“We must not think that contemplation is an exclusive experience, reserved only for a few saints or for monks and hermits,” the pope said June 21 before leading the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew, Leo said Jesus’ sending of the disciples on mission shows that proclaiming the Gospel is “first and foremost a sharing of a personal encounter with him, which is unique to each of us.”

“The strength of any apostolate, in fact — beyond techniques and tools — comes from the work of the Holy Spirit within us and from the authenticity of our response,” the pope said.

Citing St. Thomas Aquinas, Leo described preaching as “passing on to others what we have contemplated,” using the Latin phrase “contemplata aliis tradere.”

“We can all do it,” he said, “by striving to set aside, amidst the commitments of our daily lives, quiet moments in which to enter into silence before God, to listen to his voice, to entrust our joys and concerns to him and to review our lives with him.”

This, the pope continued, “helps us to have a more firm and conscious faith, and consequently to be credible and free disciples, men and women capable of reflecting the light of the Gospel in every setting and every situation of life, and of bearing witness to it even where its value is not understood or accepted.”

Pope Leo recalled that St. Matthew wrote for communities facing hostility and persecution, “as so many Christians still do today in various parts of the world.” In such circumstances, he said, “the temptation to become discouraged and to let weariness or fear get the better of them was great.”

“Now, just as then, it is a challenge to remain faithful to Jesus’ teachings and to proclaim his word: to respond to hatred with love, to arrogance with meekness, and to discouragement with perseverance,” he said.

“For this reason, we must deepen the roots of our faith and our mission in an intimate relationship with him,” the pope added. “This gives us the strength not to despair, but to continue to share with everyone, in every circumstance, his message of hope, love and peace. The world greatly needs it!”

After the Marian prayer, Pope Leo turned his attention to refugees, noting that World Refugee Day, established by the United Nations, was celebrated the previous day on the 75th anniversary of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

The convention, the pope said, “was adopted to protect those who are persecuted and forced to leave their homeland, homes and families.”

“I hope that the spirit that inspired the drafting of this important international instrument may also continue to enlighten the consciences of national leaders today,” he said. “No one can turn a blind eye to those who are seeking protection and safety.”

“I also urge everyone to welcome those who are victims of persecution so that they may live in peace, with dignity, and look to the future with hope,” Leo added.

The pope also greeted members of the Catholic Pentecostal International Dialogue.

“The Church believes as she prays,” he said, “and reflecting together on the principle ‘lex orandi, lex credendi’ is particularly relevant nowadays.”

Turning to Brazil, Pope Leo assured pilgrims from the country of his prayers “for the young people who died a few days ago in a road accident in the State of Ceará.”

He also greeted confirmation candidates from two parishes in Ozieri, Sardinia, and wished all those gathered a happy Sunday.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Before returning to the Vatican after a daylong visit to the northern Italian city of Pavia, the pope traveled to Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, in the Diocese of Lodi, the birthplace of Cabrini, the Italian-born missionary who became a tireless defender of migrants in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.

Cabrini died in Chicago in 1917 — the same city where Pope Leo was born. She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1938 and canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1946.

Welcomed by about 5,000 faithful, Pope Leo visited the Parish of Santi Antonio Abate e Francesca Cabrini for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and to venerate the heart of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

“When I learned that Sant’Angelo Lodigiano is only a few kilometers from Pavia,” Pope Leo said, “I thought I would take the opportunity, and here I am.”

The pope said Mother Cabrini, following the guidance of Pope Leo XIII and St. John Baptist Scalabrini, “interpreted the signs of the times” and understood that her dream of going to China, in imitation of St. Francis Xavier, had to be fulfilled where the need was greatest.

“Today that sign, that is, the phenomenon of migration, has entered a different phase, certainly more complex, yet no less capable of challenging the Church,” he said.

Pope Leo asked what Cabrini’s missionary soul would say if she were alive today.

“For my part, I inherited and carried forward the magisterium of Pope Francis with the apostolic exhortation Dilexi te on love for the poor,” he said. “And there, where it speaks of charity in the form of accompanying migrants, the figure of St. Frances Cabrini appears right alongside St. John Baptist Scalabrini. What could be more timely than a missionary charism placed at the service of migrants?”

The pope also urged young people to learn more about Mother Cabrini, saying that those who come to know her “are captivated by her.”

“Her soul was at once contemplative and active,” Pope Leo said. “She was immersed in the love of the heart of Christ, and this gave her an extraordinary capacity for work and strength of spirit.”

In his greeting to the pope, Bishop Maurizio Malvestiti of Lodi praised what he called Mother Cabrini’s “original and highly fruitful” union of contemplation and social charity.

Both dimensions, he said, were “overwhelming and farsighted in an evangelical reading of the times and of new realities,” marked by “ecumenical and interreligious intuitions” that testify that “no one is a stranger in history: We are all called to fraternity in justice and peace.”

The stop in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano was the final leg of Pope Leo’s brief but intense visit to Lombardy.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The basilica, whose construction began in the eighth century, has housed the mortal remains of St. Augustine since around the year 722, when they arrived in Pavia from Cagliari. The relics had previously been brought to Sardinia from Hippo in 504.

The June 20 stop continued Pope Leo’s Augustinian itinerary. In April, during his apostolic journey to Algeria, the pope visited Annaba, the ancient Hippo, where Augustine served as bishop.

Upon his arrival at the basilica, Pope Leo was welcomed by Father Joseph L. Farrell, prior general of the Order of St. Augustine; Father Gabriele Pedicino, provincial prior; and Father Gianfranco Casagrande, prior of the convent. The pope then met with the Augustinian community and, later in the cloister, with bishops of the Lombardy Episcopal Conference.

The last papal visit to the Basilica of St. Peter in Ciel d’Oro took place in 2007, when Pope Benedict XVI came to Pavia and was welcomed by Father Robert Francis Prevost, then prior general of the Order of St. Augustine.

Greeting those present in the cloister, where about 1,800 faithful were gathered inside and outside the basilica, Pope Leo spoke briefly off the cuff.

“I know many of you,” he said. “St. Augustine teaches us to live and to love God and our brothers and sisters. Fraternal love and charity toward all are important; this is the message of Jesus and of St. Augustine. We are signs of love and charity, and we know how to live forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.”

In his greeting to the Augustinian community, Leo said that “St. Augustine is not ours; he belongs to the Church, and our mission is to make him known in the Church,” because Augustine “has so much to offer in this time.”

The pope said it is necessary “to offer the message of love for Christ and love for the Church,” adding: “May St. Augustine always help us to live this mission.”

In his address in the basilica, Pope Leo praised the Church in Pavia as “a community of ancient tradition that remains alive and present in the city and territory, attentive to the signs of this time and to its challenges, without allowing itself to be discouraged by fatigue, by the secularized context, and by the difficulties in transmitting the faith.”

To avoid discouragement, he said, Christians need “a gaze animated by the spirit of faith” that helps them read reality more deeply and resist “a negative and pessimistic attitude, incapable of generating new life.”

“The gaze that is required of us is instead that of Jesus,” he said.

The pope asked what it means to be “a living Church,” answering that it requires remaining united to Christ, “the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God.”

“Christ is the foundation of the spiritual building,” Leo said. “He is the cornerstone placed as the basis of our ecclesial journey, of pastoral action, and of evangelization.”

Being built in Christ, he said, protects the Church from the risk of becoming scattered or exhausted by “secondary things” that may be good but do not reach what is essential.

“Since the center is Christ, we all draw from this one source and submit our efforts to the discernment that comes from his light and his word,” the pope said. “Then we help grow a Church in which people walk together, capable of renewing itself without division, in which all recognize one another as brothers and sisters and work joyfully in service of the kingdom of God.”

Leo urged Christian communities to be centered on what is essential, “even if this should involve giving up some structures and some securities of the past.”

“The essential thing is to live with Christ, and spreading his Gospel is what must be close to our hearts,” he said.

The pope addressed that appeal first to priests, calling them to “always return to the center” and to unify everything in their relationship with the Lord. He also encouraged men and women religious, who he said often know the fatigue of updating the charism to which they belong, to begin again from Christ and share their gifts with the whole diocesan Church.

In a secularized world, Leo said, Christians are called above all to bring “the joyful and liberating proclamation of Jesus Christ” and to help people discover or rediscover the faith.

The pope then pointed again to Augustine, saying that “his thought, the story of his conversion, and his spirituality remind us of the value and primacy of interiority.”

“As living stones, we are called to be a Church well rooted in the territory,” Pope Leo said, “a Church that walks amid the struggles and hopes of the people, expert in the art of listening and accompanying.”

He emphasized the importance in Pavia of university pastoral ministry and dialogue with culture, saying that study and scientific work challenge believers to offer a faith capable of illuminating the human search for truth, justice, and beauty.

Before the pope’s address, Bishop Corrado Sanguineti of Pavia described the local Church as “a Church on the journey,” marked by growing communion among religious communities, associations, movements, and pastoral efforts to reach people in the concrete circumstances of their lives.

Farrell, the Augustinian prior general and Prevost’s successor, also addressed the pope. He said Pope Leo’s presence among the Augustinians had “inestimable meaning,” because they are “historically and spiritually, sons of the Church and sons of St. Augustine.”

“We have St. Augustine for a father and the Church for a mother,” Farrell said, noting that the words would sound familiar to Leo because they were the same words then-Father Prevost had addressed to Pope Benedict XVI during his 2007 visit to Pavia.

After leaving the basilica, Pope Leo went to Piazza Duomo, where he prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and venerated the relics of St. Syrus, the first bishop of Pavia.

On the steps of the cathedral, the pope blessed a heated cradle intended for abandoned newborns and prayed before the image of Our Lady of Colombina. The then-Cardinal Prevost had been expected to visit the shrine of Colombina last year, but his election to the papacy made the visit impossible.

Speaking off the cuff on the cathedral steps, Pope Leo greeted young people and the large Peruvian community present in the city.

“We all want to live in peace,” he said. “It is very important that we never lose hope. But, as St. Augustine told us, if we want to change the times, if we want the world to live in peace, we must begin with ourselves.”

“That means no more words of hatred, no more insults, no more bullying, no more all those things that create war between people, between communities, between countries,” the pope said. “We must all learn to be builders of peace and promoters of reconciliation.”

After the visit to the cathedral, Pope Leo walked despite the intense heat to Piazza Vittoria for a meeting with the city’s residents.

The beauty of Pavia, Leo said, is demanding because it represents “the precious inheritance of a past that becomes a commitment for the present.”

“The city is in fact a gift and a task for those who live there,” he said.

Referring to schools, universities, hospitals, and parishes, the pope said they are “significant places” that testify to welcome, education, and culture. In different ways, he said, they attest to “the same care for the person-in-community, with his dignity and his values,” which unite citizens as one people and also underlie the Italian Constitution.

The city, Pope Leo said, points to “a human condition: The city is one for all; it is singular and plural.”

“To be social means to be solidary, behaving as authentic partners, motivated by the common good and not by partisan interests,” he said. “Citizens are always fellow citizens.”

Speaking before about 3,500 people gathered between the cathedral and Piazza Vittoria, the pope warned against indifference and called for renewed participation in civic life.

“When indifference seems to break apart our community, it is necessary to renew the active participation of all in city life,” he said. “Faced with forms of degradation and civic illiteracy, we are called to share languages of dedication and service, which safeguard squares, parks, and streets as places of encounter par excellence.”

Good citizenship, he said, “knows how to cultivate concord through dialogue and constructive encounter among the people and cultures that animate Pavia.”

“Today I invite each of you to repeat within yourselves: I care about our city,” the pope said. “I care about the health of the person next to me. I care about the beauty of the place where I live. I care about the quality of life in the environments where I work and where I spend my free time.”

Leo also highlighted the University of Pavia, saying its students experience not “an agglomeration of knowledge” but a system capable of forming the person “without speculating on his labor.”

“To promote the sciences, in fact, means to promote man, who must always remain the protagonist of his own research,” the pope said. “To every form of knowledge there corresponds a form of care.”

Returning to Augustine, Leo said “one cannot believe without thinking, nor is it possible to illuminate the highest questions of reason without faith.”

“With this trusting openness, human reason asks and plans,” he said. “It does not close itself within the logic of profit or domination but discovers new ways to care for itself and for the world.”

Faith, he added, reminds people that they are not “subjects of an anonymous fate” but are sustained by the certainty that God is “creator and savior of life.”

“Thanks to your commitment, Pavia is prosperous not only in goods but also in virtues: Always honor the dignity of every human life!” he said.

Earlier in the day, Pope Leo began his brief but intense visit to Pavia at the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy, known by its Italian acronym CNAO.

The papal helicopter landed in Pavia shortly before 2:40 p.m. on a day of particularly high temperatures. The pope was welcomed by local authorities and Sanguineti.

“Great emotion, an atmosphere of joy, a hot day because of the heat — we think it is a beautiful moment for everyone and an experience of faith for many,” the bishop told accredited journalists gathered in the press room inside the bishop’s residence.

The cancer center, inaugurated Feb. 15, 2010, treats patients with solid tumors that cannot be cured surgically or with traditional radiotherapy, using hadrontherapy: irradiation with beams of protons and carbon ions.

CNAO was the first center dedicated to hadrontherapy in Italy and remains the only one in the country able to offer carbon ion therapy.

Inside the facility, the pope greeted administrators, medical staff, and several children undergoing treatment at the center, together with their parents.

“Help the whole world understand how, when there are difficult moments, if there is not the presence and love of the family, everything is more difficult,” the pope said off the cuff. “God does not want anyone to suffer. What God promises us is that he will always be present, even when we are too weak; he sends us angels.”

The pope thanked CNAO, “which works miracles,” and its staff, saying “God works in our lives also through doctors, nurses, and so many people.”

“When things are difficult,” he said, “let us place all our trust in God.”

After leaving Pavia, Pope Leo was scheduled to stop in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano to venerate the relics of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini before returning to the Vatican.

This story was first published in three parts by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

On June 18, the Vatican published the decree regarding these martyrs as well as the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Clara Andreu y Malferit (1596–1628), a nun at the Hieronymite monastery of San Bartolomé in Inca in Mallorca.

The diocesan phase of the beatification process for these Spanish martyrs was opened in 2008 by Vicente Juan Segura, bishop of Ibiza, and concluded in 2015, when the cause was forwarded to the then-Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The process was validated in January 2017, allowing work to proceed on the “positio,” the extensive report that compiles testimonies and details regarding the candidates' lives and virtues and examines their writings.

The report was approved by historical consultants in 2025, and in 2026 it was submitted for review by the dicastery’s theological consultants and member cardinals and bishops.

Born in 1912, Father Juan Torres Torres was martyred at the age of 25; he was the youngest of his companions and the first to die at the hands of his murderers. The eldest was Father José Tur Bennassar, born in 1859, who was a cathedral canon at the time of his death. He died at Ibiza Castle on Sept. 13, 1936, alongside the majority of this group. The Diocese of Ibiza celebrates the feast of these martyrs on that date.

Sister Clara Andreu

Bárbara Andreu Malferit was born on Dec. 4, 1596. Her mother died during childbirth. At the age of 8, she entered the Monastery of San Bartolomé in Inca and took the name Clara, although she did not profess as a novice until she turned 12. She made her religious profession in 1613.

The Royal Academy of History highlights in her biography that “she was notable for the dedication with which she lived out the evangelical counsels and the precepts of the rule and constitutions of the Order of St. Jerome, in every role and wherever obedience placed her.”

She also “engaged in intense activity as an adviser to many people regarding their lives and conscience” and suffered from numerous illnesses. Censured “for the spiritual experiences of a mystical nature she claimed to have and had committed to writing” at the request of Bishop Baltasar de Borja of Mallorca, “she bore it all with exemplary resignation; following a special visit by the Franciscan Father Figuerola, spiritual peace was restored,” according to the biography.

After she died in 1628, "in light of the favors she performed for those who commended themselves to her,” the biography said her remains were placed in a tomb in the convent church in 1702.” Her body is incorrupt, which has heightened her reputation for holiness.

The diocesan phase of her cause concluded in 2011, where the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome has studied her case for 15 years.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In his private audience with the participants of the Borgo Dialogues at the Vatican on June 19, Leo praised their work as a commitment to the “ecological, social, and economic transformation of the world.” He also described their work as grounded in the Church’s vision to promote global unity.

“Your dialogues have been structured on the Catholic Church’s vision of synodality, listening from the ground up while fostering global unity,” Leo said.

In his remarks, the pope drew extensively on his recent encyclical on artificial intelligence, Magnifica Humanitas. He urged leaders to resist the temptation to prioritize profits over a civilization of love.

“In the face of the temptation to build the ‘Tower of Babel,’ which represents the idolatry of profit at the expense of the most vulnerable and enhances the risk of dehumanization, we are called to contribute to the construction of the New Jerusalem, the civilization of love, in which love is the only guiding principle of economic, political, and cultural life.”

The Borgo Dialogues were held June 17–19 at the Borgo Laudato Si’, part of the Pontifical Villa Gardens in Castel Gandolfo. Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, the meetings brought together leaders from academia, culture, and business to focus on global ecological challenges and related topics.

The funeral liturgy took place June 18 at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, two days after Ruini died late Tuesday, June 16. Several cardinals, archbishops, and bishops were present to bid farewell to one of the most prominent figures of the Italian Church.

“For many years he served the Church, carrying out with the same dedication both the humblest tasks and those most laden with responsibility that the Lord wished to entrust to him,” Pope Leo said in his homily.

The pope recalled Ruini’s long and influential ecclesial service, pointing in particular to the initiatives that “left a deep mark on the journey of the ecclesial community and also on civil society.”

Among them, Leo cited Ruini’s “Cultural Project,” his efforts to promote the contribution of Catholics in Italian religious, civil, and political life, the diocesan synod in Rome and its implementation, and his “active and dialoguing presence at the various levels of the life of the Church, as well as of the secular world and society.”

Reflecting on the readings proclaimed during the liturgy, the pope cited St. Paul’s words that neither death nor life, nor angels, principalities, the present, the future, powers, height, depth, or any other creature “will be able to separate us from the love of God.”

According to Pope Leo, this was “the truth that also animated Cardinal Ruini in his ministry.”

“The love of God is faithful,” the pope said. “Nothing can defeat it or separate us from it, because it is his gift, it comes from him, and it is poured out upon us beyond any merit of our own.”

Leo also quoted from Ruini’s spiritual testament, in which the cardinal, speaking of the many people to whom he felt gratitude for the good he had received, wrote: “From them I received no less than what I tried to give.”

“I think these are words that can also help us to live our responsibilities and our various forms of service with the same humility and the same trust in God,” the pope said.

The pope then turned to another passage from the day’s liturgy, taken from the Gospel of John: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.”

In those words, Pope Leo said, one can see the summary of a program of life — “the direction and ultimate purpose of a life spent for the good of one’s brothers and sisters and lived in the constant search for God’s designs for one’s own salvation and theirs.”

Again citing Ruini’s spiritual testament, the pope recalled the cardinal’s words: “I hope, Lord, that I have acted not for personal interests but for the goals that were entrusted to me and that I shared from the heart.”

Leo’s homily was also marked by memories of the popes Ruini served, including St. Paul VI and especially St. John Paul II, in whom — as Ruini himself wrote in his spiritual testament — the cardinal “experienced” the presence of the Lord.

At the end of the homily, the pope reflected on the episcopal motto Ruini chose as a bishop: “The truth will set us free.”

Those words, Leo said, “summarize the profound understanding of the person and of freedom that Christ has revealed to us and that the Church teaches: We are made for truth and for goodness, and only in this do we find unity, peace, and full fulfillment, in earthly life and for eternity.”

Looking at Ruini’s life, the pope concluded, “at how he lived and how he left this world, we can perceive a sign of the strength and solidity with which a person grows and matures when he finds in the truth that comes from God the center and foundation of his existence.”

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In a private audience with members of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches on June 18, Leo highlighted the great gift of the Eastern Churches in communion with Rome. He also explained that these Churches offer Catholics a rich diversity, often unknown to the wider Church.

“Yes, the Eastern Catholic Churches have a great gift to offer the entire Catholic community, which is often unaware of the diverse ecclesial traditions within its ranks,” the pope said. “The Christian East can only be preserved if it is understood: to lose that understanding is to impoverish the Church.”

Leo also stressed the importance of seminary formation for Eastern Catholics preparing for the clergy. He stated that this can help Catholics appreciate not only their own heritage but also that of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

“The Eastern Catholic communities preserve many of these [spiritual riches], sharing them with their brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Churches,” Leo explained. “It is good for us to delve deeper into these treasures together with millions of our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters, as we look forward to progress toward full unity with all the Eastern Churches.”

His remarks also included an appeal for peace in war-torn regions, particularly those where Eastern Christians are affected.

“Let us pray to Jesus, the Lord of peace, and appeal to people’s consciences so that they may be moved by indignation; and may respect for humanity and a proper sense of civility be restored!”

“He has confirmed to us that he will be in Peru in the first half of November. From Lima, he will go to Chiclayo, from Chiclayo to Piura, from Piura to Pucallpa, in the jungle, and he would also visit Cusco,” he said, following a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on June 18.

The president noted that the team responsible for organizing papal flights will ultimately determine the route.

He also did not rule out a possible stop in Arequipa: “As [Pope Leo] will handle it, according to his team of cardinals and the way he plans everything, it’s possible that he could also be in Arequipa.”

Balcázar also said he offered the pontiff several suggestions. Among them, he proposed that after his visit to Chiclayo, he could travel by helicopter “to the Andean area of Incahuasi and Cañaris, which is a very poor, Quechua-speaking region that he knows very well.”

“We have offered him a helicopter to reach any place he wishes quickly, because he wants to cover as many small towns as possible in the north and also in the jungle and Cusco,” he told the group of journalists, among them EWTN News, waiting for him after his private audience with the Holy Father.

Balcázar shares details of his meeting with the Holy Father

The president described the meeting as “magnificent and friendly” and highlighted as a meaningful detail that he is a “congressman for Lambayeque, Chiclayo,” the city where the pope lived from 2015 to 2023.

“We have known each other before,” he explained, referring to the reason why the private audience, held in the Vatican’s Apostolic Library, lasted “almost two hours.”

Balcázar’s visit coincided with the vote count from the second round of Peru’s presidential elections. According to the president, they discussed the country’s political situation, especially the need for the transition of power after the election to be “as orderly as possible, without major conflicts, and for the loser to recognize the winner.” He added that the pope “is concerned that we are still in the middle of this vote.”

The official proclamation of the winner is expected in mid-July.

During the meeting, they also discussed the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published May 25, which focuses on issues such as artificial intelligence and human rights. “We went through his entire encyclical, which, of course, I have read, and what comes through is a powerful call to the common good,” he said.

They also spoke about migration. The pope, Balcázar explained, is “aware that there are criminals who migrate from one country to another,” but at the same time is “even more aware that we should not persecute migrants moving from one country to another, because the world has always been marked by migration everywhere, and those migrants must be given the right to life, especially, as he emphasizes, in a very important chapter on human rights.”

“Those human rights must have concrete substance, not just a lyrical declaration, but must be translated into material and objective realities,” he added.

After leaving the Apostolic Palace around 1 p.m. Rome time, the president went to the Vatican Gardens, where he stopped to pray before the image of St. Rose of Lima, enthroned in a historic ceremony presided over by the pope in January.

Vatican highlights good relations with Peru

According to the Vatican, in the subsequent meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the secretary for relations with states and international organizations, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, “satisfaction” was expressed over the good relations between the Holy See and Peru, along with a desire to strengthen them further.

They also discussed “matters of common interest, including socioeconomic developments, illegal mining activity, the promotion of the common good and dialogue, and efforts to foster social cohesion.”

Likewise, “there was an exchange of views on the regional and international sociopolitical situation, with particular attention to migration, organized crime, and the repercussions of conflicts.”

Visit still awaits official confirmation

At the beginning of June, Balcázar stated that Leo XIV would visit Peru on Nov. 10, though several months remain before the trip and the Holy See has not yet officially confirmed the final itinerary.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The pontiff signed a decree on Thursday recognizing the heroic virtue of the foundress of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in New York. He also recognized the heroic virtue of several others, bringing them closer to sainthood.

Just before signing the decree, he met with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

Mary Teresa Tallon: Making every soul count

Tallon was born on May 6, 1867, in Hanover, New York, as the daughter of Irish immigrants.

In 1887, at the age of 19, Tallon joined the Sisters of the Holy Cross, despite her family’s disapproval. She remained part of the congregation for the next 33 years, teaching in Catholic schools in South Bend, Indiana.

During this time, Tallon was inspired to establish a new congregation dedicated to contemplation and to preaching the Gospel to the neglected. In 1920, she left the Sisters of the Holy Cross and, on Aug. 15, established the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate (PVMI). She gave it the motto “Make every soul count.”

Considered a gifted scholar, Tallon authored a report documenting the first decade of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in New York for the National Catechetical Congress in 1936.

Tallon died on Feb. 10, 1954, after a prolonged illness.

In 2013, she was declared a servant of God in recognition of her holiness.

Others declared venerable

Pope Leo XIV on June 18 also moved several other servants of God along the path to sainthood.

Two Italians were declared venerable: Maria Agnese Tribbioli, a religious sister who founded the Pie Operaie di San Giuseppe congregation, and Maria Petra Giordano, a Dominican nun.

Others included Spanish nun Clara Andreu y Malferit and Belgian missionary Júlio Maria de Lombaerde.

Leo also recognized the martyrdom of Juan Torres Torres and 19 companions, all Catholic priests, for having been killed “in odium fidei” (“in hatred of the faith”) in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

During a private audience at the Vatican with the board of governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on June 18, Leo said the universities can be promoters of peace at a time “often characterized by violence and pointed rhetoric.”

“While not always easy, universities must constantly work to ensure that opportunities for meaningful encounters remain available,” Leo said in his remarks. “In an atmosphere where respectful dialogue is possible, everyone can grow in knowledge through learning from the points of view and living testimonies of others, even those with whom they might disagree.”

The pope also highlighted the role of the university amid a rise in armed conflicts worldwide. Citing his message for the 59th World Day of Peace in January, Leo encouraged higher education leaders to work for peace within and beyond their academic communities, even if peace seemed impossible.

“Rather than believing peace to be impossible and beyond our reach, we must seek to promote it in our communities and to welcome and recognize it in our own lives,” Leo said. “I pray that through forming artisans of peace, the university community may continue to be a beacon of hope and unity in a world that is increasingly divided.”

As head of Italy’s bishops’ conference and vicar of Rome during the 1990s and the 2000s, the cardinal often took strong and influential stances on social and moral issues, giving him a reputation for helping to shape ecclesiastical and political opinion.

Personally courteous, reserved, and even shy in manner, he was also intellectually sharp, politically shrewd, and very determined on questions of principle, especially when it came to “nonnegotiable” issues such as the right to life, marriage, and the family. Any severity he would direct toward ideas rather than persons, while he remained generally polite and respectful toward opponents.

All of this made him a trusted collaborator of John Paul II — and later of Benedict XVI — as he dedicated himself to keeping the Catholic Church in Italy relevant at a time when secularism was increasingly taking hold of the nation’s politics and society.

His skills and tact became most evident in 2004 when he urged Italian Catholics to boycott advocating the liberalization of Italy’s legal restrictions on in vitro fertilization (IVF). The referendum the following year failed due to low turnout and while secularists accused Ruini of having overstepped the mark for a churchman, others praised his strategy and his determination to speak out. Some affectionately awarded him the nickname “Rovini,” meaning the “ruiner” of secularists’ plans. 

A year later, the cardinal drew the ire of the “gay lobby” when he warned that giving full legal recognition to unmarried couples would represent an “eclipsing of the nature and value of a family and a very grave harm to the Italian people.” In 2007, he was the key promoter and inspirer of a large Family Day rally in Rome, intended to block civil-unions legislation being pushed by the government of Romano Prodi. He also spoke out on several high-profile “end-of-life” cases, always in defense of the sanctity of human life. 

Also known for his views on the relationship between faith and politics, Ruini frequently addressed issues such as secularism, a “healthy secularity” regarding Islam, and what he perceived as the “naturalistic tendency of modern man,” which he considered a significant threat to religious faith.

In Italy he was especially noted for being the architect and longtime president of the Church’s “cultural project,” formed in the aftermath of the collapse of the Christian Democracy era that had dominated postwar Italian politics. The project sought to shift Catholic influence from party politics to the deeper work of shaping national culture and public debate.

Evangelizing mission

Both the cardinal and St. John Paul II worked well together, giving renewed coherence to the Church’s evangelizing mission and devising a framework in connection with John Paul II’s encyclicals. But his positions also drew opposition within the Church, especially from allies of Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a former archbishop of Milan, who believed he was abandoning the “spirit of the Council.”

“Cardinal Ruini deserves recognition for having steered the ship through the storm, for having shared John Paul II’s vision and for having fought to implement it in our country,” wrote Italian commentator Professor Stefano Fontana in La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana on June 17.

Born in Sassuolo in the province of Modena on Feb. 19, 1931, Camillo Ruini was the son of a local doctor who, during his schooling and in late adolescence, discerned a vocation to the priesthood. At 18 he entered seminary, later continuing his studies in philosophy and theology in Reggio Emilia and then at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Ordained a priest on Dec. 8, 1954, Ruini returned three years later to his native Reggio Emilia, where for nearly two decades he formed young clergy as a philosophy lecturer in the diocesan seminary before becoming a widely respected professor and then head of inter‑diocesan and academic theology institutes in Modena and Bologna. Alongside this teaching he threw himself into lay apostolates, serving as chaplain to Catholic university graduates, diocesan delegate for Catholic Action, and president of the John XXIII Cultural Centre — work that honed the intellectual and pastoral instincts he later brought to the national stage.

Appointed auxiliary bishop of Reggio Emilia‑Guastalla in 1983, he soon emerged as a key organizer of the 1985 Loreto ecclesial convention, a landmark attempt to reset relations between the Church and Italian society after the political and ecclesial upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1985 he joined the bishops’ commission for Catholic education, culture, and schools.

John Paul II elevated him to the cardinalate in 1991, after which he entered the decisive phase of his episcopal career as president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (1991–2007) and vicar of Rome (1991–2008). A member of several Vatican dicasteries and the author of numerous essays and research works, he also served as grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University. He played a significant role in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI, and from 2010 to 2014, at the request of Pope Benedict, he served as president of the International Commission of Inquiry on Medjugorje. He also headed the academic committee of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.

He praised John Paul II and Benedict XVI but was less at ease during the pontificate of Pope Francis. His criticisms, he suggested, stemmed not from conservatism but from concern that some of the faithful might struggle to understand Francis’ direction of the Church. Upon the pontiff’s death in April 2025, Ruini set out four conditions that, in his view, the new pope should possess: sound doctrine, capacity for governance, a spirit of communion, and the strengthening of the faith. Many observers saw in these criteria an implicit critique of the pontificate just ended.

Final interview

The cardinal continued to speak out publicly up until his final days. In one of his last interviews given to Corriere della Sera to coincide with his 95th birthday in February, Ruini said he disapproved of Benedict XVI’s resignation, praised Francis for his “great courage” but faulted him for “taking too little account of tradition,” and said his first impression of Leo XIV was excellent.

He had a negative opinion of President Trump, saying he had “upset American and world politics,” which were “going in a very questionable direction.” He was also not supportive of restoring the Traditional Latin Mass, saying: “It’s very important for people to understand the language in which they celebrate.” 

The cardinal died after suffering from a heart condition in his later years, but he endured his final months with serenity. He spoke and wrote often about death, reported Corriere della Sera, accepting his approaching end with “detachment and even cheerfulness,” and continued to celebrate Mass until shortly before his passing. 

In his tribute to the late cardinal published June 17, Pope Leo XIV said the news of his death had awakened in his heart “deep feelings of closeness, together with gratitude to the Lord for the gift of this esteemed man of the Church, who lived his ministry generously.” He recalled the cardinal’s legacy to the Italian Church, remembering him as an “experienced and wise brother, strengthened by deep faith, sharp intelligence, and farsighted vision,” and who “served the Gospel and the Church with discretion and self‑sacrifice.”

Similar heartfelt tributes were received from the ecclesial and political world: John Paul II’s former personal secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, said Ruini “always sought the good of the Church, with clarity of faith, loyalty to the magisterium, and a deep sense of duty and pastoral responsibility.” He expressed his gratitude for Ruini’s collaboration with John Paul II at “decisive moments” in the life of the Church.

The current Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, gave thanks for Ruini’s “long and fruitful Christian life and for his service to the Church,” and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, said the cardinal helped the Church in Italy to “think, discern, speak, and walk in its own time.”

Ruini’s episcopal motto — “Veritas liberabit nos” (“The truth sets us free”) — “remains a summons for all,” he said. Italy’s premier, Giorgia Meloni, described him as a “great man of the Church,” while Prodi recalled a “profound connection” with Ruini, who, as a young man in Reggio Emilia, guided him and other youth in the diocese. 

Elisabetta Valgiusti, a Roman citizen who knew Ruini personally, praised him for being a “leading figure in the life of the Catholic Church at every level and in public debate more broadly.” She especially lauded him for his understanding of culture, which she said he saw as a “meeting ground between the Church’s own mission and the nation’s most urgent needs.”

Valgiusti, an EWTN documentary filmmaker who founded Save the Monasteries to help Christian communities through cultural and communication projects, told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, that she remembered her conversations with him “with gratitude and respect,” especially during the pandemic period.

“We will miss his strong and upright voice, and also his piercing gaze,” she said. 

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate the funeral for Ruini at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday afternoon, June 18, together with cardinals, archbishops, and bishops.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted and updated by EWTN News.

In his remarks, the pope praised Spainʼs "very rich Catholic tradition" and highlighted the countryʼs “joyful expression of their faith" as well as the affection shown to him by the people.

“In the case of Spain, I was able to observe with joy how much people of every age and situation were looking forward to the pope’s visit: Everywhere I found multitudes who welcomed me with great warmth,” Leo remarked, acknowledging that this was not something to be taken for granted.

Safeguarding encounter between Catholic tradition, contemporary culture

Referring to the events in Madrid and Barcelona during his trip to Spain, the pope also described his trip as an “encounter of ancient and modern, Catholic tradition and contemporary culture,” allowing him to experience “the very character of Europe, its inestimable wealth, as a living reality, not a thing of the past.”

Leo also said that Europeʼs cultural heritage must be preserved to address ongoing challenges.

“It is a heritage to be safeguarded with care, so that it may be invested in today’s global world with its momentous challenges: peace, integral ecology, equitable and sustainable development, and respect for human dignity,” Leo said.

Care for migrants

Referring to the final stage of the journey at the Canary Islands, where Leo met a large number of African migrants, the pope acknowledged that the migration phenomenon “is complex and requires organic and coordinated action plans.”

The pontiff noted, however, that this reality also offers an interpretation that “opens up a different, broader perspective,” allowing Catholics to understand how “to reread the Gospel in today’s world, exchanging with each other the gifts of our respective cultures, and in particular the results produced in them by the fruitfulness of Christ’s message.”

Among these results, he highlighted “dialogue between people and between peoples, the encounter in a spirit of fraternity, which enables us to discover and appreciate one another’s values.” He cautioned that this path is not easy and that asking for God’s help is essential to achieving a “civilization of love.”

Praise for U.S.-Iran peace deal

Leo concluded his remarks by expressing his satisfaction with the peace agreement between the United States and Iran, to be signed on June 19, which will bring an end to prolonged hostilities.

He also renewed his appeal for peace in Ukraine, acknowledging with concern the casualties suffered in the Russo-Ukrainian war. He invited all to “ask the Lord to open pathways to dialogue, to extinguish hatred, and to make a just and lasting peace possible.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In a message signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pope said he is praying that these parents “find consolation and peace in the knowledge of God’s love for them” and for the child they have lost.

“This divine love gives meaning to the life of every person and, far from ending with death, invites us to a new fullness in eternity,” the pontiff affirmed.

According to a statement from the Irish Bishops’ Conference, Pope Leo XIV also sent his best wishes and prayers to all those participating in this day of prayer, which is centered on “wonder at the full humanity of the child in the mother’s womb” as well as the efforts made to support mothers and fathers who have suffered the loss of a baby.

He also urged parents to find the support they need in the Church community, “especially in a life nourished by prayer and the sacraments.”

‘Wonder at the child in the mother’s womb’

Organized under the title “Wonder at the Child in the Mother’s Womb,” the Day for Life, which always falls on Father’s Day, recalls that every human being is endowed with infinite dignity from the very moment of conception, “simply by existing, by having been wanted, created, and loved by God,” as the pope recalled in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

The Bishops’ Conferences of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland recalled in their statement that fatherhood “is a vocation full of joys and hopes, but also of sorrows and concerns.”

The bishops wished to specially acknowledge the pain of parents who have lost a child before birth or during infancy and to offer them a message of hope and consolation: that of fullness in eternity.

The Church wants to be especially close to these parents, according to the bishops, who emphasized the need for spiritual and pastoral accompaniment as parents face physical and psychological consequences, as well as the feeling of powerlessness in not knowing how to support their family or how to express their own grief.

The bishops also recalled that “God has created, wanted, and deeply loved from all eternity every child, including those who lose their lives before birth or shortly afterward.”

The prelates emphasized that the word of God “reveals the sacred humanity of the unborn child” and that parents therefore understand how precious and unique the child they have lost is: “They know that no other child will ever be able to replace him,” they affirmed.

From this perspective, the bishops denounced the inconsistency of describing life in the mother’s womb as a mere cluster of cells. “How can that life be someone so loved and valuable to their parents and, at the same time, be considered something worthless and disposable?” they asked.

The prelates insisted that science is clear in stating that life begins at the moment of fertilization. “The more we learn from science, the more we understand the Church’s teaching on the unique value of the unborn child,” they highlighted.

They further recalled that every human being is not only a body “but also an immortal soul, with a unique and eternal relationship with God, our Creator,” which is why the unborn child “deserves full protection under the law.”

They emphasized that the Church “has always rejected voluntary abortion” and committed themselves to “work and pray so that our society values the life of every child,” especially in the earliest stages of human existence.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“We have invited them, and I am still considering making another appeal, to say: ‘Do not do this. Let us try to live communion in the Church.’ But it is their choice. They must understand what it means for them and for the Church,” the pope said, responding to journalists’ questions outside Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo on June 16.

The Society of St. Pius X said it plans to consecrate four priests as bishops on July 1 without the permission of Pope Leo XIV. The Vatican warned on May 13 that doing so without a papal mandate would constitute “a schismatic act” and carry the penalty of excommunication. The consecrations are set to take place at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland.

“Certainly, division among Christians is always a painful matter,” the pope said. “But they refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with various points of the Second Vatican Council. And if they make those choices, I am sorry. But we must move forward.”

The SSPX exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and has rejected certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly regarding religious freedom and the Church’s approach to other faiths.

The pope also answered questions about G7 diplomacy, his future travel to France and Peru, and about the Christian response to migration that calls for recognizing reasons why people have to leave their countries such as violence and war.

The pontiff also joined the list of other pontiffs since St. Paul VI who have been invited to speak to government assemblies during their journeys.

While it is expected that the pope will address civil leaders during an apostolic journey, invitations to address a country’s legislature or national assembly are rare and considered a high honor, even for a pope. These addresses have often been opportunities for the pope to challenge civil leaders on critical issues, including human rights, war, and the treatment of migrants.

But what do these speeches reveal about the pope’s priorities regarding global issues?

St. Paul VI: A call for an end to war

As the first pope in centuries to undertake extensive international travel, Paul VI was known for his forceful calls to denounce war and promote peace.

He became the first pontiff to address the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly during his historic one-day visit to the United States on Oct. 4, 1965. He addressed the assembly in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Indo-Pakistani War, which had occurred mere weeks before his visit.

Amid these and other conflicts, Paul VI made a passionate appeal for peace, famously declaring: “Never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace, that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!”

With this speech and similar ones, including a little-known one delivered to the Ugandan Parliament in 1969, the pope would forever alter the Holy See’s role in international affairs, establishing it as an important actor in international diplomacy. He also helped establish the Church’s anti-war stance early in the modern period, a stance adopted by every pope since.

St. John Paul II: Papal presence in the public sphere

Whereas Paul VI would pioneer the pope’s presence in the public sphere, St. John Paul II would make it the norm.

The Polish pontiff delivered at least five addresses to secular parliaments, including those of the European Union, Poland, and Italy.

He also addressed the U.N. General Assembly twice during his papacy. The first, in 1979, challenged the U.N. to denounce the arms trade, ensure religious freedom, and protect religious minorities in the Middle East.

Though noted for his stance on life issues, including opposition to abortion, he did not address abortion in any of his addresses to parliaments, instead focusing more broadly on human rights.

Benedict XVI: Religion cannot be set aside in the West

Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to address both houses of the British Parliament during his visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010.

Referring to St. Thomas More and the country’s Christian heritage, Benedict denounced the tendency toward the marginalization of religion in the West, particularly Catholicism.

“I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance,” Benedict said. “These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square.”

Such sentiments would be reflected in his address to the Federal Parliament of Germany during his 2011 visit. Already famous for his advocacy of the relationship between faith and reason, Benedict gave a speech highlighting the role of natural law and the limits of democracy.

“For most of the matters that need to be regulated by law, the support of the majority can serve as a sufficient criterion. Yet it is evident that for the fundamental issues of law, in which the dignity of man and of humanity is at stake, the majority principle is not enough.”

Francis: Environmental justice, migrant care, and the abolition of the death penalty

When Pope Francis became the first pope to address a joint session of the United States Congress in 2015 during his visit to the country, he offered a candid assessment of issues in the national debate, especially immigration.

Referring to the 2015 refugee crisis, in which Syrians fled the civil war in Syria for the U.S., Francis advocated greater care for those coming to the U.S. to find a better life.

“Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions,” Francis said. “We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.”

He would also, like several of his predecessors, oppose the death penalty. Unlike them, however, he would call for its abolition, support the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ initiative for abolition that year, and criticize the resumption of executions by lethal injection.

“This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes.”

He would use these ideas presented to Congress to finally amend the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018, declaring that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”

In a video message to participants in the 10th Austrian World Summit — an annual international event on climate, sustainability, and the environment taking place Tuesday at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna — the Holy Father recalled that “the Church has always been aware that the ecological question has a moral dimension.”

Reflecting on climate change and environmental protection in light of the theological virtues, the pope said the religious dimension “is in fact essential to address these issues adequately.”

“Those who believe that our world was created by God and is inherently good are compelled to assume an even greater responsibility to care for creation, since this is the requirement of their faith,” Pope Leo XIV said.

He also quoted Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, saying: “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”

The pope stressed that “religious faith reinforces the overall desire to protect life and care for nature.” He said the climate crisis is “one manifestation — and a critical one — of the wider socioeconomic crisis,” adding that special attention must be given to “the poorest and those most vulnerable to environmental degradation.”

Pope Leo XIV acknowledged widespread concern over the challenges caused by “a lack of respect for creation, the plundering of natural resources, and a progressive decline in the quality of life due to climate change.”

“These challenges require international cooperation, together with cohesive and forward-looking multilateralism in order to find effective solutions,” he said.

At the same time, the pope sought to offer a message of hope, urging participants to overcome fear and work together toward appropriate solutions.

“Despite the naysayers or cynics, hope can be a powerful driving force,” he said.

The Holy Father also emphasized the contribution religious leaders and communities can make to ambitious social and environmental efforts, noting that the Bible offers many examples of how fear can be overcome by hope, “which ultimately is a gift from God himself.”

Pope Leo XIV called on wealthier countries to “meet their obligations to support poorer countries financially.” He also said the world needs “the development of a new person-centered international financial framework” so that all countries, “especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate disasters, can reach their full potential, with the dignity of their citizens respected.”

Turning to the virtue of love, the pope invited participants to cultivate “a genuine culture of care for our environment,” including what Pope Francis described as “civic and political love.”

“Such love is the key to authentic development,” Pope Leo XIV said, adding that “social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a ‘culture of care’ which permeates all of society.”

The pope concluded by expressing his hope that the summit’s deliberations would promote this culture of care and “thus contribute to the civilization of love.”

He also prayed that the summit would help promote “the much-needed dialogue for seeking effective solutions to protect the wonderful gift of creation.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In his message to the newspaper, the pope urged journalists to “safeguard voices and faces, cultivate seriousness in every report and every analysis, preserve the beauty of cultures and territories.”

He also called on them to “strengthen communities in the truth that unites us all, govern technology without surrendering to the rhetoric of uniform thought, respect differing opinions, never yield to the temptation to make greater profits by resorting to the drug of fake news and artificial polarizations.”

“In the time of great changes that we are experiencing, I wish your newspaper always to be an instrument of truth, a guardian of history and memory, a source of knowledge and a leaven of humanity,” the pope wrote, calling on the newspaper to meet the challenge of information with “quality.”

In his letter, Leo also recalled the origins of the newspaper and the figure of its founder, Flaminio Piccoli, who chose for the publication the name of a river, the Adige, which runs through Trento, the city where the newspaper is published.

“Flowing water,” the pope said, “is indeed a symbol of continuous regeneration, possible only if one drinks from a pure spring. What more beautiful metaphor for good journalism? To be water that deeply satisfies the thirst for knowledge of people of different generations; to nourish consciences with news and not gossip; to offer a correct and transparent interpretation of reality; to unite, in good fortune and bad, the community in which one is rooted, protecting its history and memory.”

The pope also highlighted the contribution of Christian thought to the development of journalism and the defense of freedom of expression.

“Its roots testify to the richness of Christian thought as a leaven of journalism, not only Catholic journalism, a bulwark of the freedom to express one’s thoughts,” he wrote.

Leo also recalled Alcide De Gasperi, who, he said, before becoming a leading political figure in Italy’s democratic reconstruction after fascism, “was an editor and then director of La Voce Cattolica of Trento, and later founder of the daily Il Trentino.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The origins of this Church lie in the Christian tradition of India, specifically in the state of Kerala, and trace back to the Christians evangelized by the Apostle Thomas in the first century.

After greeting the bishops present and highlighting the spiritual renewal of this Church in preparation for the centenary of its reunion with the Catholic Church in 1930, he said the Syro-Malankara Church as “your Church has always been a beacon of evangelical energy and apostolic charity, bringing social justice, education, and integral human development to those on the margins of society.”

In his address, the pope also noted that this Church began to grow rapidly beyond ethnic or linguistic boundaries, initially in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu as the fruit of evangelization efforts begun in 1934.

In this vein, he highlighted the need for “an urgent commitment” to preserving and promoting “the inestimable treasures incarnated by all the Eastern Churches,” especially within the growing diaspora.

The pope underscored the presence of these faithful in the United States, just as Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had done.

Along the same lines, he addressed in particular Bishop Kuriakose Mar Osthathios, whom he recently appointed as apostolic visitator for the Syro-Malankara faithful residing in Europe.

His responsibility includes, according to the pontiff, “surveying the current state of pastoral care with a view to making proposals to the local bishops and to the Holy See for the spiritual good of the faithful.”

He also recalled having asked the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to help him “to evaluate the best ways to establish firm and enduring foundations” so that future generations of Syro-Malankara faithful may continue to deepen their friendship with the Lord Jesus through their own traditions, thereby contributing to the good of the entire Catholic Church.

In this regard, he asked them to promote greater awareness about “the precious identity of the Syro-Malankara Church” and the “experience of its unique heritage.”

Noting that the St. Thomas Christians of India, considered one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, have a “well-deserved reputation for devout families from which arise many vocations to the priesthood and religious life,” Leo XIV prayed that a steadfast faith “may continue to thrive in your homes and your hearts, particularly in those of the young.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Reflecting on this theme, taken from a verse of the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Father emphasized that “these are words that fill us with comfort and hope.” He recalled the “painful feeling of being forgotten,” something shared by many people, especially the elderly.

God’s love as a response to anonymity

In the face of this sense of abandonment, the Holy Father recalled that God’s love, which “forgets no one,” is also “an act of justice and a response to the anonymity in which human life all too often ends up lost.”

The pontiff turned his attention to elderly people who have been forgotten and who live in homes “where loneliness reigns” or in care facilities “where each person’s uniqueness risks being reduced to a bed number or an illness.”

He proposed the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly as an opportunity “to rediscover that the Church is called to be a mother to all and that at any age it is always possible to recognize ourselves as sons and daughters of God.”

He also invited this day to be “an inspiration for everyone, especially the young, to revive the beautiful custom of visiting their grandparents, the elderly members of the family, and even those who have no one to visit them.”

Leo said the Church “understands the suffering of her elderly members; she knows full well that they are all too often viewed through the lens of stereotypes and considered a burden.” He noted in particular the weakening of family ties and the abandonment of many elderly people by children forced to migrate or to fight in wars.

Recalling the words of Pope John Paul I, Leo stressed that we are the recipients “of undying love on the part of God. We know: He has always his eyes open on us, even when it seems to be dark. He is our father; even more he is our mother.” He added that even in old age “we do not cease to be sons and daughters; therefore, the invitation to return to the arms of God — whose love is both paternal and maternal — remains worthwhile at any age.”

‘It is never too late to begin turning to him’

He then noted that the final stage of life “can become the right time to begin or resume a spiritual life” and to encounter God anew.

The pope invited the elderly “not to feel embarrassed by the fragility that emerges” and to recognize that “we are always in need of one another and in need of attention and care.” To God, he said, “we can now turn with filial trust in prayer. It is never too late to begin turning to him.”

He also emphasized that advanced age can be a time to reflect on one’s vocation: “Do not be afraid of fragility! It is precisely this weakness that holds within itself a new potential that also illuminates the other stages of life.”

In this sense, he explained that when “we acknowledge our fragility, our hearts become open to supporting one another and to invoking the One who can grant what no human power can ensure: the profound reconciliation of hearts and, with it, true peace.”

A path toward renewal and peace

In conclusion, the pope stressed that it is possible to live old age as Christians, “fragile” yet at the same time “called.” He noted that a person can be “born anew in old age” and choose paths not of power but of reconciliation and peace.

Finally, he urged the elderly to join in prayer “that peace may soon come to the whole world,” so that a better future may be secured for their grandchildren.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In an address at the Vatican to representatives of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, the pontiff praised their organization as “an instrument of global Jewish philanthropy, providing essential humanitarian aid and social services to vulnerable populations.” He also drew parallels between their work and the Catholic Churchʼs commitment to human development.

“These efforts reflect a clear recognition of human dignity and fraternity, resonating with the Church’s own commitment to integral human development and the call to love our neighbor,” Leo said in his remarks.

The pope also reflected on the progress of Catholic-Jewish dialogue since the 1965 publication of Nostra Aetate, a declaration from the Second Vatican Council that condemned all forms of antisemitism. Reaffirming the Churchʼs stance against antisemitism, Leo emphasized the need for Catholics and Jews to work together to combat all forms of discrimination.

"[Nostra Aetate] affirmed, among other things, the truth that we belong to one human family,“ Leo said. ”Recognizing the inherent dignity of all men and women, Nostra Aetate took a firm stand against antisemitism and declared that the Church rejects all forms of discrimination or harassment because of race, color, condition of life, or religion. In a world still wounded by division and conflict, it called us to move beyond past misunderstandings toward collaboration for the common good."

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace for the June 14 Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel from Matthew, saying it “brings us a great gift, for it draws all who hear it into Jesus’ gaze.”

“It is a story that bears witness to the attentiveness of this gaze, as well as telling us what the Lord sees,” Pope Leo said, citing the passage in which Christ, “when he saw the crowds, … had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless.”

“Having become our brother, the Son of God looks at the people, he looks at humanity: He sees the oppression that burdens and the violence that causes strength to fade,” the pope said.

Christ, he continued, also sees the wounds of the contemporary world.

“He sees the wounds of war and the emptiness of consumerism. He sees faces reduced to masks, families torn apart by evil, and young people misled by false ideals,” Pope Leo said. “Jesus sees and loves. He loves and suffers for and with us: His compassion expresses not only fraternal closeness but his desire to redeem.”

Before humanity’s wounds, the pope said, Christ remains near and sends “workers into the field of the world.”

“What is their task?” he asked. “They must offer God’s comfort to those who suffer by bringing charity where there is misery, hope where there is affliction, faith where there is distrust.”

The pope noted that the Gospel names the first 12 “workers,” the disciples made apostles, missionaries, and preachers.

“The good news that spans the centuries is the same, always young, fresh, and liberating: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’” he said. “Yes, it is near because in Jesus Christ, God draws near to every man and woman, to every people and nation.”

Pope Leo added that the Gospel is not merely announced but also lived.

“When this Gospel is proclaimed and lived out, evil crumbles like a disease that passes away, like a night giving way to dawn, like death conquered by the risen One,” he said.

The pope said the Church is called to continue the mission of the apostles, remembering Jesus’ words: “You received without payment; give without payment.”

“Dear friends, the task of evangelization springs from God’s gift, which in Christ becomes forgiveness for the world, service to the least and the poor, and a commitment to justice,” he said.

After the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo recalled his recent apostolic journey to Spain.

“First of all, I express my gratitude to the Lord for the apostolic journey he has allowed me to undertake in Spain,” he said. “I also thank the Spanish people who have welcomed me with great enthusiasm and devotion.”

“I am especially grateful to His Majesty the King; I affectionately thank the bishops, all the communities I visited, and the entire Church in Spain,” the pope added. “Que Dios bendiga siempre a España!”

Pope Leo also remembered several newly beatified martyrs: the diocesan priests Václav Drbola and Jan Bula of Moravia, and Jan Šwierc and eight companions, Polish Salesian priests.

“All were beatified as martyrs, as victims of the persecution by totalitarian regimes because of their fidelity to Christ,” he said.

The pope also recalled that Nazareno Lanciotti, “a Roman missionary priest,” had been beatified Saturday in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

“He too was a martyr, for he defended the poorest in the name of the Gospel,” Pope Leo said. “May the example and intercession of these courageous witnesses sustain the mission of priests and of the entire Church.”

The pope concluded by expressing his closeness to the people of the Philippines, “struck a few days ago by a powerful earthquake.”

“I pray for the deceased and their families, for the wounded and for all those suffering because of this disaster,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Throughout his journey, the pope connected with Catholics across the country while highlighting Spainʼs rich spiritual heritage and encouraging believers to renew their faith in an increasingly secular world.

Here is a look at 10 of the most powerful moments from Pope Leoʼs visit to Spain:

1. Over a million Catholics join Pope Leo for Corpus Christi procession in Madrid

One of the most stunning moments came during the Eucharistic procession on the solemnity of Corpus Christi when 1.6 million people gathered in the famous Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid to be a part of the pope’s celebration of Mass, procession, and Eucharistic blessing.

In Madrid, Pope Leo said Corpus Christi is “more than just another celebration on the liturgical calendar ... It is a way of returning to the heart of the faith to renew our love and fidelity to God.”

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2. Pope Leo meets with abuse victims

On the third day of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo met with six victims of abuse committed “by members of the clergy and the Church” in the country.

The victims, the Vatican stated, were “accompanied by Church personnel engaged in supporting and accompanying victims.”

During the hourlong meeting, the victims shared their “painful personal experiences” with the Holy Father, and each person presented him with “proposals to make the Church’s response to such tragic cases more effective.”

Shortly before meeting with victims, the Holy Father urged the Spanish bishops to respond to the “scourge” of abuse in the Church “with listening, truth, justice, reparation, and an ever-more-determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care.”

“Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection, and real paths to healing,” the Holy Father said.

3. Pope Leo becomes first pope to address Spanish Parliament

Pope Leo XIV became the first pope in history to address the Spanish Parliament when he spoke to lawmakers on Monday, June 8, the third day of his apostolic journey.

Although he is the third pope to visit Spain, after St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, none of Leoʼs predecessors addressed the legislative body representing the Spanish people.

The pope received nearly seven minutes of applause at the end of his speech, which urged lawmakers to protect human life from conception until natural death.

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4. Pope honors Our Lady of Almudena with Golden Rose

One of the greatest devotions among Spanish Catholics is to Our Lady of Almudena — the patron saint of Madrid.

According to tradition, as Moorish forces invaded the region in A.D. 712, the citizens of Madrid secretly hid their beloved statue of the Virgin Mary inside the thick stone walls of the cityʼs fortress, leaving two lit candles beside it. In 1085, after King Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid, the Christians searched for the statue. While processing around the city walls, a section of the wall miraculously crumbled, revealing the statue perfectly preserved with the candles still burning after centuries.

On June 8, that enduring devotion received one of the Church’s highest marks of recognition when Pope Leo XIV bestowed a Golden Rose upon the historic statue.

“As a symbol of the pope’s filial love for the Virgin Mary, I will place a Golden Rose at her feet,” Leo said during a ceremony at Madrid’s Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

The papal honor — one of the highest distinctions a pope can bestow upon a Marian image or shrine — recognizes the deep devotion generations of Spanish Catholics have shown to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Almudena.

The exact origin of the gifting of a Golden Rose is unknown, although it is considered one of the oldest papal traditions. The earliest reliable record dates to 1096, when Pope Urban II sent one to Fulcone d’Angers.

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5. Pope Leo entrusts his pontificate to Our Lady of Montserrat

While in Montserrat, the Holy Father visited the Abbey of Montserrat, which is nestled among towering rock formations that resemble sculpted figures of animals or objects.

At the foot of Montserrat, after praying the rosary, the pope lifted up his prayer: “Let us ask her to help us clothe ourselves only with the armor of God.”

He added: “Let us also consider how the Virgin holds the globe in her right hand, a sign of her maternal care, for the whole world finds a place in her heart. She invites us to recognize one another as brothers and sisters, so that no one is excluded and that communion is stronger than every division,” he added.

The image of Mary currently venerated is a 12th-century Romanesque wooden sculpture, just over 3 feet tall, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus. Except for the faces and hands, the statue is covered in gold, while the Virgin’s dark complexion has earned her the popular nickname “La Moreneta."

“I am happy to come to the feet of La Moreneta to entrust to her, with full confidence in her maternal intercession, my Petrine ministry and the mission of the Church in a world that cries out for justice and peace,” the pope said.

6. Pope Leo prays with young manʼs rosary — then gives it back to him

While in Barcelona, an encounter between the pope and a young man named Sergi went viral.

During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray during the event.

“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man told EWTN News.

But the story didnʼt end there. Unexpectedly, after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.

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7. Pope Leo visits the tomb of Venerable Antoni Gaudí

Before celebrating Mass at the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, ​​Pope Leo took time to visit the crypt, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and light a candle at the tomb of Venerable Antoni Gaudí, who designed the iconic basilica more than a century ago.

Gaudí, known as the “architect of God,” died in 1926 and is buried in the basilica crypt. He was known for his intense personal faith and devotion to the building of the Sagrada Família.

The Vatican announced April 14, 2025, that Pope Francis had formally recognized Gaudí’s “heroic virtue,” a key step in the canonization process. Two miracles attributed to Gaudí’s intercession are now required for his canonization.

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8. Pope Leo celebrates Mass in iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica

One of the historic milestones of Pope Leo’s visit to Spain was the opportunity to realize Antoni Gaudí’s dream: the inauguration and blessing of the Tower of Jesus Christ, coinciding exactly with the centenary of the great architect’s death.

The spectacular central spire is crowned by a white cross that makes the basilica the tallest in the world and will be open to visitors starting in 2028.

After Mass, Leo XIV stepped outside to bless and inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ — before a stunning celebration of lights and sacred music — in which the pope, rather than simply putting his stamp on a finished work, charted a course for Christians.

“The Sagrada Família is the tallest church in the world — not to stand out in worldly rankings but to guide the steps of God’s people journeying through this land of Catalonia, with the cross illuminating the path like a lamp lit in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s return,” he affirmed.

“The entire city of Barcelona and all of Catalonia gather in this temple — itself a sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain — and lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, resplendent in his Son-made-man, Jesus Christ,” the pope added.

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9. Pope Leo blesses a cross made of wood from the boats of migrants

At the Port of Arguineguín in Gran Canaria — a place that became a symbol of the migration crisis in the Canary Islands — Pope Leo offered a powerful witness to the dignity of every human person. Standing at a dock marked by the suffering and loss of those who arrived after dangerous journeys across the Atlantic, he prayed for migrants, denounced human trafficking, and called the world to a deeper examination of conscience.

The visit concluded beside the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of seafarers, where the Holy Father blessed a memorial cross made from the wood of migrant boats and erected in honor of those who lost their lives at sea. Entrusting migrants and all who undertake perilous journeys to her maternal care, he transformed a place once known for tragedy into a sign of hope and remembrance.

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10. Pope Leo gives a powerful message to human traffickers

During the last day of his papal trip, Pope Leo raised his voice with unusual force.

In Tenerife, he spoke against human traffickers — those who charge staggering sums to allow migrants cross the ocean and those who enslave them mercilessly.

“For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice,” the pope said.

“Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage,” he added. “Return what has been taken and make amends as much as you can.”

Leo declared strongly: “Stop. Repent.”

To those who profit from the suffering of others, the Holy Father left open the door of return to God.

“Repent while there is still time,” he said, “for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice, and conversion.”

The Holy Father spent time in Madrid and Barcelona before finishing his visit in the Canary Islands off the coast of Europe. Throughout his weekʼs trip he also met with civic groups, including those that minister to migrants, and visited a prison in Barcelona.

The visit finished with the papal plane suffering a malfunction forcing the pope to deboard before takeoff. He ultimately left for Rome on the king of Spainʼs personal airplane after the king personally offered him the use of the aircraft.

Hereʼs a look at the popeʼs final days in Spain before his return to the Holy See:

“Cherish your priestly fraternity: Seek one another, listen to one another, and support one another. The priest who isolates himself slowly fades away; the priest who walks alongside his brothers grows,” the pope said in the June 12 message.

The World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests takes place every year on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which in 2026 is celebrated on June 12.

The Sacred Heart, Leo said, “is the ‘place’ where holiness is manifested as closeness and tenderness. The priest’s holiness, then, is embodied in humble and courageous nearness, in being all things to all people, and in keeping the gate of the sheepfold open so that many can enter and find pasture and rest.”

“For this reason, we are called to a relationship with God that does not distance us from others but brings us closer to everyone — shaping patient and tender hearts, capable of closeness, compassion, and listening,” he added.

Pope Leo said it is “through the union of our imperfect hearts with Jesus’ pierced heart, our journey toward holiness is fulfilled. It is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. Such holiness cannot be lived in isolation.”

Reflecting on the mystery of the Lord’s pierced heart, the Holy Father emphasized that holiness is not an abstract ideal but a share in God’s own holiness.

“When he calls us to be holy as he is holy, he indicates that the path we must follow involves being fashioned after his own heart. And for us, dear brothers, this call is particularly radical,” he said, addressing his fellow priests.

The holiness asked of priests, Leo continued, is of a trustful abandonment transformed by the Holy Spirit: “Yet it is precisely here that the great paradox of our priestly life emerges. We are called to share in God’s own holiness, but we carry this treasure in earthen vessels.”

Reflecting on the imperfect, human side of the priesthood, the pontiff noted that “we are limited and imperfect, often weak and weary, and at times wounded. How can such a vulnerable human heart respond to such a high calling? The priest lives this tension. Yet at the same time, he must recognize that he finds peace in the open side of the Lord Jesus.”

“Our humanity is not compartmentalized,” he said. “Prayer, ministry, relationships, weariness, joys, and failures — even time or love that apparently seems wasted — all become privileged places where God reveals himself and his infinite love.”

He urged priests to renew the grace of their ordination through the daily celebration of the Eucharist, prayer, meditation on the word of God, and humble service to others.

“A priestly life that is steady and configured to Jesus’ heart is a credible sign of unity, peace, and mercy. Thus, in an age marked by division and fear, we must be builders of peace and witnesses of the tenderness of the Good Shepherd who knows how to gather the scattered and heal the wounded,” he said.

In his message, Pope Leo invited priests to daily renew their “Here I am” before Christ’s pierced heart and to remember the words of the Curé of Ars, St. John Vianney, who loved to say that “the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”

“This love is a pledge and a guarantee that, if we surrender and offer ourselves completely, nothing of us will be lost,” the pontiff said.

He did so in Tenerife, speaking against human traffickers: those who charge staggering sums to help migrants cross the ocean and those who enslave them mercilessly.

“For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice,” the pope said.

“Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage,” he added. “Return what has been taken and make amends as much as you can.”

Then, in a cry reminiscent of Pope Francis’ 2014 appeal to members of the Mafia, Leo declared: “Stop. Repent.”

To those who profit from the suffering of others, he also left open the door of return to God.

“Repent while there is still time,” he said, “for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice, and conversion.”

The remarks came during the pope’s meeting with organizations working for the integration of migrants in the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna, in the capital of Tenerife, before some 4,000 people.

In this final day of his trip, Leo held a second encounter focused on the reality of migration, underscoring the importance he has given the issue throughout his visit.

The pope offered several keys for migrants so they do “not ... remain forever trapped in the role of victims.”

Speaking to “dear migrant brothers and sisters,” Leo said that part of their journey is “to open yourselves with trust to the community that welcomes you, to learn its language, to respect its laws, to get to know its customs, to participate in communal life, and to offer your gifts with gratitude.”

He also addressed Catholics directly, as he had done the previous day in Las Palmas, asking “that integration not be reduced to a social undertaking, however necessary that may be.”

The pope warned of what he called a “silent shipwreck” that can take place after migrants arrive: “Being left alone in a city, without a voice, without ties, work, or a sense of security, and exposed to those who take advantage of vulnerability.”

“Integration means preventing that second shipwreck,” he said.

Leo said integration must take place “without diluting their identity or closing their hearts to the encounter,” adding that “every welcoming society has responsibilities toward those who arrive,” while those who are welcomed also discover that dignity “flourishes when it becomes a duty and a sincere desire to build together with others.”

Before the final Mass that brought his apostolic journey to Spain to a close, the pope asked the faithful not to forget the many migrants from Latin America, the Philippines, and other parts of the world who are already a living part of the community.

“Let yourselves also be evangelized by them,” he said, “for they surely bring with them gifts that Providence has wished to send to you through those who are integrating.”

His predecessor, Pope Francis, summarized the Church’s approach to migration in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote, and integrate. Leo made that vision his own, insisting that integration cannot be reduced to a merely social task.

“Those who come to our parishes need bread, shelter, language assistance, work, and protection,” he said. “They also must find a community capable of offering paths to knowing Jesus Christ through the witness of life and word, while always respecting the conscience and freedom of each person.”

During the encounter, the pope listened to the testimony of Mbacke, a young Senegalese man who arrived as a child, completely alone.

“I have learned alongside my classmates in all the training activities we have: Spanish, cooking, agriculture, masonry, carpentry, repairs, computer skills, sewing, etc., and in my particular case, basic training in Spain,” he said, thanking the Canary Islands’ El Buen Samaritano Foundation, linked to the Parish of Santa María de Añaza in Tenerife, for giving him a family.

“Thank you for receiving young people like me who arrive alone, without family, and who are only looking for an opportunity to start over,” he added.

His testimony put a face on the drama of migrant minors who cross borders without a parent or guardian. For some who have no family, turning 18 can mean “only the street,” once they leave Spain’s child protection system.

Among those waiting for the pope on this final day was Mamadu, 33, originally from Mali. He arrived 15 years ago, still a child. Today he is fully integrated and speaks Spanish perfectly. He told ACI Prensa that he wanted to see the pope and give him a T-shirt he displayed proudly.

Leo also heard from a Venezuelan migrant priest who has served for seven years on El Hierro, the westernmost and southernmost island in the Canary archipelago. The island, the smallest and least populated of the main Canary Islands, has recorded some of the highest migrant arrivals in recent months: Since March 2023, it has received 50,244 immigrants despite having just 11,600 residents.

“There were days and nights when I wanted to stay in the comfort of my house, but I thought: What would Our Lord do?” the priest said. “And I renewed the service being asked of me. And there, amid pain and suffering, there was always some reason for hope, some smile, some grateful face that gave more than enough reason for our commitment.”

The Holy Father also listened to harrowing accounts, including that of Khalid Allad, a 24-year-old Moroccan who, like many others, reached the Canary coast in 2020.

“My journey in a small boat was not easy at all,” he said. “I tried twice. In the first attempt, 20 people died.”

Although his father forbade him from trying again, he set out a year later.

“Although I was afraid, I decided to leave again, this time without his permission,” he said.

Once in Tenerife, he began a new life thanks to the Don Bosco Foundation.

“They offered me a place to live, taught me Spanish, helped me read and write better, and gave me the confidence to move forward,” he said through tears.

Thalia Johana Saldarriaga Diago, a Colombian immigrant who, thanks to Caritas, not only recovered her independence but also became a volunteer helping others in similar situations, also spoke at the meeting.

“In this way,” the pope said, recalling her witness, “yesterday’s stranger can be today’s brother and neighbor.”

The encounter took place as the European Union entered a new and stricter era in migration policy. The Migration and Asylum Pact, the result of years of negotiations among member states, officially entered into force Friday, promising to strengthen control of external borders, speed up asylum procedures, and increase returns of people without the right to remain in EU territory.

After this effort to put a human face on the drama of migration, and before returning to Rome with an expected delay, the pope celebrated a large outdoor Mass at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

In his homily, Leo cited Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ as he reflected on Tenerife’s “tourist vocation” and the island’s contact with visitors from many countries.

“How important it is, especially for those who allow themselves to be guided by the Gospel, not to reduce everything to commerce and profit,” the pope said.

Spain is a global tourism powerhouse, but its success has caused growing tensions in destinations like those the pope visited this week: Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas, and Tenerife.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Diouf was among the migrants who greeted Pope Leo XIV at the Las Raíces reception center in Tenerife, where some 700 sub-Saharan African migrants — all adult men — are currently housed. The center is located in the humid Las Raíces area of Tenerife, a eucalyptus-filled area about 3,300 feet above sea level.

The number is relatively low compared with the hardest years of the “cayuco” crisis, especially at the end of 2024, when the center received between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants amid overcrowding and widely reported tensions.

Most of those currently housed at the center come from Senegal, Gambia, and Mali, and on average spend about three months there before being transferred to mainland Spain.

They arrive exhausted after having spent up to 72 hours in police custody for identification and registration procedures.

“We come from countries where poverty, violence, war, persecution, and lack of opportunity forced us to leave,” Diouf said.

Las Raíces opened in 2021 in response to the 2020 crisis, when more than 23,000 migrants arrived on the coasts of the Canary Islands.

Now those numbers have fallen sharply, and the situation is very different.

“Our work is to offer them an initial welcome that is dignified, humane, and organized at an especially difficult moment, immediately after their arrival by sea,” Navarro Atiénzar, regional director of Accem, the nongovernmental organization that manages the Las Raíces Reception Center for Refugees and Immigrants in Tenerife, told Pope Leo.

The pope arrived in Tenerife early in the morning from Las Palmas and went to the large camp set up inside a former rural military barracks after six marathon days in Spain that had taken him to Barcelona and Madrid.

He listened to those housed there as a father listens when a child opens his heart to recount a trauma.

One young Nigerian man said that crossing the ocean to the Canary Islands means facing hunger, cold, desperation, and often death.

“Many brothers and sisters lost their lives at sea, and others continue to suffer in silence, victims of mafias that take advantage of need and human suffering,” he said.

He also made a plea for humanity: “May we not be seen only as migrants, numbers, or documents but as people with stories, dreams, families, and hope.”

“We do not ask for privileges. We do not ask for compassion. We ask for respect, humanity, and the opportunity to live with dignity,” he said.

Among those present was also Aliu Ceesay, a 16-year-old Gambian who arrived in the Canary Islands just one month ago in an irregular boat after a difficult journey from his home country. Like many other migrant minors, his goal is to find work so he can help support his family.

Amid an experience marked by uncertainty, Aliu has followed Pope Leo XIV with interest online. The teenager said he wanted to see him in person and was struck by the pope’s message.

“I have been following him on the internet and wanted to see him. He is very kind, very good,” Aliu said. He also emphasized the pope’s inclusive spirit: “He does not care if we are black or white, Muslim or Christian. He wants to help us.”

More than 54,000 people have passed through Las Raíces. Behind each one is a story, a difficult journey, and, above all, a hope.

In his address, Pope Leo repeated the message he gave on the first day he set foot in Las Palmas: “God’s love knows no borders, makes no distinctions, is given to all and brings us together in unity.”

“As I look at your faces and listen to your stories, I also think of your hearts — wounded by so many difficulties, yet also comforted by the love you have received from other open, generous, and merciful hearts,” the pope said.

“Christ’s heart suffered and was pierced out of love, and he was also comforted by compassionate people who eased his pain,” he added.

Missionary saints and migrants

The pope dedicated part of his address to missionary saints such as St. Brother Peter of St. Joseph de Betancur and St. José de Anchieta, who set out from the Canary Islands to proclaim the Gospel in the Americas, opening new missionary horizons.

“They too were migrants who ventured into the unknown, carrying faith, hope, and charity as their greatest possessions,” he said.

The pope called for “responsibility” with an eye toward future generations, to whom, he said, “we wish to bequeath the heritage of a civilization of love.”

“Migration will play an important role in this,” he said, because it “can become an opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment among peoples.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, in a sense, all of us are migrants, for we are all pilgrims on our way to our heavenly homeland,” he said. “Let us help make this journey more humane for everyone by contributing in whatever way we can.”

The pope said the name of the center, Las Raíces — “the roots” — had caught his attention. He recalled that Pope Francis, “who so longed to be with you,” often used the image of roots “to emphasize the importance of remembering our origins, staying united, and trusting in the Lord.”

“May this image of roots also help you to be firmly rooted in the Lord, so that no storm may drive you away from his presence, which strengthens and gives life,” Pope Leo said.

At the end of his address, the pope told those gathered: “Dear friends, I carry you in my heart and will remember you in my prayers. May God bless you, your families, and all who do good to you. And may the Blessed Virgin Mary, consolation of migrants, always accompany and assist you with her maternal protection.”

During the meeting, when the pope announced that he would speak in French and English, many migrants responded with loud applause.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

At the dock of Arguineguín, which six years ago became known as the “dock of shame” due to the abandonment there of thousands of migrants who arrived in precarious boats known as cayucos, the pope threw a wreath of flowers into the sea in memory of those who died during the crossing — just as Pope Francis did on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013.

He then prayed before a blue cross made from wooden planks of migrant boats that had reached the Canary Islands and blessed it. Standing nearby was Javier, a volunteer with the Cruz Blanca Foundation, which works directly with migrants there. For him, this papal visit was an opportunity to once again place at the center of public discussion the migration crisis, a human tragedy that he says has become socially normalized.

“The pope gave a strong and moving speech. What he said to the migrants — that they are not numbers or files — really impressed me,” he told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Later, in the Cathedral of Santa Ana, patroness of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Claretian priest Santiago Cerrato Cáceres gave his testimony to Pope Leo XIV, beginning with a heartfelt confession: “Holy Father, those of us inside here… and all those outside: We love you very much.”

Before him, the bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos Pérez, described to the pope the pastoral challenges facing the local Church.

Mazuelos lamented the “growing secularization that weakens the sense of God, sacramental practice, and the transmission of the faith in families,” especially among young people, where “the Christian experience is becoming increasingly fragile or marginal.”

In the historic cathedral, whose construction began around the year 1500 at the initiative of the Catholic monarchs, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the pope invited those present to live in unity.

Christians should be “building the Church together, founded on Christ, the ‘cornerstone,’ building up the good, harmonizing our differences, and working united for the good of all,” he said. He also recalled that the life of the Church is built through the communion of its “diverse gifts and ministries.”

Three girls dressed in traditional Canarian costumes welcomed the pope and presented him with a bouquet of flowers. Attentive to every detail despite the fatigue of six days of travel, the pontiff gave them a blessed rosary with a smile.

Referring to the sea that surrounds the islands, he said it represents the difficulties of life, quoting St. Augustine: “No one is able to cross the sea of this world unless born by the cross of Christ.”

He also thanked the Catholics of Las Palmas for the help they give to these “crucified brothers and sisters.”

After meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers, the pope was given a genealogical study by the Cabildo, the local governing body, in the hope of finding Canarian roots in his lineage.

Mass in the Canary Islands

In the afternoon, the pope celebrated his first large public Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium before nearly 40,000 people. “I also invite you to pray together, during this holy Mass, for our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives at sea,” he said.

This is the charity of God, the Holy Father explained, in which our “vocation to love is rooted, which is not based on calculation, nor on mere sentiment, nor reducible to simple philanthropy, but one that invades our entire being: fire for the soul, light for the mind, an irresistible impulse for freedom, peace, and at the same time torment for the heart, which beats in harmony with other hearts, involving the whole person.”

The gratuitousness of the heart of Christ, the pope said in his homily, translates into “helping each person not only to survive but also to recover trust and resume their path, to grow and fully flourish in their uniqueness, for the good of all.”

A fight against cancer, offered for the pope

These words seemed especially directed at Yolanda, one of the volunteers helping with the papal visit. She has battled cancer for nearly two decades and, despite this — or perhaps precisely because of it — she chose to volunteer.

“I’m waiting for a miracle… we all always hope for that. And we keep living,” she said with serenity.

Her body has endured immense suffering: 10 years after her first diagnosis and treatment, the cancer has returned and has spread throughout her body. Several vertebrae are affected, and she has undergone many treatments.

“I thought it was over. But it wasn’t, and here I am, eager to see the pope. I have offered all my suffering for him,” she said.

The pope’s visit to Las Palmas also mobilized hundreds of young people. Four friends from the Parish of San Isidro in the north of the island said they are living this event as a unique moment of faith and community.

One of them, Talía, 25, was overcome with emotion as she recalled the last several days. “I’ve been following everything on TV and crying my eyes out,” she confessed. For her, the pope’s presence is not just a religious event but a deeply personal experience.

The message that touched her most was the pope’s invitation to young people not to be afraid to form a family and make a lifelong commitment. “The part about forming a family and not being afraid of marriage really spoke to me,” she said.

“Today many people are scared to get married. It’s true that birth rates in Spain have risen, but they should rise a little more,” she added with conviction.

Carlos Díaz Alonso, 20, said it was an “immense joy” to see the pope up close. “A pope has never come to the Canary Islands before, and that fills me with pride.”

“That the leader of the entire Catholic world is among us… it’s something very great,” he added.

Like many young believers, Carlos said he sees faith as a practical guide. “In all the things where I can fail in my daily life, I try to be a better person — and even more so now after seeing the pope,” he said, saying his goal is “to try to attain the grace of God.”

The pope will conclude his trip on Friday in Tenerife.

The small fishing port on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria was once dubbed the “dock of shame” after more than 2,600 migrants were left crowded outdoors there for weeks six years ago, many sleeping on rough concrete after crossing the Atlantic in fragile boats from Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Morocco, and parts of the Sahara.

On June 11, Leo turned the site into what many present described as a dock of hope.

“It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders, or mourn the dead once they have already died,” the pope said.

Human dignity, he said, “requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of welcome and integration, and policies that allow each person to live with dignity in his or her own land.”

Along the same lines, the pope emphasized that while there is a right to seek refuge when one’s life is threatened, there is also a right not to be forced to migrate: “the right to remain in one’s own home without hunger, without war, without persecution, without violence, without the land becoming uninhabitable, without corruption stealing the bread of the poor, without weapons destroying the future of children.”

“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Leo said. “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

The Canary Islands marked the final stop of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain and one of its most symbolically charged moments. Migration remains an open wound in Europe and beyond, and Arguineguín has long stood as one of its most visible scars.

“This tragedy must become an examination of conscience,” the pope said.

Leo directed his appeal to several audiences. Countries of origin, he said, “must create conditions of peace, justice, and development.” Countries of transit, he added, must “not leave the weak in the hands of criminal networks.”

He also addressed Europe directly, saying it “cannot proclaim human dignity and grow accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming cemeteries without headstones.” The international community, he said, is called to “effective and persevering cooperation.”

The Church, too, “must allow herself to be challenged,” the pope said. “Welcoming the migrant cannot be something secondary or delegated only to a few volunteers.”

The pope also offered a direct message to ordinary Catholics.

“We kneel before the altar to adore Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and the reason to live charity,” he said. “Therefore, we cannot then ‘pass by’ the cayucos and pateras, because from prayer all service flows and to it every commitment returns.”

The pope invoked the biblical figures of Leviathan and Rahab to describe the “monsters that lurk in these seas: mafias that traffic in despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and the indifference of many who allow the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or oblivion.”

But faith, he said, “does not remain paralyzed before the power of the sea.”

“We believe in a God who subdues chaos, sets limits to evil, and opens a path when death seems to prevail,” Leo said.

Where Christ “commands the sea to be silent,” he added, “the Church cannot remain silent before those who are abandoned to its waters.”

The pope said conversion begins when “the migrant stops being just one more person, stops being a category and a number.”

Leo’s visit to the Canary Islands was one Pope Francis had wanted to make but was unable to carry out. Leo delivered a message echoing the one Francis brought to Lampedusa in 2013. Leo is also scheduled to visit the Italian island on July 4, the day the United States marks 250 years since its founding.

“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Leo said. “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

In a speech interrupted several times by applause, the pope asked that history “not have to accuse us of having turned the pain of those who suffer into the usual landscape of our coasts.”

Before speaking, Leo listened to several testimonies from people close to the migration crisis.

Tito Villarmea, captain of the maritime rescue vessel Urania, said that in 18 years he has helped rescue more than 20,000 people — “a number that hurts and is not forgotten.”

Although irregular arrivals by sea have fallen sharply this year — down about 35% from the previous year — rescue operations have continued, many in extreme conditions. According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, 10,224 migrants arrived irregularly in Spain from Jan. 1 to May 31, down 35.2% from 15,769 during the same period last year. Irregular land entries into Ceuta and Melilla rose 210% to 2,366 people.

Villarmea recalled one rescue involving a mother traveling in a small boat with her child, surrounded by wounded people and lifeless bodies.

“Once safely on board, the woman approached the child, about 14 years old, took off the cap and jacket, and pulled out some gold earrings to put them on,” he said. “It was a girl. She cried and I cried, because I am the father of two teenagers.”

María Reyes Alemán, a Caritas volunteer, also addressed the pope, describing her work accompanying migrants amid the humanitarian crisis.

“We learned that it was not about solving everything, but about being present,” she said, explaining that small gestures such as a smile or a look can also communicate hope.

Another powerful testimony came from Blessing, a Nigerian woman and trafficking survivor who was not present for security reasons. In a letter read aloud, she recounted leaving Nigeria at age 22, leaving behind her two daughters. When the time came to cross the sea, she said, she saw people who had departed before her group that same day drown.

“The mafia took me to a place where they performed a ritual, the ‘juju,’” she said. “They told me I had a debt of 25,000 euros that I had to pay when I arrived in Europe.”

During six months of captivity, she became pregnant by a man connected to the trafficking network.

“When I arrived in Spain, they took my baby away from me to force me into prostitution,” she said. Her forced enslavement ended when her son was 11 months old and police arrested those holding her captive. She said the Church helped her rebuild her life.

Leo also warned migrants like Blessing not to trust those who exploit hopes for a better future.

“Do not believe those who promise easy paradises in exchange for your body, your money, your silence, or your freedom,” he said.

Such false promises, he said, are “siren songs” and “industries of death.”

The pope also mentioned El Hierro, the least populated of the Canary Islands, which has become a major arrival point for migrants, with more than 50,000 irregular arrivals since 2020. The peak came in 2024, with nearly 30,000 arrivals.

The island’s treatment by authorities has prompted frustration from local officials, including Alpidio Armas, the socialist president of the island council, who did not attend the pope’s events.

El Hierro, Leo said, “has seen thousands of people arrive, torn from their land and entrusted to the fragility of a cayuco.”

There, he said, “there are people recovered from the sea and lifeless bodies rescued from the waters.” For that reason, “the successor of Peter cannot turn away from these docks.”

The event concluded with a floral offering in memory of the victims of migration by sea, a symbolic gesture at a place that has become an emblem of suffering but also of solidarity.

The pope then went to a nearby image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of sailors, where he blessed a cross erected as a permanent memorial to those who never reached their destination.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, an abbey northwest of Barcelona, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray.

Unexpectedly, the story did not end there — after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.

Sergi (who asked that his last name not be shared) told EWTN News he had not planned to go to the shrine on the day of the papal visit. He is from Terrassa, a city between Barcelona and Montserrat.

The invitation to go to the popeʼs prayer came unexpectedly through a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity, connected to his youth group, who encouraged both him and his girlfriend, María, to join the gathering. The night before, they attended the pope’s event at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and returned so tired that they almost decided not to go again.

However, they felt they could not miss the chance to see Pope Leo during his visit to their homeland, and in order to attend they both had to take the day off from work. They never imagined what would happen or the gift they would receive.

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Sergi, María, and their friend secured a spot in the atrium of the basilica, and when the pope arrived, Sergi managed to get very close to the mini-popemobile as it passed by. At that moment he took out his rosary, hoping it would be blessed.

“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man said.

Indeed, in a video recorded by EWTN News, the pope can be seen taking the rosary and putting it in his pocket. A few minutes later, to the young couple’s total surprise, they saw the pope praying with Sergi’s rosary in his hands.

“When we saw it on the screen, we realized it was the same one he was using to pray!” Sergi said.

But the story did not end there. María had the idea of trying to get the rosary back, and when the event ended, they tried. However, the pope was already in the official car, and the security caravan would not allow anyone to approach.

“We tried to tell him, but he just passed us by,” Sergi told EWTN News.

At that moment, the run of his life began. Montserrat, as its name suggests, is set on a mountain range, so he had to run downhill.

“I ran the whole way down until I said, ‘Well, let the pope keep it,’ and I gave up, but my girlfriend told me, ‘Keep trying.’”

So Sergi started running again, sprinting and shouting to the pope to give it back. Knowing the caravan could not stop, he took an extreme measure: asking the pope to throw it to him.

“At that moment I wasn’t thinking — I just knew I wanted to get the rosary back, knowing the pope had prayed with it. I was overwhelmed with excitement by the moment and the situation.”

The pope granted his request, tossing the rosary from the car window as he drove by. Then, with the help of a police officer, Sergi recovered his rosary, now prayed with by the pope.

“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” the young man said, still moved by the experience.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Holy Father will now depart mainland Europe and visit the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, finishing his trip on June 12 before returning to Rome.

Here is a look at what Pope Leo XIV has been up to in Barcelona:

“God’s architect” died leaving behind a vast legacy of art and devotion visible throughout Barcelona — like an open-air Gospel sculpted in stone.

The spectacular central spire — crowned by a white cross that makes the basilica the tallest in the world and which will be open to visitors starting in 2028 — is undoubtedly one of them.

The celebration marked the conclusion of Leo’s visit to Barcelona before he travels Thursday to two of the Canary Islands — Tenerife and Las Palmas — where the pope will address the suffering of migrants who risk their lives on the Atlantic route in search of a better future.

After Mass, Leo XIV stepped outside to bless and inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ — a beautiful ceremony in which the pope, rather than simply putting his stamp on a finished work, charted a course for Christians.

“The Sagrada Família is the tallest church in the world — not to stand out in worldly rankings, but to guide the steps of God’s people journeying through this land of Catalonia, with the cross illuminating the path like a lamp lit in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s return,” he affirmed.

As he has done since setting foot in Spain on Saturday, June 6, the pope delivered a message of unity and harmony.

“The entire city of Barcelona and all of Catalonia gather in this temple — itself a sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain — and lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, resplendent in his son made man, Jesus Christ,” he explained at the altar of the basilica consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, noting that it stands as a visible sign of the invisible God.

The pope thus called for eyes to be raised toward the Tower of Jesus Christ and toward that inimitable masterpiece, the Sagrada Família.

Scripture, he said, “teaches us that it is not we who give God a place, as if he were an element in a series or part of a whole greater than himself.”

“Rather, it is God who gives us a place, and the place he gives us is his own heart: the place of the Son, for us who were strangers; the place of the Beloved, for us who are sinners,” he declared.

Like a shepherd guiding his flock in the teachings of the Church, the pope continued his interpretation of the Gospel — specifically, the passage where the Lord tells the Pharisees: “If you do not believe that ‘I AM,’ you will die in your sins.”

“Strong words,” the pope remarked, clarifying “that they are by no means threats or blackmail.”

“They are an invitation to salvation — a call to freedom from Christ, who desires our ultimate, eternal good,” he said. In the face of the threat of evil, “the Lord is always with us, always on our side.”

He then uttered one of the most powerful statements of the trip: “Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent. We cannot believe in Jesus and abandon those who suffer, those who weep, and those fleeing from misery.”

Before celebrating the Eucharist, he went down to the crypt to pray and lay a floral offering where the remains of the architect — whom Pope Francis declared venerable in 2025 — rest. Seeing him pray at the tomb served as further encouragement for the cause of the virtuous life of the architect — who died a century ago on this very day — to eventually be inscribed in the Church’s book of saints.

This was one of the most moving moments, as neither John Paul II nor Benedict XVI visited the tomb during their own visits to the basilica.

The foundation stone of the Sagrada Familia was laid in 1882; for 144 years, it has grown alongside Barcelona — and alongside Gaudí himself, up until the day of his death.

The pope’s presence here represents more than just a tour of a work of breathtaking beauty; it carries an eloquence that transcends its commemorative significance. Few works like the Sagrada Familia so powerfully convey that beauty is not a secondary adornment of faith, but rather a way of making God visible.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

During takeoff, the pope was invited to the cockpit, where they shared an exchange she said she will never forget.

“I think I’m still beside myself ... I’m still on cloud nine. I’ve hardly had time to stop and pray, and I believe this is something you process through prayer because otherwise it doesn’t sink in the same way,” the 33-year-old pilot told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, just a day after an experience she said she will always cherish in her heart.

The woman from Extremadura, Spain, said it hasnʼt yet fully sunk in and that she still needs to “bring down to earth” the emotions she experienced on the afternoon of June 9, when Pope Leo XIV sat with her and pilot Pablo Martínez in the cockpit.

She said she feels “blessed” and attributed the event to “God’s ways.” She also recalled a conversation with a nun from the Eucharistic Sisters of Nazareth, for whom she holds great affection: “I told her I didn’t know if I deserved something like this, and she replied that it was the Lord’s way of telling me he loved me.”

The video of Hernández with Pope Leo in the cockpit has gone viral around the world.

It shows the pontiff clearly enjoying the experience. “I do think he really enjoyed the flight,” she said. “He mentioned that it was his first time taking off [while in the cockpit] and he asked us technical questions, such as what temperature the engines reach upon startup. He was very curious, and we explained the operation [of the plane] to him as we went along.”

Martinez, the other pilot, told the pope he is a Real Madrid soccer team fan and had enjoyed the popeʼs allusion the day before to the “spectacular goal” scored for the Church in Madrid. The pope jokingly replied that he’s also a “White” (referring to the nickname for Real Madrid fans) and added that one has to “be careful” in Barcelona, ​​given the traditional rivalry between the Real team and Barça (the Barcelona team).

During the journey, the plane carrying the pope was escorted by two Spanish Air Force F-18 fighter jets. At one point during the flight, the cockpit crew made contact with the military pilots.

Hernández said the pope “didn’t hesitate for a moment to put on the headset and pick up the microphone” to speak with Commander López of the Zaragoza Squadron. “It was a unique experience,” she recalled, with feeling.

Hernández also had the opportunity to ask the Holy Father to pray for her family’s intentions and, more broadly, for all families in Spain: “For all their concerns, their intentions, and the illnesses borne in silence, and also for those who care for the sick.”

She also asked him for a blessing for many of her friends and family members.

“The pope told me to let them know they have his blessing and that he is praying for them. I’ll never forget those words — they are truly a gift,” she said.

Although the years of training and the journey to becoming a pilot haven’t always been easy, Hernández stated with conviction: “It’s a matter of putting things in God’s hands and saying, ‘Let’s give it our all; if you are with me, we’ll make it.’

She said faith is an immense gift she received from her parents and grandparents, who were the ones responsible for sowing that initial seed. Over the years, she explained, that seed has been “watered” thanks to many people she has met along the way.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Before celebrating Mass on June 10 at Barcelonaʼs iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica, Pope Leo XIV brought his affection to this community in one of the cityʼs most disadvantaged yet vibrant areas, demonstrating that the pope has not come to just admire churches but to touch human suffering.

In this neighborhood, St. Augustine Church houses — within the premises of a former convent — a soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity and the Mano Amiga Foundation, which distributes clothing and food to the poor.

The beneficiaries of this ministry include the family of 6-year-old Renzo. He and his family arrived in Spain some time ago fleeing extreme poverty in Argentina.

Renzo — a little boy from a vulnerable family struggling to make ends meet — put the pope on the spot.

“Why do bad things happen to some people? And not to others? Whose fault is it? Why are there so many people living on the street? No one sees them; no one helps them,” he asked the Holy Father with the sweet innocence of a child.

But before addressing that question, the pope answered another: whether he had wanted to be pope when he was a child.

“I didn’t want to be pope, neither as a young man nor as an old man,” the pontiff remarked, drawing laughter from those present.

But “when the Lord calls, one must say yes,” he added. It was evident that the pope felt at ease in this parish. He even said: “I truly feel at home here, and thank you for everything you represent.”

Leo shared that “it is not easy to find the answer, Renzo, to your question about why bad things happen to some people while others are spared,” while noting that “reflecting on the life of Jesus might help us.”

“God’s word tells us that Our Lord ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,’ and yet we know he was crucified. But the story did not end there, for he rose again on the third day, conquering both evil and death,” the Holy Father recalled.

The pope emphasized that “through the life of Jesus Christ, God shows us that, even amid suffering, he never abandons any of his children, for he has prepared eternal joy for us — a place where there will be no more sorrow or pain. Let us have confidence; Jesus is with us, helping and accompanying us, and giving us the strength to navigate the difficult moments we may encounter in life.”

During a diocesan meeting with organizations dedicated to social assistance, the pope highlighted the aid they provide to people living in this neighborhood marked by marginalization.

Each diocesan ecclesial community, he noted — moved by charity and guided by the Holy Spirit — “is called to reach out, according to its own means and capabilities, and with discretion, sensitivity, and perseverance, to the wounds and needs of the least and most vulnerable, in order to alleviate their suffering and remedy their poverty.”

As Christians, he affirmed, “we are called to the task of making God’s love for every man and woman present within the concrete fabric of history.”

Also present at the gathering were the four Augustinians living in Barcelona and the surrounding area who served as hosts: two Tanzanians and two Filipinos who minister at neighborhood parishes and one in Badalona.

The pope focused much of his address on forgiveness. “Forgiving does not mean saying that what was wrong was actually right, nor does it mean letting someone continue to cause harm. It does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened,” he explained.

[Forgiving] does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened.”

Pope Leo XIV

Forgiving, he added, “means not letting hatred take over our hearts.” He emphasized: “Jesus asks us to forgive because it is the only way to experience God’s peace and heal spiritual wounds.”

The pontiff also addressed one of the most painful social ills: the loneliness of the elderly. “Let us not allow loneliness and abandonment to become the norm in the lives of older adults. That is a very sad thing,” he warned.

Renzo also asked the pope if he liked soccer, a question that drew laughter from those present.

As is well known, the pope plays tennis, but he revealed that he also played soccer as a young man. He shared that in Peru, he “followed the local teams closely” while also playing soccer alongside the seminarians.

“A little sport is good for everyone,” he said, concluding the moving encounter.

CORRECTION: This article was edited to correct the child’s nationality. He is Argentinean, not Peruvian, as we originally reported.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“Soccer also helps us remember something very important: that life is not a race to be run in solitude; it is something played as a team, and we must learn to run together,” the pontiff observed during a meeting with members of diocesan charitable and assistance organizations at the Church of St. Augustine in Barcelona.

“Someone who could be a star but never passes the ball — doesnʼt let the others get into the game — will probably lose,” the pontiff added while answering questions from Renzo, a 6-year-old boy who wanted to know if the Holy Father liked soccer.

At the outset of his remarks on the subject, the Holy Father mentioned that he currently plays tennis but used to play American football in his youth.

He also recalled his time as a missionary in Peru and the love for sports that he shared with seminarians there. “When I was in Trujillo, I played soccer — on defense, if you want to know; I wasnʼt a big goal-scorer,” he recounted.

“A little sport is good for everyone; one has to find ways to — let’s say — maintain and enjoy good health: body, mind, and soul. So, that has indeed been a part of my life,” he continued.

Finally, he connected the topic of sports to the social work carried out by Church communities in Barcelona, ​​describing them as a team working in unity. “I want to acknowledge and commend everything you are doing here,” he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

In a letter sent via the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to the participants of the June 10 symposium in Rome titled “A Bridge Toward Heaven,” the pontiff expressed his hope that their efforts would encourage “renewed attitudes of respect, gratitude, and esteem toward the elderly.”

Leo also criticized the modern tendency to equate strength with mere displays of power. “The society we live in is dominated by the logic of performance and competition, whereby strength is conceived as a display of power and tends to degenerate into abuse,” the message said.

The pope also praised the witness of the elderly in their physical weakness with age and described them as offering profound lessons for the younger generation, who might not yet recognize their value.

“The elderly, in the serene acceptance of the limitations linked to the passing of the years, without hiding them or being ashamed of them, can be teachers of life, capable of showing everyone — and especially young people — that the value of an existence is not measured by the yardstick of efficiency or self-sufficiency but by the capacity to love and to let oneself be loved, to give and to receive,” the message said.

From May 31 to June 5, 40 teenagers from war-torn regions worldwide, including Ukraine, Nigeria, and the Middle East, participated in peace-building workshops on diplomacy and political engagement in conflict-affected areas. Through Project Oxygen, they aim to shift current narratives about conflict toward a future of creativity and compassion.

Their activities included visits to Vatican dicasteries and the Italian Parliament, conferences on artificial intelligence, and a Wednesday general audience with Pope Leo XIV.

One of the participants, Olena from Ukraine, expressed her conviction that her young generation can make a difference by uniting around shared values in a divided world.

“We can make a change altogether and understand what things and circumstances unite us, and by that go to peace altogether,” Olena told EWTN News.

Kathleen Hessert, founder of Project Oxygen and CEO of Sports Media Challenge, added: “The people in charge have not been able to come up with the solutions to peace. So we need to look somewhere else. And [by] their creativity and their imagination, these kids can bring a vibrancy, a creativity, and a dedication to peace.”

The following day, the pope traveled by car to the mountainous area of Montserrat — whose name in Catalan means “serrated mountain” — home to a Benedictine abbey, which rises to a height of over 4,000 feet on the west side of the Llobregat River.

Before arriving, however, the pontiff made a brief detour during the approximate 25-mile journey from Barcelona to stop at Brians 1 Penitentiary Center — a place steeped in suffering, where the lives of inmates find some comfort thanks to the prison chaplain, Father Jesús Bel, coordinator of prison ministry for the Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat and a Mercedarian priest who has spent 40 years accompanying those deprived of their freedom.

As he did during his trip to Equatorial Guinea, the pope embraced the suffering carried by prisoners.

There, he heard directly from two inmates, Montserrat and Josefina, about the importance of having an anchor such as faith in Christ when life shows its harshest face. Their testimony moved the pope.

“Here in prison I am not alone — Jesus gives me strength, he gives me life. I feel him within me; otherwise, I don’t know how I could have endured this,” Josefina told him.

After her words, a heavy silence fell. Then, Leo offered a reflection that resonated among those present: “The mistakes of a person’s life do not determine who they are.”

God loves you as you are

The pontiff invoked St. Augustine to underscore that the past does not chain the future, adding: “God loves you just as you are, but he dreams of you being even better! The Lord allows us all to start anew, for being human and being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but rather growing in the ability to convert, repent, make amends, and, above all, to reconcile and forgive.”

The encounter — though barely 20 minutes — set the tone for the rest of the day: the mercy of God embracing even the darkest hearts.

The ascent to Montserrat

After visiting the prison, the pontiff headed to the Abbey of Montserrat, nestled among towering rock formations that resemble sculpted figures of animals or objects. The monastery radiates peace both inside and outside its ancient walls.

In 1025, Abbot Oliba, then superior of the monastery of Ripoll, founded a smaller monastery on the mountain of Montserrat at a site where a small hermitage dedicated to the Virgin already stood.

According to tradition, the first image of the Virgin — known in Catalan as “La Mare de Déu de Montserrat” — was discovered in the year 880 by children tending a flock in a cave after seeing a light on the mountain.

When the bishop learned of the discovery, he sought to move the small statue to Manresa but was unable to do so because it became too heavy — a sign, he believed, that the Virgin wished to remain there. He then ordered a sanctuary to be built on the spot.

At the foot of Montserrat, after praying the rosary, the pope lifted up his prayer: “Let us ask her to help us clothe ourselves only with the armor of God.”

“Let us also consider how the Virgin holds the globe in her right hand, a sign of her maternal care, for the whole world finds a place in her heart. She invites us to recognize one another as brothers and sisters, so that no one is excluded and that communion is stronger than every division,” he added.

The image of Mary currently venerated is a 12th-century Romanesque wooden sculpture, just over 3 feet tall, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus.

Except for the faces and hands, the statue is covered in gold, while the Virgin’s dark complexion has earned her the popular nickname “La Moreneta." In 2023, Pope Francis offered a Golden Rose to this venerated image.

Among those who entrusted themselves to her was St. Ignatius of Loyola, in one of the most profound conversions in Christian tradition: “After a night spent in prayer before the Virgin, [he] laid aside his knightly arms — a moment that marked the beginning of a new life in the service of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo XIV recalled.

For centuries, faithful from all walks of life have passed through this sanctuary, praying the rosary bead by bead, because Mary, “Mare de Déu,” as the pope said, “is fundamental in the life of every Christian.”

“I am happy to come to the feet of La Moreneta to entrust to her, with full confidence in her maternal intercession, my Petrine ministry and the mission of the Church in a world that cries out for justice and peace,” the pope said.

“I invite you today to accept Mary’s invitation: ‘Do whatever he tells you' (Jn 2:5). These words spoken at Cana in Galilee contain a true guide for Christian living, because Mary leads us to Christ and teaches us to listen to his voice, obey his word, and allow him to transform us,” he added.

The pontiff also made clear the message God brought to the world when he became man: “Jesus shows us the path of mercy, reconciliation, truth, and gentleness. At the same time, he exposes the violence that can lurk in our words and attitudes: criticism that humiliates, condemnation that destroys, and aggression that divides.”

That hidden violence, he continued, “can often disguise itself as a kind of armor, which we use to protect our wounds, our fears, and the suffering caused by injustice.”

Over the centuries, Montserrat has grown as living things do — with scars and memory. It has not always been a place of peace. It was plundered, destroyed, abandoned. Yet it always rose again, as if the mountain itself sustained it.

Leo XIV concluded by asking that “Mary, Mother of the Church, always guide us to Jesus. I invite you to honor her with these words that you know so well: To the Catalans, you will always be the Princess; to the Spanish people and to the whole world, all our love; say to us: You are my treasure, I am your mother, do not be afraid.”

In the abbey cloister, hundreds of people waited eagerly for the pope. Among them was Miguel, a kind-eyed boy who wrote a letter hoping to hand it to the pontiff himself.

“He wanted to write it in Italian, even though the pope — as we know — speaks Spanish perfectly,” said his father, also named Miguel. In the letter, he asks nothing for himself or his family.

“I would like him to bless all of Ukraine,” said the 9-year-old, an avid reader who currently keeps the greatest of all books on his nightstand. “I’m reading the Bible. I love everything about it,” he said.

‘Catalonia without La Moreneta would be nothing’

Also waiting for the pope were two nuns from the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sister Ángeles Piqué, from a small town in Lleida, and Sister Doraliza, originally from Cajamarca, Peru.

“We need the pope to bring us Christ’s message: unity, fraternity, and to come to the Virgin as our point of reference," Sister Doralizia said.

She gave voice to the widespread devotion to the Virgin of Montserrat in this region of Spain. “Catalonia without La Moreneta would be nothing,” she said.

“Our Lady of Montserrat is a very special grace. This is her sanctuary, and all her children come here to ask for her protection and to be sheltered under her mantle,” Piqué added.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“As a symbol of the pope’s filial love for the Virgin Mary, I will place a Golden Rose at her feet,” Leo said during a ceremony at Madrid’s Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

The papal honor — one of the highest distinctions a pope can bestow upon a Marian image or shrine — recognizes the deep devotion generations of Spanish Catholics have shown to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Almudena.

The exact origin of the gifting of a Golden Rose is unknown, although it is considered one of the oldest papal traditions. The earliest reliable record dates to 1096, when Pope Urban II sent one to Fulcone d’Angers.

Hidden in the citadel wall

Addressing the faithful gathered in the cathedral, Leo reflected on the image’s unique place in Madrid’s history.

“For centuries, countless generations of Madrileños have venerated this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her divine Son in her arms and presenting him to us,” the pope said.

According to long-standing tradition, the devotion dates to the early centuries of Christianity in Spain. When Muslim forces conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula in A.D. 712, Christians in Madrid reportedly concealed the statue within the city’s defensive walls to protect it from destruction. The image remained hidden for centuries as Christian kingdoms gradually sought to reclaim territories across the peninsula during the Reconquista.

The wall that fell 

In 1083, after King Alfonso VI of Castile recaptured Madrid, Christians searched for the long-lost statue. Tradition holds that after days of prayer, a section of the city wall suddenly collapsed, revealing the image preserved within. Witnesses reported seeing lights near the site, and the statue was discovered largely intact despite centuries of concealment.

Recalling the story, Leo noted that “during challenging periods for the Christian community, the statue of the Virgin Mary was hidden in a niche of the citadel wall for protection. It remained concealed for some time, until parts of the wall collapsed and it was miraculously discovered intact.”

The title “Almudena” derives from the Arabic word “al-mudayna,” meaning “citadel” or “fortress,” a reference to the location where the image was found.

A message for today 

In his homily, the pope used the collapse of the wall as a spiritual lesson for modern society.“

It was thanks to a collapsed wall that the Mother was reunited with her people,” Leo said. “This event is providential, because it points to the path that Jesus, through his most holy mother, invites us to follow.”

Leo connected that image to challenges facing the modern world, observing that “there are still many walls that do not protect but rather divide, separate, and isolate.”

The ceremony also highlighted the popeʼs connection to Spain, a nation whose Catholic heritage has profoundly shaped the history of the Church. By honoring one of Spain’s most beloved Marian images, the pontiff underscored the enduring importance of popular Marian devotion and the Christian roots that continue to influence Spanish culture.

Renewing faith and hope 

Beyond its historical significance, the story of Our Lady of Almudena continues to resonate with Catholics today. The devotion recalls themes of perseverance, hope, and trust in God’s providence, themes Pope Leo himself highlighted as he encouraged the faithful to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope.

Calling the devotion a source of hope, Leo described it as “a sign of the Christian roots that characterize you and give you life, but also of the great hope which continues to motivate you to move forward.”

He concluded by encouraging Catholics to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope, asking that the intercession of Our Lady of Almudena strengthen believers in their love for Christ and help them “form bonds and restore the universal language of communion, fraternal love, and harmony.”

During the vigil held at the cityʼs Olympic Stadium — on the fourth day of his apostolic journey to Spain — the pontiff answered direct, profound, and heart-wrenching questions with the voice of a shepherd, human sensitivity, and moments of stirring intensity.

Discovering one’s vocation in a selfish society

Ferrán — baptized this past Easter — asked Pope Leo XIV for guidance on how to keep his gaze lifted in order to discover his vocation, “when society pushes us to look constantly at the ground or only at ourselves.”

Leo XIV highlighted the fact that “many young people and adults are rediscovering the Christian faith” and noted that “our desire for truth and happiness requires a broader horizon. And this restlessness is a gift that God himself has given us: We are made for the infinite.”

Leo XIV offered two ideas: It is necessary to cultivate that healthy restlessness, and to do so within one’s own specific circumstances.

Regarding the first point, he warned that “the idolatry of profit and performance, the drive to constantly produce and come out on top, as well as the cult of one’s own image, are nothing more than anesthetics” that numb the conscience.

For this reason, he added that those who allow themselves to be enlightened by the Gospel “also develop a critical perspective regarding a social system that does not place the person at the center and gives rise to situations of injustice and existential poverty on various levels.” This critical capacity means that “restlessness — as well as the discovery of one’s inner self, of spirituality, and even more so of the Gospel — can be frightening,” he added.

Secondly, the pope urged everyone to “cultivate this restlessness and make room for it” in their own concrete realities — by creating moments of silence, reading the Gospel daily, speaking with God, and “trying to walk this inner path alongside others, allowing ourselves to be accompanied on ecclesial journeys and engaging in dialogue with priests, religious, and people who, like us, have embarked on this path.”

God neither abandons nor desires human suffering

The second question came from Carmina, a secondary school teacher who described how depression led her to view “the idea of ​​disappearing” as her only way out: “One Friday night, I lost the battle and tried to take my own life.” Yet, she continued, “God gave me a second chance.”

Drawing on this lived experience, she asked — amid the profound silence of those present: “Where can we see God when the darkness is absolute and we can go on no longer? How can we trust in God when it seems that nothing — not even oneself — is worth anything?”

After a pause, Leo XIV responded by expressing gratitude for the effort involved in sharing an experience of such magnitude: “You have risen and resumed your journey, and this is a wonderful miracle that we see in many figures in the Gospel.”

The pontiff highlighted the need to “become aware of how mental health is increasingly threatened within societies considered advanced” — a fact that signals “something deeply amiss” in them, subjecting people “to pressures, expectations, and tensions that compromise fundamental forms of balance.”

Leo XIV then turned his attention to the “hours of darkness, anguish, and pain that Jesus experienced as the hour of his death drew near,” affirming that “this is not merely a matter of personal suffering”; rather, the Son of God takes upon himself, in his own flesh, all the anguish, pain, and suffering of humanity.

“The cross of Jesus tells us that God does not abandon us,” the Holy Father continued, noting that “he remains crucified with us in moments of pain and extreme loneliness.”

“When God seems absent, we must once again entrust to him the burdens we carry in our hearts — even crying out to him,” he added.

He also recommended “opening ourselves to someone who can help us offer a simple prayer, who can accompany us discreetly — without rushing to explain that pain — and who can take us by the hand and help us move beyond that cry.”

Regarding this experience, he warned against the temptation to “spiritualize pain” by superficially reducing it to the “will of God,” as this risks minimizing and silencing suffering. “God does not desire suffering; he bears it with us and invites us to trust in him perseveringly,” he declared.

How can I forgive my father and reconcile with God?

The third young person to address Pope Leo XIV was Desirée, who recounted how her father had tried to kill her mother — an event that drove her mother into drug addiction and landed Desirée in a juvenile detention center, where she gradually opened herself to faith and was baptized.

Her story moved those present to tears; they interrupted her account several times with applause expressing affection and support.

During her adolescence, she had rebelled against God. Now, with a faith renewed following a retreat, she asks God: “Where were you when I was a child?” She posed two questions to the pope: How can I forgive my father? How can I truly reconcile with God?

The pope reframed the first question, encouraging us to ask ourselves how we — as human beings — become “prisoners of evil, to the point of being violent toward others” and “fail to cultivate love” while respecting the dignity and freedom of others.

After condemning “a poisoned atmosphere in family relationships — characterized by abuse, oppression, and, in particular, violence against women” — the pope emphasized that “we cannot attribute to God what has been entrusted to our own responsibility.”

He thus recalled that human beings have been endowed by God with intelligence, will, conscience, and dignity, and noted that God has, above all, “come to meet us to show us — in his Son, Jesus Christ — the path to follow,” in addition to gifting us the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, he affirmed, these questions must be directed “at ourselves, at the dynamics of our society, at the culture of individualism, and at the temptation to violence — not at God.”

Regarding forgiveness, the pontiff emphasized that it is part of a journey. He warned that if one reads the Gospel “as a book of instructions, commandments, and duties,” one runs the risk of “causing ourselves great discouragement and frustration” upon discovering that we are incapable of the forgiveness to which the Lord invites us.

He added that “we must, above all, ask the Lord for forgiveness” so that he may “expand the space for love within us precisely where we have been wounded” and thus, gradually, “transform resentment into mercy and compassion.”

“We must not lose heart: In forgiveness, we advance in small steps,” for it is a gradual process that does not always mean returning to the previous situation “or living in a full relationship with those who have hurt us, especially when the incident involved violence.”

Nevertheless, he noted, it is possible “to maintain a good disposition of the heart toward the person, reject all forms of hatred or vengeance, strive to mend the relationship as much as possible, and perhaps pray for him or her.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Holy Father will continue the apostolic visit through June 12. His events so far in the European country have also included a massive gathering with young people in Madrid and a visit to the historic Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia in Barcelona.

See below for photos of Pope Leo XIVʼs activities in Spain.

For a few minutes, the pontiff and the Puerto Rican singer — whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and who has performed 10 concerts in the Spanish capital (one of which coincided with the popeʼs Saturday vigil with young people in Madrid) — were able to greet each other and converse, taking advantage of the fact that both were in the city at the time.

So far, no images of the meeting have emerged.

The archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo Cano, had previously spoken to EWTN News about the possibility of a meeting between the pope and the Puerto Rican musician, stating that “the pope is never closed to speaking with anyone who wishes to enter into dialogue with him.”

“If that were to happen at some point, we certainly wouldnʼt rule it out, but it depends on the two of them. What is true is that Madrid is a very large city and can host various events on the same day,” the cardinal observed.

Earlier this year, Bad Bunny was featured in the Super Bowl halftime show. His reggaeton repertoire has been sharply criticized for its vulgarity and degradation of human behavior.

Following the artistʼs Super Bowl performance, Puerto Rico Bishops' Conference President Eusebio Ramos addressed the matter. Ramos said that, while he would not express support for the artistʼs musical genre, he welcomes the words of the singer that “have reminded us of Christian values, such as fraternity and the primacy of love.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. ET on June 9, 2026, to include the information in the last two paragraphs.

When Leo first appeared on the balcony of St. Peterʼs Basilica to the thousands of faithful gathered in the square after his election, many noticed the return of the mozzetta as reestablishing a papal tradition.

The mozzetta, which fell out of use under Pope Francis, is a short red cape worn over the shoulders. Leo has worn it often when meeting heads of state, delivering his “urbi et orbi” addresses at Christmas and Easter, and at special prayer services.

By wearing the mozzetta, Leo has chosen to revive a long-standing custom. But why does he wear it, and what does it symbolize?

History of the mozzetta

The mozzetta is a nonliturgical garment worn by the pope, cardinals, bishops, abbots, and certain priests, including canons of a cathedral chapter. It is normally worn over the cassock.

The history of this garment dates back to at least the 14th century, shortly after the papacy returned to Rome from Avignon. Initially, it was worn by the popes in Avignon to adapt to the colder French climate. Eventually, it became part of the popeʼs ceremonial dress around 1400, initially reserved for the pope but later extended to all cardinals and bishops.

The mozzetta also has roots from the earliest centuries of the papacy, when popes began to wear red mantles over white vestments in imitation of the Roman emperors, asserting both temporal and spiritual authority.

The mozzetta traditionally also had a hood attached to it to symbolize penance, but this was discontinued by St. Paul VI in 1969.

Symbolism, use, and differences

The mozzetta, in the case of a prelate, symbolizes his spiritual authority and rank within the Church hierarchy. For a pope, it is normally worn with the papal stole as a sign of his universal jurisdiction over all Catholics.

As a nonliturgical vestment, the mozzetta is normally not used to administer the sacraments. Instead, it is used by the clergy as a choir dress at certain services, e.g., the Divine Office, and by the pope for certain occasions, including audiences, prayer services, and “urbi et orbi” addresses. It is customary for the pontiff to wear it when he first presents himself to the crowd after his election.

The mozzetta a pope wears is different from those worn by cardinals and other clerics.

While the mozzetta for cardinals is red and for bishops purple, the pope has five versions of the mozzetta.

The one most commonly worn by the pontiffs is the red satin mozzetta, usually with an embroidered stole.

Pope Benedict XVI revived the use of other styles of the papal mozzetta, including the winter mozzetta (made of red velvet trimmed with white ermine fur) and the white silk mozzetta, worn during the Easter season.

Discontinuity under Francis and a reviving under Leo

When Pope Francis stepped out on the balcony of St. Peterʼs Basilica after his election to greet the faithful, he did not wear the papal mozzetta, preferring a simple white cassock. He chose not to wear the vestment during his 12-year pontificate, becoming the first pontiff in living memory not to do so.

Leo XIV has instead chosen to revive the use of the papal mozzetta, in line with his predecessors, who favored wearing certain vestments as a visible reminder of papal tradition.

At the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia, whose construction began at the end of the 13th century on the site of early Christian and Romanesque churches and which became, a century later, one of the most important jewels of European Gothic architecture, the pope prayed midday prayer with about 500 faithful.

Hundreds more waited outside the cathedral to show their affection, many waving Vatican flags.

The crowd erupted with excitement at his arrival. The pontiff was accompanied by Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, who gestured with his hands to indicate to the people waiting outside that the pope had to leave. The plane carrying Leo XIV had landed in the Catalan capital 40 minutes late.

During the ceremony, the pope sat in the oldest chair — the cathedra, or bishop’s seat — in the city that is still in use, dating at least to the cathedral’s consecration in 1058, according to recent research.

In his homily, Leo XIV called Catholics to be builders of communion.

“Dear brothers and sisters: It is in this spirit that we too, in a world torn apart by wars and divisions, in a society that is increasingly fragmented and individualistic, wish to be ‘martyrs’ — that is, witnesses and prophets of unity, of welcome, of harmony and of peace, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation,” the pope said.

It was the first time during the trip that Leo XIV pronounced several phrases in Catalan, the language proper to Catalonia, co-official with Spanish and the main language of the regional administration.

A symbol of Catalan cultural identity, the language to be used by the pontiff during the events scheduled in Barcelona had become the subject of public debate in Catalonia in recent days.

The controversy intensified after it emerged that the blessing of the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Sagrada Familia — one of the central moments of the visit — would be conducted mainly in Spanish.

In the Congress of Deputies, where the pope delivered an unprecedented address Monday, Junts per Catalunya lawmaker Miriam Nogueras asked him to speak Catalan.

“It is important for each of us not to allow anything to destroy the unity in which God has established us and toward whose fullness he leads us day by day,” the pontiff said, alternating Catalan and Spanish in the homily.

Leo XIV cited two addresses by his predecessor, Pope Francis, who never visited Spain but often expressed affection for the country.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Tower of the Virgin Mary at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia on Dec. 8, 2021, Francis sent a message recalling that the Church “is the fruit of an act of love that precedes her and comes from God. Above all, she grows by allowing herself to be loved by him, united, with a humble and grateful heart, because only those who allow themselves to be loved by God can build, together with others, the works of love.”

One year later, the Argentine pope told seminarians of the Archdiocese of Barcelona during a pilgrimage to Rome: “Never cease to savor and remember this love of predilection which pours and will pour itself abundantly into your heart.”

Leo XIV structured his homily around the image of the Catholic Church as both beloved bride and body, with all believers as members of a single organism.

The Spirit, he said, “impels us, as parts of a single living structure, not only to give ourselves unreservedly wherever providence calls us, but to do so according to God’s designs, in obedience and trust.”

Just as in a body, he continued, “so too among us there are members who are stronger and others who are weaker; some are visible, performing functions that are evident to the outside world, while others are hidden, working from within — in some cases without ceasing and carrying out vital functions without anyone taking notice.”

The pope said there are many possible images to “illustrate the variety and importance of the roles and missions we find among ourselves,” but the message is always the same.

“In the richness of the gifts we have received, we are strong because we are united, and we are united because we are animated by the same Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, who is the Spirit of communion for the salvation of all,” he said.

Upon arriving, Leo XIV was received by Omella. After the greeting, the cardinal led him to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament for a brief moment of personal prayer.

On his way to the altar, the pope passed by the baptismal font, built in 1433. It was in that baptistery that the first six Indigenous people brought from the Americas by Christopher Columbus received the sacrament of entrance into the Church, as a plaque in the chapel recalls.

All of this forms part of the cathedral’s history, which inherits a tradition of worship in this part of Barcelona dating back to the fourth century.

Leo XIV’s final act inside the cathedral was to descend to the crypt, where the tomb of the Roman martyr St. Eulalia, co-patroness of Barcelona, is located.

Before her martyrdom, the young saint was said to have tended geese. For this reason, 13 geese are kept today in the cathedral cloister in her honor, recalling both her 13 tortures and the age at which she died for the Lord.

The pontiff also spoke of “so many other martyrs” and called the faithful to respond with “our ‘yes,’ ready if necessary to die to ourselves, to lose ourselves in order to find ourselves again, to renounce the superfluous in order to build upon what is essential and lasts forever.”

“This is what the crucified One teaches us,” the pope said. “This is what the Apostle Paul and the examples of the saints invite us to do.”

The pope ended his homily by invoking Mary in Catalan: “Santa Maria de la Mercè, pregueu per nosaltres” — “Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo XIV wrote of the institution of slavery.

“For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon,” he wrote.

The Holy Father explained that in antiquity and the Middle Ages, Catholic individuals and some ecclesiastical institutions participated in slavery. Though the Church never taught doctrinally that slavery was morally good or neutral, he wrote about popes who “intervened several times in order to regulate and legitimize forms of subjugation” at the request of political leaders.

Leo XIV wrote that “a formal, absolute, and universal condemnation of slavery” was not issued until Pope Leo XIII’s 1888 encyclical on the abolition of slavery. Leo XIV added that “we [cannot] deny or diminish” the Church’s delay in its denouncement.

“In the development of her doctrine, the Church has gradually come to a deeper awareness of the gravity of these issues,” Leo XIV wrote.

Church’s role in slavery

In a footnote in the encyclical, Leo XIV cited four papal bulls from the 1400s as his examples for when the Holy See sought to “regulate and legitimize” subjugation: Pope Eugenius IV’s Sicut Dudum and Etsi Suscepti, and Pope Nicholas V’s Dum Diversas and Romanus Pontifex.

“Political and, at times, even economic needs overcame the demands of the Gospel,” the footnote reads. “The need for evangelization was frequently compromised or at least misunderstood with regard to the needs of worldly powers, thus relativizing the problematic incompatibility of slavery with the Christian conscience.”

Nicholas V’s bulls, for example, authorized the Portuguese to impose slavery on specific non-Christians, particularly Muslims and pagans, related to specific conflicts. Eugenius IV condemned the enslavement of converts to Christianity without condemning the institution of slavery as a whole.

Tom Nash, a staff apologist for Catholic Answers, told EWTN News that St. John Paul II apologized for Christian participation in slavery as well and many popes condemned slavery (including when it was ongoing) but did not critique specific papal bulls on the subject in the way Leo XIV does.

Although Leo XIV’s comments on slavery are substantial, the topic only takes up a few paragraphs of the encyclical, which mostly deals with the Church’s social doctrine in the modern world and technological developments such as artificial intelligence.

Nash emphasized that the faithful should not interpret these paragraphs as a change in Church doctrine, however, because in spite of Catholic participation in slavery, “the Church has never definitively taught that chattel slavery was morally just.”

Although Leo XIV cited Sicut Dudum as an example, one of Eugenius IV’s main priorities was to “oppose the mistreatment of all African natives,” according to Nash. He quoted the bull: “They have deprived the natives of the property, or turned it to their own use, and have subjected some of the inhabitants of said islands to perpetual slavery, sold them to other persons, and committed other various illicit and evil deeds against them.”

The bull did not sanction slavery but instead excommunicated anyone who enslaved Christians or those seeking baptism. The punishment could only be lifted if the person freed the slaves and returned their property.

Nicholas V’s bulls were different because they explicitly authorized enslavement in certain cases, but Nash said the directives on slavery in Dum Diversas “are not an attempt to teach definitively,” are not pronouncements on doctrinal matters, and they “are certainly up for questioning and criticism.”

“They are prudential judgments and don’t even attempt to invoke the specific doctrinal criteria of a definitive teaching, let alone an ‘ex cathedra’ pronouncement,” Nash added. “And thus the Church’s teaching on infallibility is not [in] play and therefore not in doubt.”

One condition for infallible doctrinal pronouncements is that they must apply to all people at all times. The bulls from Nicholas V apply only “in a particular geographical situation in a particular time in history,” he said, and emphasized that “we cannot treat every papal statement as if it’s an infallible declaration.”

Papal condemnations of slavery

Although Leo XIII delivered one of the strongest condemnations of slavery in the late 1800s, Nash noted Pope Paul III’s papal bull Sublimis Deus in 1537 strongly rebuked enslavement of Indigenous Americans more than three centuries earlier.

The 16th-century pontiff blamed Satan for chattel slavery and for the mindset that Indigenous Americans “should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service.” He urged evangelization of the people and said they should not be enslaved or deprived of liberty or property.

Paul III’s bull expressly stated that this prohibition on enslavement of the Indigenous Americans applies regardless of anything that has been issued before, effectively superseding Nicholas V’s papal bulls from a century earlier.

Other popes in between Paul III and Leo XIII issued similar antislavery statements, with Pope Gregory XIV issuing an apostolic brief in 1591 demanding an end to the enslavement of people in the Philippines and Pope Urban VIII writing the 1639 papal bull Commissum Nobis, which condemned the enslavement of South Americans.

In the early 1800s, Pope Pius VII wrote to government leaders to urge the abolition of the slave trade and Pope Gregory XVI in 1839 issued the papal brief In Supremo Apostolatus, which was the first to condemn the slave trade in its entirety.

Nash noted that Christian opposition to slavery, however, is rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ, who “reaffirms the inherent dignity of every human person in a Roman-Empire milieu that had chattel slavery as a societal institution.”

“He did so in giving the doctrinal command, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39),” he said. “Indeed, ‘neighbor’ includes everyone (see Gn 1:26-27), including the heretical Samaritans and other despised persons (Lk 10:25-36). Similarly, ‘the least of these my brethren’ unmistakably includes chattel slaves within a Roman-Empire milieu (Mt 25:40, 45).”

St. Paul wrote about slavery several times. In Ephesians 6, he told slaves to “obey your human masters” and for masters to “stop bullying,” adding that both have the same Master in heaven, before whom “there is no partiality.” In 1 Corinthians 7, he told slaves to “make the most of it” if they gain freedom but not to be concerned about it because “the slave called in the Lord is a freed person in the Lord, just as the free person who has been called is a slave of Christ.”

In contrast to norms of the time, Paul wrote about the equal human dignity of slave and master in Galatians 3, saying “there is neither slave nor free person” because “you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In the Epistle to Philemon, Paul writes to St. Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave, St. Onesimus, asking Philemon to receive him “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother.”

At least one pope — St. Callistus I, who reigned from A.D. 218 until he was martyred in A.D. 222 — was a former slave. Nash noted that although slavery existed in the Roman Empire and within Europe under Christendom, the practice was reduced significantly when Christianity replaced paganism.

It was a particularly significant moment for the pope at the arena where the team he loves — though, as pontiff, he’s for everyone — has achieved its greatest sporting feats. No match was being played, but the faithful of the Archdiocese of Madrid, together with the suffragan dioceses of Alcalá de Henares and Getafe, welcomed Leo with a euphoria comparable to that of a decisive goal in a World Cup final.

“For a soccer player, scoring a goal in this stadium is a moment that leaves a bit of a mark on your life. Today, the Church in Madrid has scored a spectacular goal for all time," the pope said before beginning his address.

The event brought together representatives from parishes, movements, and consecrated life, as well as priests and pastoral workers, with a special presence from parish pastoral councils. Young people performed a short play for the pope modeled after a soccer match, and David Bustamante, a famous Spanish singer, also performed. There were also deeply moving personal testimonies, such as that of a 33-year-old man who shared with the gathering that he had been baptized last year and is now preparing to get married.

When he addressed the priests, consecrated persons, and bishops of Madrid, the pope told them: “Your joy will be contagious if, moving from being just a fleeting emotion, it becomes a stable way of being, a deep sentiment that renews individuals, groups, and the diocesan community.”

“Baptism truly changes one’s life ... thereʼs no need to fear the fact that it never produces uniformity,” the pontiff stated during his second-to-last gathering in Spainʼs capital city, prior to beginning the second leg of his journey, which will take him to Barcelona on Tuesday, June 9.

To illustrate this idea, he referenced the New Testament as an antidote to uniformity, thanks to the “testimony of the variety of its voices.” He also drew attention to the episode of the Tower of Babel, where, according to the biblical account, people in a "totalitarian and merely human project ended up unable to understand their neighbor.”

In contrast to this, and in line with the proposals in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he presented the figure of Nehemiah who involved the entire community in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

The pope used this gathering with some of the faithful of the diocesan community in the Madrid region to outline the keys to effective evangelization in the 21st century. He emphasized the importance of “not scattering or shutting ourselves away in the group or environment where we already feel secure among people who always sing the same tune.”

“To reach the heart of the city, we must cultivate the awareness that truth is symphonic and always transcends us, and cultivate the desire to encounter the Risen One, who always goes ahead of us, preceding us and perhaps already present where we have not yet sought him,” he noted.

Therefore, he continued, “seeking and following him is the condition for proclaiming him; otherwise, there is no evangelization, and today we can understand this better than in the past.”

Quoting St. Teresa of Ávila, he said: “‘Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you!’ Together, as a diocesan Church, you can offer the Gospel witness that unleashes the best strengths of a humanity bombarded by images and words, yet hungry for justice and thirsty for truth,” he added.

He also highlighted the special relationship between the Church and the city, which, as he explained, takes shape “among flesh-and-blood people, in workplaces and close relationships, but also within the different communities, associations, and neighborhood organizations,” and which gains even greater significance “amidst the change of epochs we are currently experiencing.”

“When we reduce ecclesial life to a routine where everyone remains locked within their own habits and roles, what we lack is the Spirit,” he stated.

His words seemed to resonate in the testimony of Sister María San José of the Congregation of the Daughters of Holy Mary of the Heart of Jesus. She is an educated, independent woman with two careers and two masterʼs degrees who left a comfortable life at Santander Bank to consecrate herself to religious life, demonstrating how God’s call reaches into every walk of life.

“I realized that there was something more that fulfilled me — beyond everything I had and everything I had built — and that was this consecrated life, this total dedication to the Lord,” she explained to EWTN News while on her way to the gathering.

“God knows the hearts of his people individually. He knows them as only he can — that is, in love and, therefore, in freedom,” the pope said, underscoring that God is “infinite mercy and wants everyone to be saved.”

“He desires this to the point of becoming flesh and taking upon himself all the sin, evil, and negativity of the world,” he emphasized.

Among those present at Bernabéu stadium was Father Antonio Sánchez, a priest of the Diocese of Getafe ordained last October. He shared with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the deep emotion he felt participating along with the pope in the Corpus Christi procession following the Mass celebrated in the Plaza de Cibeles on Sunday, June 7.

It was, in his words, “a privilege to be selected without any merit; all they said was that the priests of the ecclesiastical province should be at the procession,” he explained.

“With an attitude of adoration, seeing the pope who was a great witness, because being close to the procession during such a unique moment was truly special. We were on the same [ground] level as the pope, and seeing him in the procession, adoring and focused on Christ ... it was a moment of realization: Amidst all the commotion, we were focused on Christ, to whom we have consecrated our lives,” he told ACI Prensa shortly before the pontiff entered the stadium, where he was welcomed with tremendous enthusiasm.

Prior to this gathering, the pope visited Santa María la Real de la Almudena Cathedral, which became the setting for one of his most touching moments in Madrid.

The Holy Father placed the Golden Rose at the feet of the image of the Virgin of Almudena as a symbol of his filial love, a gesture reflecting the pope’s deep Marian devotion. This marks the fourth Spanish image of the Virgin to receive this gift; the other three are the Virgin of Hope Macarena, the Virgin of La Cabeza, and the Virgin of Montserrat.

This pontifical distinction is a recognition of the popular piety and Marian devotion of Madrid. It has ancient roots and symbolizes the papal blessing.

The tradition dates back to Pope Leo IX, who established it in 1049. Over the centuries, it has been bestowed upon monasteries, shrines, sovereigns, and prominent figures in recognition of their commitment to the faith and the common good. In the past, the Golden Rose was also awarded to queens, including Isabella the Catholic monarch, who was the first queen to receive it in 1493, granted by Innocent VIII.

In the solemn act, Pope Leo climbed the steps leading to the base of the image to lay the floral offering and pray.

His most notable previous visit to the Almudena Cathedral took place on the occasion of the 2002 canonization of Alonso de Orozco, an Augustinian who died in Madrid, in the convent that occupied the site of the current Senate building. The saint’s remains now rest in the chapel of the Contemplative Augustinian Nuns’ convent on La Granja street.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Holy See Press Office confirmed the meeting, noting that it took place in the afternoon at the apostolic nunciature in Madrid.

The victims, the Vatican stated, were “accompanied by Church personnel engaged in supporting and accompanying victims.”

The meeting lasted nearly an hour, during which the victims shared their “painful personal experiences” with the Holy Father, and each person presented him with “proposals to make the Church’s response to such tragic cases more effective.”

The pope, the Holy See Press Office noted, “listened with affection and attention and assured them of his closeness” as well as that of “the entire ecclesial community.”

In addition, he pledged his commitment to ensuring that the proposals offered by the victims “serve as a foundation for future efforts, so that the Church may truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place where [those wounded] can find comfort and healing.”

A call to address the ‘scourge’ of abuse

Shortly before meeting with victims, during his encounter with the Spanish bishops, the Holy Father urged them to respond to the “scourge” of abuse in the Church “with listening, truth, justice, reparation, and an ever-more-determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care.”

“Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection, and real paths to healing,” Pope Leo said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Yago de la Cierva, who is overseeing the organization of the pope’s trip to Spain, said Leo broke the ice before blessing the meal with a comment that drew laughter from those present.

“He said that before leaving for the trip, he had contacted artificial intelligence to ask: What should the pope say to the Spanish bishops? And artificial intelligence told him: Pope Francis would say ... So he stopped it and said: ‘I think there is another pope.’ And then artificial intelligence said: ‘Ah, that’s right, now it’s Pope Leo,’” de la Cierva recounted with a smile.

Leo XIV was elected the successor of Peter on May 8, 2025, though artificial intelligence has at times appeared slow to register the change. National Catholic Register journalist Jonah McKeown saw this firsthand when, like many users, he asked ChatGPT, OpenAI’s widely used artificial intelligence tool, about Pope Leo XIV.

“There seems to be some confusion with the name, since there has never been a Pope Leo XIV. However, there have been several popes named Leo throughout history,” the chatbot responded in one test.

After the joke, the pope — who is no technophobe and has repeatedly encouraged the proper use of artificial intelligence, including in his May 25 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on the human person in the age of AI — turned to a technological image to deliver a deeper message to the bishops.

“Then he told the bishops that we have another algorithm, and that other algorithm leads us to love people, to accompany them, and to become servants of the word,” de la Cierva said.

Shortly after addressing Spain’s Parliament in the Congress of Deputies, Pope Leo XIV met with the country’s bishops at the headquarters of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, where he called on the Church, “in this time of increasingly drastic polarizations and oppositions,” to offer “a witness to unity in diversity.”

That communion, the pope said, comes from the awareness that the Church walks with the Lord, “as members of one body.” He added that such communion also has “missionary vitality.”

“A Church that is interiorly at peace can speak more freely to brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations and other religions, to those who do not believe, to civil authorities, and to all people of goodwill who work for the common good,” Leo said.

The pope told the Spanish bishops that their ministry carries a particular responsibility in this work of communion.

“We are called to be a visible sign of communion,” he said, first with Christ, then with “the successor of Peter and with the universal Church,” as well as with priests, diocesan communities, consecrated life, movements, associations, and every authentic charism given by the Holy Spirit for the common good.

“Your mission calls you to safeguard unity, foster dialogue, heal divisions, and accompany the journey of the people entrusted to your care,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The June 8 address, given before about 700 guests amid tight security, drew a standing ovation that lasted nearly seven minutes, with shouts of “Long live the pope!” echoing through the chamber.

In his speech, Pope Leo warned lawmakers not to subordinate human dignity to “shifting social consensus or the whims of the majority at any given moment,” insisting that “every truly just society is built upon the recognition of the inviolable dignity of the human person.”

“In this sense, if life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?” the pope asked. “Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?”

“The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization,” he said.

The pope’s remarks came as Spain’s socialist-led government has been advancing efforts to enshrine abortion protections in the country’s Constitution. Such a reform would require broad parliamentary consensus, including support from the center-right People’s Party.

“Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence,” Pope Leo said. “When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person.”

“For this reason,” he added, “the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile.”

The pope also defended the family as “the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community,” saying that “where the family is upheld, the spiritual and social stability of nations is also strengthened.”

“The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging,” he said.

Pope Leo drew on Spain’s intellectual and Catholic heritage, citing Cervantes, St. Teresa of Ávila, Miguel de Unamuno and the School of Salamanca, especially the 16th-century Dominican friar Francisco de Vitoria.

From that tradition, he said, Spain helped shape “a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties.”

The pope said that legacy remains alive whenever lawmakers ask “how to ensure that what is possible is just, that what is legal is truly humane, and that the will of the majority safeguards those goods that belong to all and respects that which no majority can legitimately violate.”

He also cited his recent encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas,” published May 25, saying that in an age of artificial intelligence, biotechnology and rapid technological change, political discernment must focus on “the place of the human person in our decision making.”

The pope devoted part of his address to migrants and refugees, a major theme of his trip to Spain, which will conclude with visits to Tenerife and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a key entry point to Europe for migrants.

“The situation of migrants and refugees calls for a response that focuses on people, addresses the root causes that force them to leave, and goes beyond the mere management of migration flows,” he said.

He called for “safe and legal pathways, a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration,” while also promoting “the right to remain in one’s own land,” so that no one is forced to leave home because of war, insecurity, poverty or the effects of the climate crisis.

Pope Leo also warned that many migrants remain “prey to traffickers and smugglers who take advantage of their desperation,” calling for stronger prevention, rescue and assistance efforts.

“No nation can face a challenge of this magnitude on its own,” he said.

Turning to global conflict, Pope Leo said the world is undergoing “a profound spiritual and cultural crisis” marked by violence, polarization and mistrust.

“Every war constitutes, ultimately, a painful defeat of the capacity to negotiate and also of that common human consciousness that recognizes bonds of justice among nations,” he said.

“Weapons may impose a temporary silence; but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace,” the pope said, warning that “in various parts of the world — and in Europe as well — rearmament is once again being presented as an almost inevitable response to the fragility of the international situation.”

The pope also warned against the use of artificial intelligence in warfare, saying new technologies in the military sphere require “rigorous ethical oversight, so that decisions regarding life and death are never left to automated systems nor removed from the moral responsibility of the human person.”

Addressing Spain’s polarized political climate, the pope urged lawmakers to resist contempt for political opponents.

“Political pluralism should not degenerate into the constant disparagement of one’s adversary,” he said. “In a mature society, even conflict can become a path to peace, when differences are softened by listening and directed toward recognizing the needs, aspirations and capabilities of all.”

“Firmness does not require contempt; disagreement does not entail humiliation,” he added.

Only two left-wing parties, Podemos and the BNG, which together account for six lawmakers out of more than 600 parliamentarians, chose not to attend the pope’s address.

Pope Leo also made a strong appeal for religious freedom, calling freedom of thought, conscience and religion “a fundamental right that protects the most intimate sphere of the person.”

“The freedom upon which the contemporary state is built, if it is authentic, recognizes the religious dimension of the human person, respects it and protects it legally,” he said. Authentic freedom, the pope added, “ensures that faith is not a reason for which a person has to forfeit his or her contribution to society.”

“Faith does not seek to impose itself through privileges or coercion; yet neither can it be silenced as if it were irrelevant to public life,” he said.

The pope also defended the sacramental seal of confession, saying it “holds special importance for the Catholic Church” and forms part of the broader sphere of religious freedom.

“To protect it legally, as is done in a similar way in some professions, means preserving a sacred space of inner freedom, where the believer can open his or her soul to God without fear of external pressures,” Pope Leo said.

The remarks came shortly after French bishops criticized a June 1 proposal in France’s National Assembly that they said could have endangered the seal of confession. The proposal was later withdrawn.

Near the end of his address, the pope invited Spanish lawmakers to “lift your gaze to the world around you,” not to escape reality, but to remember that every public decision “affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard.”

“A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted,” he said. “It attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame.”

The pope concluded with a blessing for Spain, praying that the nation “never lose sight of its roots nor the courage to look to the future.”

“May Spain continue to be a land of encounter, of culture, of solidarity and of hope,” he said. “And may its public life always know how to unite the firmness of convictions with the nobility of dialogue and the greatness of service.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The gathering brought together leading figures from Spanish culture with an international profile, including actor Antonio Banderas. Sports were represented by legendary badminton player Carolina Marín, a three-time world champion, while academia was represented by José María Coello de Portugal, vice rector for planning, coordination, and institutional relations at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Representatives of labor unions and employers’ organizations also presented the pope with their concerns and challenges, with the aim of working together to build a society oriented toward the common good and capable of overcoming fragmentation and polarization.

Their presence was itself a sign that encounter remains possible even in a divided society.

The historic meeting reflected the theme of the first papal trip to Spain in 15 years — “Lift Up Your Gaze” — and Pope Leo XIV’s call to weave networks among different social actors, showing that beyond legitimate differences there is a firm desire to build strong, cross-sector alliances to face the challenges of the future.

One of the highlights of the event was Banderas’ address, in which he recited a text on the bond between faith and culture.

“I confess that I am a victim of God’s spell,” the actor said, looking directly at the pope.

Banderas, who the previous day had directed the cast of the musical “Godspell” in a special performance during a prayer vigil with young people in Madrid’s Plaza de Lima, also evoked the popular piety of his native Málaga and the Holy Week processions that marked his childhood.

In his remarks, Banderas stressed art’s ability to raise deep questions.

“In a world that at times is overly simplified, art helps us recover the depth and the soul that is trying to be stolen by artificial intelligence,” he said.

Earlier, Cardinal José Cobo, archbishop of Madrid, presented Pope Leo XIV as a reference point in the fight against extremism. Along those lines, the pope made clear that the Church has stood, from its earliest days, on the side of culture and art, fostering the encounter of different sensibilities in a shared search for transcendence.

“The Church, conscious both of her successes and her failures throughout history, longs to remain in dialogue with the contemporary world,” Pope Leo said.

In his address, the pope invited the world today not to dismiss the Church’s “centuries-old experience,” which he said has always “proposed paths for a dignified life and the common good.” In that context, he recalled St. Paul VI, who before the United Nations noted that, whatever one’s opinion of the Roman pontiff, his mission is well known.

Pope Leo also cited his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published May 25, to return to a central question: “What does it mean to be truly human?”

To that question, he offered a clear answer: “The Church shares with humility but also with firmness what she has discovered through the experience of faith: that Jesus Christ responds to the great questions about human life and its fullness, already in this world and unto its fulfillment in eternity.”

To face these questions, the pope proposed a form of social dialogue that he compared to the art of weaving networks, based on “encounter, listening, dialogue, and respect.” The approach is not new to his visit to Spain. It was already present in his episcopal coat of arms and has been confirmed since his election as Roman pontiff — a word meaning “bridge-builder” — as one who builds a bridge first with God and then with people, societies, and cultures.

In concrete terms, he explained that “weaving networks” means that “the university does not live with its back turned to the world of work or renounce the truth; that business activity does not see the employee as just another factor in the equation of its interests; that art does not have only the elites as its goal; that sport is not reduced to spectacle or turned into mere business; that technological progress takes into account the elderly, the poor, and those who have no voice.”

In that context, the pope — a mathematician by training — recalled with admiration the great classics of Spanish literature, citing Lope de Vega, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, and Calderón de la Barca. He also recalled the serenity of the prose of St. Thomas Aquinas, from whom the Church has inherited the beautiful hymns of Corpus Christi, the solemnity celebrated Sunday.

For the pope, weaving networks also means “serving in a disinterested way,” as men and women moved by faith have done throughout the centuries by founding hospitals, schools, and charitable initiatives. He therefore invited participants to ask honestly whether Europe could have forged its identity “without the spiritual imprint that has marked its history.”

“This is not a provocation but an invitation to consider whether eternity, which broke into time and space through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, can once again be reconciled with everyday life,” he said. “Is it really possible to believe that Europe — which we love so much — would be itself without the imprint of faith? Why fear that eternity might permeate daily life?”

Finally, the pope said Christ restores the common good to its central place as an arbiter that “calms the greed of some and nourishes the hope of others, while desiring to save them all.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The pope made the appeal while presiding over Mass, a procession, and Eucharistic blessing for the solemnity of Corpus Christi in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles, one of the Spanish capital’s most emblematic sites.

“As I begin my visit to Spain, it is with a heart filled with joy that I preside over this celebration on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi,” the pope said in his homily.

Corpus Christi has deep roots in Spain and throughout the Catholic world. The feast originated after the efforts of St. Juliana of Cornillon, a Belgian religious sister who promoted a liturgical celebration dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament. Pope Urban IV confirmed the feast for the universal Church in 1264, and within decades it had reached the Iberian Peninsula. King Alfonso X, known as “the Wise,” took part in a Corpus Christi celebration in Toledo in 1280.

Over the centuries, the tradition became firmly established in Spain, making the country one of the great centers of Eucharistic devotion. During the period of the Council of Trent, when the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was contested in parts of Europe, Spanish popular piety continued to exalt it through processions, music, art, and public expressions of faith.

In Madrid, Pope Leo said Corpus Christi is “more than just another celebration on the liturgical calendar.”

“It is a way of returning to the heart of the faith to renew our love and fidelity to God,” he said.

“The solemn processions held on this day have for centuries shaped the piety, art, music, architecture and life of the Spanish people,” the pope continued. “Even today, they still express and manifest the spiritual sentiments of this country through the beauty and elegance of the floral carpets, the altars erected in the streets, the carefully crafted monstrances and stands, the hymns and the liturgical vestments.”

The setting itself added a striking backdrop to the celebration. Plaza de Cibeles, crowned by the statue of the Roman goddess in a chariot drawn by lions, is known internationally as the place where Real Madrid celebrates its titles. On Sunday, however, the square’s focus was Christ in the Eucharist.

One participant joked that with Pope Leo XIV in Madrid, the Spanish capital had three lions.

The pope said the Corpus Christi procession is not “an exhibition, a remnant of folklore or a simple display of beauty.”

“It is a profession of faith in the presence of the risen Lord, who is alive and continues to walk among us, who becomes bread to satiate our hunger for life, and visits the recesses of our hearts and history, even those shrouded in darkness,” he said.

The procession route, about 600 meters along Calle de Alcalá, one of Madrid’s central thoroughfares, was adorned with 16 floral carpets — eight on each side — made with more than 30,000 carnations. Numerous faithful joined the pope, including many boys and girls who had recently received their first Communion.

Pope Leo said the procession reveals that Christ “is not confined to the church, but comes out to meet us.”

“Jesus travels the streets, crosses the squares and visits our neighborhoods, dwelling in the settings of our daily lives,” he said. “He is a God who is close to us, who walks with his people, the Lord of history.”

The pope also connected Corpus Christi with charity, noting that the Church in Spain has long associated the solemnity with the Day for Charity.

“The Christ who processes through the streets in the monstrance is the same one who identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken,” he said.

“It is not merely a matter of bringing out the monstrance,” Pope Leo emphasized, “but of allowing ourselves to be brought out of our selfishness and indifference, of a comfortable, private faith, so as to respond to his invitation to conversion, to change our perspective, and to welcome his presence which transforms us and makes us builders of a new world.”

Among the faithful who took part in the celebration was Sister Maribel, a member of the Monastic Family of Bethlehem, whose community is opening a convent in Huelva.

Speaking with emotion, she summed up her experience to ACI Prensa: “I loved everything. It was extraordinary. I need to read and reread and pray with the Holy Father’s homily. It was very intense. Above all, I leave with the motto ‘Lift up your gaze.’ I don’t know — it is a phrase that encompasses life and every detail.”

The pope said the historical memory of Spain’s Corpus Christi processions “is not confined to wistful nostalgia.”

“Instead, it stands as an invitation in the present moment, in our daily lives, in our relationships, in society, and in the building of the future,” he said.

That, he added, is the task facing Spain today and tomorrow: “to ensure that the religiosity which has shaped and defined this country for centuries is not a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today.”

The pope described that school of faith as one that “teaches us to kneel before God and before our neighbor, because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother.”

It is also, he said, “a school that teaches us of the gratitude of love that becomes a gift, so that it may flow among us and break the chains of all selfishness.”

From the Eucharist, he continued, Catholics learn “that God is a real presence and that we too are called to be present in the realities and challenges of society, not shying away, but personally committing ourselves to the building of the common good.”

Pope Leo also recalled St. Manuel González García, the Spanish bishop known as “the bishop of the abandoned tabernacle.”

“His life reminds us that the Eucharist should be honored not only during great celebrations or on special occasions, but also through the silent fidelity of those who accompany the Lord with a humble and quiet friendship that is nourished day by day,” the pope said.

The pope also cited St. John of the Cross, recalling that while imprisoned in harsh conditions in Toledo around the time of Corpus Christi in 1578, the Spanish mystic recognized the hidden presence of the Lord even in darkness.

“The Eucharistic Jesus is ‘that eternal spring that is hidden’ — a spring that flows and quenches thirst, yet without blinding, without imposing itself through outward power, without presenting itself in a spectacular way,” the pope said.

Pope Leo closed by urging the faithful to return to Christ in the Eucharist with “sincere love.”

“Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy,” he said.

“Let us drink anew from this Eucharistic spring, which does not enclose us in private devotion, but sends us out to refresh our brothers and sisters, our families, the poor, the suffering, and those who have lost hope,” the pope said. “Eucharistic grace transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope for those we meet.”

“May the Lord Jesus, present in the Eucharist, transform you into bread that is broken, given, and offered,” he concluded, “so that a life of fullness may spring forth for you, for your families, and for your country.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.