{"id":35860,"date":"2026-06-06T14:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/35860\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T14:07:09","slug":"pope-leo-urges-end-to-polarising-narratives-on-spain-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/35860\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo urges end to \u2018polarising narratives\u2019 on Spain visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Pope Leo on Saturday urged global leaders to avoid dividing their electorates with \u201csterile simplifications\u201d to gain popularity and called on them to listen to the world\u2019s cries for peace, in a forceful speech opening a week-long tour of Spain.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Leo, who has angered US President Donald Trump by criticising his anti-immigration policies and the Iran war, will meet homeless people in Madrid and migrants in the Canary Islands during a visit he has said he hopes will set an example to the world about respecting \u201cevery human being\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cToday, the temptation to gain popularity by \u200cfanning the flames of polarisation seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated,\u201d Leo said in a speech before King Felipe VI at the Royal Palace in Madrid.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarising narratives of your societal reality and history, so as to overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pope Leo delivers a speech watched by Spain\u2019s Felipe VI in the Royal Palace in Madrid on Saturday. Photo: EPA\/Vatican Media\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bb3f7449-2c25-40e6-b8a2-84e3e2577b7b_87eb9b66.jpg\" title=\"Pope Leo delivers a speech watched by Spain\u2019s Felipe VI in the Royal Palace in Madrid on Saturday. Photo: EPA\/Vatican Media\"\/>Pope Leo delivers a speech watched by Spain\u2019s Felipe VI in the Royal Palace in Madrid on Saturday. Photo: EPA\/Vatican Media<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Technology was partly to blame for creating an environment which magnified prejudices and weakened critical thinking, Leo said. The world was crying \u201cfrom its depths for peace\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo on Saturday urged global leaders to avoid dividing their electorates with \u201csterile simplifications\u201d to gain popularity&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6211,14189,92,647,9948,194,2312,82,9933,9934,17,1152,234,10165,17187],"class_list":["post-35860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-africa","tag-bad-bunny","tag-barcelona","tag-canary-islands","tag-catholic-church","tag-donald-trump","tag-king-felipe-vi","tag-madrid","tag-pope-leo","tag-sagrada-familia","tag-spain","tag-spanish","tag-toledo","tag-vatican","tag-western-powers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}