{"id":38034,"date":"2026-06-10T12:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/38034\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:15:19","slug":"why-pope-leos-visit-to-spains-parliament-was-historic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/38034\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pope Leos\u2019 visit to Spain\u2019s Parliament was historic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days ago, the Pope made an important stop at the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of the Deputies during his time in Madrid. Vatican News spoke to Prof. Emilio S\u00e1enz Franc\u00e9s, historian and professor of International Relations at Comillas Pontifical University about the significance of his speech.<\/p>\n

By Kielce Gussie \u2013 Madrid<\/p>\n

On Pope Leo’s third day in Spain, he began with a historic meeting with the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of the Deputies in Madrid.<\/p>\n

Vatican News spoke with Prof. Emilio S\u00e1enz Franc\u00e9s, historian and professor of International Relations at Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid, about the impact of this visit and some of the main points on which the Pope spoke.<\/p>\n

The professor argued that even without the stop at Parliament, Pope Leo\u2019s journey to Spain was already historic. \u201cIt has been about 15 years since the last papal visit,\u201d he explained. So far, Prof. S\u00e1enz highlighted how the visit will continue to be historical because of the different and important stops on the 6-day trip.<\/p>\n

The Church has a say <\/p>\n

Starting off the work week on Monday\u2014his third day in Spain\u2019s capital city\u2014Pope Leo spent his morning in the political sphere, which, Prof. S\u00e1enz highlighted was a very powerful message. The Pope\u2019s speech \u201cput into a real debate the ideas of the Pope, the ideas of the Pope, this is the ideas of the Catholic Church, and the current Spanish political debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Spain has a centuries long history and tradition tied to the Catholic Church, the opportunity for these two environments to come together is especially significant because this meeting showed, as the professor said, the relation between the two as alive.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The Pope’s speech was held at the Congress of the Deputies in Madrid \u00a0 (@Vatican Media)\n <\/p>\n

Yet, the Pope\u2019s speech began with an important distinction: the balance between Church and state. The current political situation in the country sees a struggle in this as some would argue the Pope or Church should even have the opportunity to address the Parliament.<\/p>\n

For that reason, Prof. S\u00e1enz highlighted the wisdom the Pope had in saying the Church\u2019s role is not to question the legitimacy of political institution.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, the Church is\u2014and the Pope is\u2014completely entitled to share some reflections about the current social, economic, political reality of the world,\u201d he stressed. Even more, the message needs to be communicated in a language that can reach a Parliament that is very polarized, and topics that are up for debate should also be on the table.<\/p>\n

\n Listen to an excerpt of the interview with Professor Frances\n <\/p>\n

Salamanca: An intellectual history <\/p>\n

A critical point of the speech, according to the International Relations professor was when the Pope referenced the School of Salamanca, which at the height of Spanish power, was \u201ca pioneer in developing different topics, like capitalism and human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the context of Pope Leo\u2019s message to Parliament, the School of Salamanca is an example of quality intellectual thought with a deep connection to Christianity. Specifically, Prof. S\u00e1enz said it noted the need to limit temporal power\u2014something that in today\u2019s world is relevant. He warned against the declining quality of checks and balances found in democracies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live now in an era of superpowers willing to develop their aims without any kind of control or completely reluctant to fulfill, to commit to the necessary controls within their political culture,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Spain, in particular, is coming from years of transition to democracy and now faces a tension between democracy and Parliament and how to balance the two powers. The Pope recalled how in the country, considered one of the cradles of Western culture, there is a greater understanding of the pitfalls that come from what is being valued in global politics.<\/p>\n

Prof. S\u00e1enz noted that the papal message was directed at Spain, but he was also talking to \u201cEuropean political frame of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dignity challenged on all sides <\/p>\n

Governments must create laws based on the recognition of a human dignity that is inherent to everyone. If this is the case, then the law be a safeguard. This is the standard to which the Pope called every country. But the professor recognized that looking at the wider world, this is \u201cextremely difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

He highlighted how the Pope and the Church as a whole today acts as the \u201cnecessary beacon to say that there are wrongs in the horizon, that there are wrongs in the present, growing wrongs, and that this is not the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/p>\n

\n Pope Leo touched on current global issues, such as rearmament, peace, and human dignity \u00a0 (@Vatican Media)\n <\/p>\n

Professor S\u00e1enz argued even history has proven that ignoring this standard does not work. Still, there are challenges to defending this \u201ccountercultural position.\u201d Simply look at the state of world politics\u2014war in the Middle East, war in Ukraine, conflicts in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very difficult to promote precisely what is now being challenged from all quarters,\u201d the professor stressed. At the same time, he explained, it is more important than ever to promote these beliefs with the moral guidance and authority of the Pope.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that Pope Leo has seemingly made this one of his onjectives. \u201cHe became Pope in one of the moments of greatest geopolitical uncertainties and dangers since precisely the end of World War II.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recipe for change <\/p>\n

With ongoing conflicts around the world, rearmament has reappeared on the table. Pope Leo made sure to denounce this as a response to the insecurity and challenges we see on the global stage. Rather, he reiterated prioritizing dialogue, international law, and diplomacy over added violence.<\/p>\n

Yet, Professor S\u00e1enz recognized that this call goes against the flow of the majority. \u201cIt is counter-cultural to, nowadays, defend ideas against rearmament.\u201d But before even getting to weapons, the Pope called for the need to disarm our words. Big things can be accomplished through little steps.<\/p>\n

Here, the professor of International Relations invited everyone to recover the \u201cability to talk from very different political positions, moral positions, political claims and geopolitical ambitions. Let us talk to find common ground as to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

It worked in the past. It can work again today. Turning to Spain as a \u201cmicrocosm of the wider world\u201d, Professor S\u00e1enz pointed out that we \u201ccan return to the use of words and dialogue as a starting point to make little changes.\u201d Starting there, little by little, even bigger changes could happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days ago, the Pope made an important stop at the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15143,945,6727,17],"class_list":["post-38034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-heads-of-state-and-government","tag-human-rights","tag-peace","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38034","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=38034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}