Spanish cardinal steps back over investigation

The cardinal’s cousin, a priest, appeared to confirm the allegations and said Cardinal López Romero is privately prepared to lose his rank as a consequence.

Spanish Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, SDB, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, said Monday that he will temporarily step back from public ministry, amid a Vatican investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior toward at least five women.

Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, SDB. Credit: Vatican Media

Meanwhile, a priest who is the cardinal’s cousin has appeared to confirm the veracity of the allegations in a newspaper column, and said the cardinal is privately prepared to lose his rank as a consequence.

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“During this period of investigation, so as not to hinder it, I will take a step back, not presiding over any public celebration, and not intervening in any pastoral activity,” López Romero said in a July 6 statement.

López Romero said the accusations “led the Church to open a preliminary investigation. This investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by Roman authorities, with which I am cooperating.”

López Romero, 74, was born in Almería, Spain and ordained a priest for the Salesian order, serving as a missionary and provincial superior for decades in Latin America. He was appointed by Pope Francis Archbishop of Rabat in 2017 by, and created a cardinal in 2019.

AFP reported July 7 that five adult women filed complaints against the cardinal but the country in which the allegations surfaced have not been made public. In the last 25 years, the cardinal has served as a priest and now bishop in four different countries.

Spanish newspaper El País reported subsequently that Moroccan authorities have denied any criminal investigation against López Romero is taking place in the country.

While El País also reported that López Romero is being investigated for “sexual abuse,” the cardinal’s statement only mentions “inappropriate behavior.”

López Romero also said in a July 7 statement to the wire agency EFE that he had not “committed any aggression, or acts of sexual violence, or harassment.”

“This event is unsettling for all of us. As archbishop, I am fully aware of the difficulties it causes and the legitimate questions it may raise for everyone. Therefore, I want to ensure that members of the diocesan community are informed of this as soon as possible,” the cardinal said in the July 6 diocesan statement.

“While awaiting the decisions that will be made by the Church, let us pray together for those who are suffering from this situation, let us pray for our Church, let us pray for one another and pray for me,” the cardinal added.

Hours after the investigation against the cardinal was made public, Fr. Alfons Gea, a Catalonian priest claiming to be the cardinal’s cousin, published a column entitled “My Cousin Cristóbal, the cardinal with feet of clay.”

In the column, Gea claimed that López Romero has privately accepted the consequences of the allegations leveled against him.

“The image of a papabile, a figure who enjoyed such widespread affection, has come crashing down. Yet he never insisted on being called ‘Monsignor’ or anything of the sort. He feels the pain this may cause many people, but personally, he tells me that he has already been living through the anticipated grief of letting go of the offices and rank he held until now,” Gea wrote.

The column made clear that the accusations leveled against the cardinal were of a sexual nature.

“Nor him, nor me, nor the family, will try to hide from the truth. It is what it is. He’s not the first nor the last to fall short of the sixth commandment,” Gea wrote.

“It would have pained our family to see him implicated in some financial or power-related scheme — or worse still, we would never have forgiven him for committing a crime against minors. But seeing him stripped of his rank and robes is no trauma for him, since he has always lived as if he didn’t have them. Now he will be closer to those living in irregular situations — and there are many of them,” Gea added.

Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, SDB. Credit: Abaca press / Alamy

Gea also speculated that the allegations might be an attempt to “silence” López Romero.

“Once we know how everything turned out, we may realize that there may have been an effort to silence his teachings. The best way to do that is to discredit him. That remains to be seen.”

As president of the Northern Africa bishops’ conference, López Romero defended Fiducia supplicans, publishing a short essay called “Is homophobia the issue?”

Days after the end of the synod on synodality had ended, López Romero said that Catholics disagreeing with the synod’s decisions are “morally obligated” to support it, and that synodality is a “prophetic sign that may illuminate the world, because it’s not just about bringing democracy to the Church… but goes much further.”

In an interview during the general congregations before last year’s conclave, López Romero also said that “respecting the norms of canon law” was a “peripheral” issue in the life of the Church. “It’s important, but it’s always in the service of the mission [of the Church],” he added.

For it’s part, Gea’s column said the allegations against the cardinal “should spark a debate about celibacy.”

“Even more so about the personal relationships of consecrated persons. Sacrifice, self-giving, austerity, living the Gospel naturally, being a neighbor and a voice for the weak—all of this is going to be blown apart over a romantic entanglement,” he said.

“I have seen in Cristóbal that he is not showing toward himself the same compassion he has shown toward others. The only thing he feels is the harm he might cause to the Church… Perhaps we had deified a person and were mistaken. Now, some are trying to demonize him; perhaps they, too, are mistaken,” the column concludes.

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López Romero was ordained a priest in the Salesian order in 1979. He served as a missionary in Paraguay between 1984 and 2002, serving as a provincial superior there between 1994 and 2000, and eventually became a naturalized Paraguayan citizen.

He was a missionary in Morocco between 2003 and 2010, and as Salesian provincial in Bolivia from 2011 to 2014. He briefly returned to Spain before Pope Francis appointed him as to lead the Rabat archdiocese in Morocco.

His 2019 elevation as cardinal surprised Church watchers, given that the Archdiocese of Rabat serves 20,000 Catholics in 18 parishes, and that Morocco had not previously had a cardinal.

While never a frontrunner during the conclave last year, Spanish media speculated that López Romero was a dark horse papabile.

López Romero is the first Spanish cardinal to have been accused publicly of sexual misconduct in recent memory.

But in November 2025, Bishop Rafael Zornoza of Cádiz was accused of abusing a minor while he served as a seminary rector in the 1990s. The alleged victim sent a complaint to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the summer of 2025.

After the Spanish Rota conducted an investigation, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declined to open an penal process, after it could not establish whether the victim was a minor when the alleged abuse took place.