Juan José Omella

Cardinal Omella has taken positions on both sides of the usual divide. In December 2023 he described Fiducia supplicans as a change of mentality for Europe, a spontaneous form of blessing. He has also publicly defended the protection of life, criticising in 2022 a proposal to let 16-year-olds have an abortion without parental consent and opposing euthanasia legislation as president of the Spanish bishops' conference.

Cardinal Omella has made few public statements on liturgy. In January 2024 he visited a community attending the Mass in the traditional rite in Barcelona and spoke with the faithful, which suggests a pastoral and non-confrontational approach.

Cardinal Omella has made the poor and migrants a recurring theme. In December 2020 he spoke of God's preferential option for the poor and listed migrants among those Christ chose to be with. In 2021, at an interreligious meeting on COP26, he acknowledged that the Church had perhaps neglected teaching on care for creation and said it now had greater awareness.

Appointed Archbishop of Barcelona in 2015 and created a cardinal in 2017 by Pope Francis, Cardinal Omella joined the Pope's Council of Cardinals in March 2023, saying he was ready to help with the synodal process. Press describes him as a pragmatic, moderate figure trusted by Francis.

Cardinal Omella has taken part in interreligious events, including a 2021 meeting on the COP26 climate conference, and has defended religious freedom, saying that to build peace we must respect faith. Few detailed public statements on dialogue with Islam or Judaism were found.

Cardinal Omella is described by the press as a pragmatic, moderate leader who governs with a low public profile. His public language is simple and pastoral, for instance describing the Church in May 2025 as an open house with room for everyone.