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Pope Leo XIV rides through the Llu\u00eds Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona June 9, 2026, greeting young people gathered for a prayer vigil. (CNS photo\/Lola Gomez)<\/p>\n
Lola Gomez<\/p>\n
BARCELONA, Spain |Flying from Spain\u2019s capital of Madrid to Barcelona June 9, Pope Leo XIV shifted his focus to the deeper and darker existential questions punctuating human life.<\/p>\n
In Madrid — the seat of government, the monarchy and finance as well as home to world-famous art, culture and sport — the pope highlighted the gifts that Spain and its people already possess; saying they need to work together in their diversity to protect human dignity in order to thrive and address the many political, economic and social challenges they face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the political center of Spain, Pope Leo traveled to Barcelona, the country\u2019s second-largest city and the capital of Catalonia, a region with a distinct language and culture that has long been home to a movement seeking greater autonomy or independence from Spain. Tensions escalated in 2017 after Catalan leaders organized an independence referendum that Madrid opposed and Spanish courts later ruled unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
His remarks throughout his time in Barcelona built on a broader message: that human dignity does not depend on success, productivity or a flawless past, and that God does not abandon people in suffering or define them by their mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must question the dynamics of our society, the culture of individualism and the temptation of violence — but not God,\u201d he said June 9 at the Llu\u00eds Companys Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n
While Pope Leo did not touch on current political or cultural debates there, he did read substantial portions of his written texts in Catalan, a regional language spoken in northeastern Spain. When he stumbled with its complex sounds, he received loud, appreciative applause from the crowds at the Llu\u00eds Companys Olympic Stadium, which was named after a former president of the autonomous region who was imprisoned by the Spanish Republic, exiled and then shot by General Francisco Franco\u2019s authoritarian regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He urged the 40,000 faithful in the stadium for a prayer vigil June 9 to reflect \u201con our personal journey, as well as on the \u2018nights\u2019 of our journey as a Church and those of Spain — its cities, its old and new forms of poverty, its society and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt times, we experience the night of faith, the weariness of believing, the fatigue of the spirit, a sense of inadequacy in the face of the Gospel\u2019s call, the bitterness of our failures and the fear of not measuring up,\u201d he said in his homily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The preoccupation with failure and being forsaken was clear in the painful stories three young people shared with the pope and the crowd: one young man had lived feeling \u201cimmense emptiness\u201d; one young woman had attempted suicide; and another spent time in foster care and juvenile detention after her father had tried to kill her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I look up to heaven and ask God, \u2018Where were you when I was a little girl?\u2019\u201d she told the pope at the stadium.<\/p>\n
In his response , the pope asked people to reconsider who\u2019s really to blame. \u201cShould we ask, \u2018Where was God?\u2019 Or should we ask ourselves about humanity?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each of the three young people ended their testimonies with questions of advice to the pope on the very struggles they shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has endowed us with intelligence and will, given us a conscience,\u201d he said in his lengthy responses, encouraging people to take responsibility to confront injustices \u201cboth personally and as a society.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Pope Leo forcefully admonished any attempts to \u201cspiritualize pain, superficially attributing it to \u2018God\u2019s will\u2019 or to some mysterious plan of his, because this risks minimizing that suffering, silencing it and hurting people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod does not want suffering. He carries it with us and invites us to trust in him with perseverance,\u201d he said, because \u201cwith God, life is always reborn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the other hand, he said, moments of darkness and suffering must never be silenced just \u201cbecause certain cultural norms demand that we always be victorious and perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo noted an apparent correlation between increased mental health issues and a \u201cdeeply wrong\u201d strain of constant progress prevalent in modern society that \u201csubjects people to pressures, expectations and tensions that compromise healthy balances.\u201d He also called for \u201ca healthcare system that prioritizes this invisible and widespread malaise\u201d of depression<\/p>\n
A \u201chealthy sense of restlessness\u201d must be cultivated instead of chasing relentlessly after profit, performance and perfection, he said. \u201cWhen people learn to pause and value what is important \u2026 allowing themselves to be enlightened by the Gospel, they also develop a critical perspective on a social system that does not put people first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope also reached out to those marginalized in the prison system when he visited the city\u2019s \u201cBrians 1\u201d penitentiary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the sunny exterior of the prison where birds chirped from green trees, incarcerated women shouted from the windows, \u201cGod bless you!\u201d and \u201cLong live the pope!\u201d when he arrived early June 10. In the dim, dark gray-walled hall, brightened by white flowers on the stage, the pope listened to two women share their stories of loss, anger and finding peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod loves you just as you are, but he dreams of you being even better!\u201d he said. \u201cThe Lord allows us all to start anew, for being human and being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but rather growing in the ability to convert, repent, make amends and, above all, to reconcile and forgive.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, \u201cwe too are called not to judge the \u2018nights\u2019 — neither the nights of our own lives, those of the Church, nor those of the society around us,\u201d he said in his homily at the prayer service June 9.<\/p>\n
The darkness is a sign to keep searching, asking God questions and being open to the work of the Holy Spirit, he said. \u201cWe must welcome the night no longer as a sign of failure, but as the beginning of a new life.\u201d<\/p>\n
That new life requires putting down one\u2019s protective and sometimes violent \u201carmor,\u201d much like St. Ignatius of Loyola did after he prayed at the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat, housed in a sanctuary of the same name, and gave up his life as a soldier.<\/p>\n
At the same sanctuary and Benedictine monastery, built into the jagged mountain range northwest of the city, Pope Leo said, Jesus \u201cexposes the violence that can lurk in our words and attitudes: criticism that humiliates, condemnation that destroys and aggression that divides.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat hidden violence can often disguise itself as a kind of armor, which we use to protect our wounds, our fears and the suffering caused by injustice,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pope made no mention of clergy sex abuse while he was in Barcelona, even though the Montserrat monastery has come to symbolize the scandal in Spain after multiple victims came forward starting in 2019, reporting decades of abuse by the monks. Just two months before the pope\u2019s visit, the Catholic Church and Spain\u2019s government agreed on a compensation program for abuse victims.<\/p>\n
When meeting with diocesan charities and aid organizations at the Church of San Agust\u00ed in Barcelona June 10, one volunteer told the pope they recognize their limitations and do not try to \u201cfix\u201d people\u2019s lives; their aim is to \u201cnever turn their backs\u201d on anyone needing help.n<\/p>\n
Pope Leo told them that Christians must be kind, gentle, compassionate, selfless \u201cand seek the good of others, knowing that in every brother and sister who suffers it is the Lord himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pope spent most of that address responding to Renzo, a 6-year-old boy, who asked the pope light-hearted curiosities, like whether he liked soccer, and serious queries about homelessness, poverty and forgiveness.<\/p>\n
In this small, poor parish, made up of many immigrants and missionaries, Pope Leo was in his element, comfortably going from being playful — speaking off-the-cuff and making his audience laugh — to being more solemn and sticking to prepared remarks \u201cso we do not get sidetracked.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were many moments the pope\u2019s fun side shone through, like when, prompted by kids in the Olympic stadium, he gestured the \u201c6-7\u201d meme. He sat in the cockpit for part of the flight to Barcelona and radioed the pilot of a Spanish air force fighter jet escorting the papal plane, and he met with Bad Bunny before leaving Madrid after teasing reporters that the U.S. singer might outshine him with their overlapping events.<\/p>\n
The trip\u2019s motto of \u201cLift up your gaze\u201d became literal at the pope\u2019s final event in Barcelona with the blessing of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia\u2019s central tower, which makes it the tallest church in the world.<\/p>\n
Standing at 566 feet high and topped by a glass and white enameled cross to reflect sunlight by day and glow at night, it was lit up during a stunning light and fireworks show to celebrate the pope\u2019s blessing and the 100th anniversary of the death of its architect, the venerable Antoni Gaud\u00ed.<\/p>\n
As the Montserrat choir sang and music reached a crescendo, thousands of small hollow \u201ctowers\u201d left on spectators\u2019 seats suddenly turned on and glowed in tandem with the lights glowing in the church. People immediately held aloft the small lights, which were remotely controlled to create waves and pulsate, evoking a larger living being, shining in harmony with the church and others.<\/p>\n
The basilica is \u201ca sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain\u201d and to \u201clift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, shining forth in his Son made man,\u201d the pope said in his homily during Mass inside the basilica.<\/p>\n
Construction of the massive edifice began in 1882. It survived two World Wars, a civil war, anarchist attacks and unsteady funding. The basilica remains \u201ca work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey,\u201d the pope said. Each Christian is a \u201cliving stone\u201d in the edifice of the Church and that, too, is a project that God is still carrying out, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His final message to the city was that holiness is not about perfection but about allowing God to continue his work within us, even amid mistakes, setbacks and suffering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, this work consists in our very lives, which God\u00a0 conceives as a masterpiece that we are to create together, and he calls us to collaborate with him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV rides through the Llu\u00eds Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona June 9, 2026, greeting young people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18408,2656,92,2046,12600,82,10022,70,17],"class_list":["post-39047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-2017-catalan-independence-referendum","tag-abuse","tag-barcelona","tag-catalonia","tag-god","tag-madrid","tag-pope","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39047","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=39047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}