Six weeks after his lengthy tour of Africa, Pope Leo XIV is set to visit Spain from June 6 to 12, church officials said on Wednesday.
The trip will include stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, as listed in the itinerary published by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference and the Vatican.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church plans to meet Spanish King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Visits to prison inmates and migrants are also planned.
In Madrid, the pope is due to visit the Royal Palace and a Caritas homeless shelter on the first day. In the evening, he will meet with thousands of young people.
Leo XIV will also celebrate Mass in Cibeles Square in Madrid on June 7.
The programme calls for him to meet Sánchez the following day, when the pontiff is also scheduled to deliver a speech in Parliament and lead a diocesan meeting at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The first papal visit since Benedict’s trip in 2011
The visit will then continue in Barcelona, where Leo is scheduled to hold a prayer vigil at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium on June 9, visit Brians 1 prison, and celebrate Mass at the Sagrada Família on June 10.
At the basilica, he will also consecrate the newly completed Jesus Tower, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the death of its famed architect Antoni Gaudí.
The final leg of the trip will take the pope to the Canary Islands, where meetings with migrants and two further Masses are planned on Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
The visit will be the first by a pope to Spain since Benedict XVI attended World Youth Day in Madrid in August 2011. He had also visited the country the previous year.