Reflecting on his weeklong trip to Spain, Pope Leo XIV said one of his clearest impressions came from the Canary Islands, where migration revealed both the challenges facing Europe and what he described as a Christian path toward a “civilization of love.”
Spain
Pope Leo delivered a powerful message to human trafficking survivors June 11 during the first stop of a two-day visit to Spain’s Canary Islands, one of Europe’s closest points of entry from the African coast.
Flying from Spain’s capital of Madrid to Barcelona June 9, Pope Leo XIV shifted his focus to the deeper and darker existential questions punctuating human life.
Pope Leo XIV made a pilgrimage June 10 to the medieval mountain monastery of Montserrat, entrusting his pontificate and the Church’s mission to Our Lady of Montserrat, the beloved Black Madonna known to Catalans as “La Moreneta,” on his second day in Barcelona.
Nearly 100 years after the death of “God’s architect” Antoni Gaudí, Pope Leo XIV arrived in Barcelona on June 9 for a two-day visit to the Catalan capital that will culminate in the inauguration of the crowning tower of his unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, or Basilica of the Holy Family.
Madrid’s famous Bernabéu soccer stadium, normally packed with fans of the Real Madrid football club, roared with cheers and songs of praise to the Lord June 8 as 80,000 Catholics prayed together with Pope Leo XIV.
In a sweeping address to the Spanish parliament, Pope Leo XIV delivered a forceful defense of the dignity of every human life, declaring that its protection is not a partisan issue but “a goal of civilization,” while addressing the issues of abortion, migration, freedom of conscience, the seal of confession, and the Church’s role in public life.
As Pope Leo XIV descends toward Madrid June 6, one landmark likely to catch his eye is a towering cross rising above the cemetery at Paracuellos del Jarama on the outskirts of the Spanish capital.
Pope Leo XIV thanked the people of Spain’s Canary Islands after passengers exposed to hantavirus aboard a cruise ship were allowed to disembark on the island of Tenerife.
With the Vatican confirming Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Spain in June, plans for the upcoming visit are full steam ahead, the organizer of the visit said.