Pope Leo XIV’s weeklong visit to Spain will bring him to a once-staunchly Catholic country that has long been in the throes of waning religious practice.
Bexar County to pay $300K to detention applicant whose job offer was pulled over wife’s La Santa Muerte altarOpportunity thrown: Wemby turnover leads to Spurs’ Game 2 loss despite massive 4th quarter comebackPope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026.
Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. The sun rises behind Antoni Gaud's iconic Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, May 28, 2026, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to the city in June.
Visitors take photos inside Antoni Gaud's Basilica of the Sagrada Familia as colored light from its stained-glass windows illuminates the interior in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to the city in June. FILE - A police officer speaks with migrants and asylum-seekers in Gran Canaria island, Spain, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020.
Pope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. weeklong visit to Spain will bring him to a once-staunchly Catholic country that has long been in the throes of waning religious practice and, recently, a Leo is expected to double down on his messages of unity amid polarization, peace as war rages, welcome for migrants and hope for young Spaniards in the era of, the Vatican confirmed late Friday that Leo would meet with survivors during his visit.
The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up in the once-staunchly Catholic country. Leo’s June 6-12 visit, the first to Spain by a pope in 15 years, has three distinct chapters, in Madrid, Barcelona and theThe highlight of Leo's visit to Madrid will be his speech June 8 to both chambers of the Spanish parliament.
Even though St. John Paul II visited Spain five times and Pope Benedict XVI three, no pope has ever addressed Las Cortes Generales, as the parliament is known. Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate.
The last time a pope addressed a foreign legislature was in 2015, when Pope FrancisLeo will also meet with the Spanish royals and preside over a prayer vigil for young people that will recall the last time a pope visited Spain: 2011, when Madrid hostedLeo arrives in Barcelona in time to celebrate the June 10 centenary of the death of the great Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí. While Catalonia’s beloved native son is on the path to possible sainthood, no announcements on his canonization are expected.
Leo will also visit another place of spiritual importance to Catalans, the Our Lady of Montserrat abbey on the sacred mountain outside the city.to minister to the many migrants who arrive on the Spanish archipelago after risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa. Leo will spend two days in the Canary Islands, which are closer to Africa than the Spanish peninsula, visiting two of the seven islands and meeting with migrants and the humanitarian organizations that provide care for them.
Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the U.S. by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the country’sMigrant arrivals in the Canary Islands peaked in 2024 at nearly 47,000, but have fallen dramatically, with just over 2,000 people landing there in the first four months of 2026. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press.
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