Pope Leo XIV arrived in Spain on Saturday for his seven-day trip focusing in part on migration, including visiting the Canary Islands to speak with survivors about the dangerous crossing. He also set out to meet sexual abuse survivors, have a talk with Spain’s Prime Minister, bless the Tower of Jesus at the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, and has already preached to over a million people in Madrid.
Leo XIV urged Spaniards to stop “fanning the flames of polarization” over migration, calling for political leaders to seek unity.
The pontiff is scheduled to visit Italy’s Lampedusa Island in early July as a continuation of his tour, which, according to analysts, suggests he is hoping to unify a polarized world by addressing traditionally Christian countries.
Political Tensions Remain High
In Spain, both politics and religion have experienced hardships, with the Church’s credibility crisis and the struggling Socialist-led government. Leo’s is the first papal visit since 2011, when Benedict XIV visited for World Youth Day.
In terms of migration, the pontiff has become an unexpected ally to the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez; Leo XIV has continued the papal advocacy of migrants, calling the US approach inhumane and demanding leaders treat migrants “with dignity.” Meanwhile, Sánchez has defended immigration as an economic and humanitarian need; most recently, his government regularized over 500,000 undocumented migrants.
The visit is historic in terms of politics: he is the first pope to address a joint parliamentary session of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The governing Socialist Party is not only dealing with backlash on migration but also corruption scandals, while conservatives, including Vox and the Popular Party, are calling for harsher migration policies and for Sánchez to step down before the next general election.
The pontiff also hoped to address the issues of the Church: he met with victims of sexual abuse by the clergymen, with an estimated 200,000 minors estimated to have suffered since 1940 in Spain. “Abuses are still an open wound,” he told reporters as the local clergy grapple with the aftermath of decades of abuse and cover-up. Despite this, the Pope pointed out signs of a spiritual awakening in his comments to reporters.
A New Direction After Francis
Analysts say the Pope is hoping to step away from divisive and polarizing political issues, refocusing attention on solidarity over politics. “For the love of truth, I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history,” he said, adding that such an approach will help Europe “overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.”
“Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’”
Leo XIV continues the legacy of Francis, who initiated the Church’s outspoken advocacy for migration during his first pastoral visit outside Rome in 2013.
On June 11, Leo will visit Arguineguín, on the island of Gran Canaria, to honor the thousands of migrants who perished or went missing during the journey. The following day, he would meet migrants at a camp on the island of Tenerife.
In general, however, Leo XIV’s visit, especially his outdoor mass in Madrid attended by 1.2 million people, signals that he is returning to traditional Christian centers of faith. His predecessor, Pope Francis, had foregone visiting traditional centers in favor of visiting smaller Catholic communities in more neglected areas of the world.
More Destinations to Come
With the Spanish tour finishing this weekend, the Pope is set to land in Italy next, in early July. There is also a scheduled visit to France in late September.
Whatever issues the pontiff will address during these visits, he continues to give hope to migrants.
“Perhaps the pope will change the way in which people here look at immigrants,” said Eslim Jallow, 27, who left Gambia with his younger brother and landed in the Canary Islands in 2023. “Immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, not ignored.”
Jallow has learned Spanish and is now a programmer and web developer in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. He is not Catholic, like most migrants, but says the Pope “speaks for us, he reminds the world we are also human beings.”
