Pope Leo heads to Spain to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with migrants
The weeklong trip will include a historic address to Spain’s parliament and meetings with migrants in the Canary Islands, where 1,172 people died or went missing last year.
- On Saturday, June 6, Pope Leo XIV begins an apostolic visit to Spain, traveling more than 2,500 km across Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands during his first papal trip to the nation since 2011.
- The visit enters one of Europe's most charged political landscapes, where a fragile Socialist-led government faces deep polarization; Pope Leo XIV seeks to address unity in a nation where migration has become a divisive rallying cry.
- On Monday, June 8, the pontiff will make history as the first Pope to address Congress. Museums and churches will remain open at night under the "White and Yellow Night" initiative to welcome pilgrims.
- Pope Leo XIV will meet migrants at centres in the Canary Islands, reviving Pope Francis's focus on migration as a global priority. The pontiff will also meet Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on four separate occasions during the tour.
- Large crowds are expected, with 50,000 people registered for Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium. The apostolic visit concludes on June 10 after the Pope delivers 12 speeches, homilies, and greetings throughout Spain.
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From 6 to 12 June, the Pope will travel to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He will encounter a country where the Church, the State and society are still struggling for their relationship with each other.
The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, will accompany Pope Leon XIV in the meeting that the Pontiff will have with migrants, workers and volunteers who take care of them at the dock of the port of Arguineguín. Together with Sánchez, the minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, will move to the dock; the minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres; and the minister of Migration, Elma Saiz. Argu…
From institutions to the peripheries: Pope Leo's pilgrimage to Spain
The Director of the Holy See Press Office outlines for journalists the Pope's fourth international Apostolic Journey to Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, addressing the themes of peace, disarmament, unity, youth, culture, new technologies, and migration, while encouraging a Church that "still has much to say on many levels." Read all
Daily Maverick
The Straits TimesPope Leo heads to Spain to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with migrants
Pope Leo heads to Spain on Saturday for a week-long tour, his first visit to an EU country outside Italy, which will culminate with the pontiff meeting migrants in the Canary Islands who braved dangerous Atlantic waters to enter Europe.
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