A pope in Catalonia stuck in the post-Pro-Process
Someone who has not shied away from any controversy and knows how to find words with subtle suggestions like Leo XIV, it is to be believed that he will say something to Catalonia which still has a president in exile, which turns uncomfortably in an autonomous suit that confines it and which has seen two million people arrive in a quarter of a century. It will be interesting to see to what extent Leo XIV has a specific message for our country
Today at half past twelve Pope Leo XIV lands at El Prat airport and begins a stay of 36 hours in our country, packed with events: the crowd at Lluís Companys stadium this afternoon, the symbolism of the climb to Montserrat, the message of meeting with prisoners at Can Brians, and the highlight, tomorrow around 9 pm, of the blessing of the Jesus tower of the Sagrada Família, which for a few weeks has crowned the basilica at 172.5 meters above the city of Barcelona. And on Thursday morning, Leo XIV will depart for the Canary Islands.
Pope Francis, Leo XIV's predecessor, who was very fond of traveling to what he called the peripheries of the world rather than to the great capitals, wanted to go to the Canary Islands, but his health no longer allowed him to approach the reality of Africans risking their lives to reach the coasts of the European Union. Pope Prevost has revived this trip and coupled it with tomorrow, June 10, 2026, the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí, which is, in fact, what has brought him to Catalonia and also to Spain. Today, the mayor of Barcelona has published a decree in which he highlights what he shares with Leo XIV, such as "advocating for technology at the service of humanity" or denouncing "the shameless hoarding of power by the technoo-ligarchy". It is a classic of these days: politicians, even those who do not believe, show their alignment with the head of the Catholic Church, whose capacity to be a universal ethical voice they recall. And those who say they believe overlook that the Pope is against the arms race and in favor of the dignity of immigrants. And then, the greatest contradiction: yesterday, Spanish deputies applauded for seven minutes a pope who told them to disarm their language, when politicians do not stop tearing each other down in every intervention.
Amidst all these contradictions, today the Pope begins a journey within the journey, the journey to Catalonia, which will be subject to all sorts of particular contradictions. Blessing of the tallest tower of a temple that a couple or three generations of Barcelonians have debated whether or not to finish. A wonder of the world that due to its international radiance has consumed a neighborhood. The Pope comes to a Catalonia that is explained by Montserrat, or by Poblet, or by Sant Jordi, or by Easter Mondays, but where the Church has made a vertiginous retreat measured by the number of religious vocations, baptisms, or canonical marriages. All this in parallel with the loss of weight of what we had always called the Catalan Church, today blurred to the point of being, almost, the Church in Catalonia, a Hispano-Roman Church, with Madrid whispering to Rome which bishops are suitable or not.
Finally, someone who has not shied away from any controversy and knows how to find words with subtle suggestions like Leo XIV, it is to be believed that he will say something to Catalonia which still has a president in exile, which turns uncomfortably in an autonomous suit that imprisons it and which has seen two million people arrive in a quarter of a century. It will be interesting to see to what extent Leo XIV has a specific message for our country.
Good morning.
