In this position, he had to confront the difficult last years of the Francoist State and of caudillo Francisco Franco, in which relationships between Government and Church were tense. As a close ally of Pope Paul VI, Tarancón was seen as an enemy by the Francoist elements. Some of them made popular the cry ""Tarancón al paredón"" ("Tarancón up against the wall", meaning to be executed by firing squad) during the funeral of prime minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, assassinated in Madrid by Basque terrorist organization ETA on 20 December 1973. Only one week after the death of Franco, Tarancón pronounced on 27 November 1975 an historical homily before King Juan Carlos I at the medieval church of Los Jerónimos: there the Cardinal asked him to be "the king of all Spaniards, and not only of part of them". During the first years of the Spanish Transition, Tarancón proved to be dialogant with all social and political forces. Tarancón was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. He resigned as Madrid's archbishop on 12 April 1983. The Cardinal died in Valencia, at age 87. He is buried in the Collegiate of San Isidro, in Madrid.