LifeSiteNews, “Madrid’s cardinal welcomes dissident LGBT group prior to annual gathering,” 22 August 2025.
⁸ Associated Press, “Pope Francis sought to make LGBTQ+ people more welcome, but church doctrine didn’t change much,” 28 August 2025.
⁹ Catholic News Agency, “German bishops divided sharply over same-sex blessing guidelines,” 28 February 2025.
¹⁰ Wikipedia, “Reinhard Marx,” updated August 2025.
¹¹ Associated Press, “Pope Francis sought to make LGBTQ+ people more welcome, but church doctrine didn’t change much,” 28 August 2025.