The Pope's visit: to swallow mill wheels

I don't know if the two Tanzanian priests and the two Filipinos who make up the Augustinian community in Barcelona will tell Leo XIV, when he visits the church of Sant Agustí in the Raval on June 10, that it was in that church that the Assembly of Catalonia was founded, the great coalition of anti-Franco forces in the country. It was the year 1971. Time was time. When the Catalan Church stood shoulder to shoulder with those fighting for individual and collective freedoms. When rectors sheltered striking workers and prevented the "grisos" from entering. When Comissions Obreres was founded in a parish (Sant Medir, la Bordeta, 1964), when students barricaded themselves in convents (la Caputxinada, Sarrià, 1966), or the most symbolic monastery was the chosen setting to "christen" a party that would govern Catalonia for decades (Convergència, Montserrat, 1974). It was the time of Escarré, Jubany, Cassià Maria Just, Xirinacs, Ragué, Ballarín, and many worker priests... It was a time when the Church had a better reputation than it does today. More practitioners, more religious vocations, more complicity with laypeople, more credibility, no reports of pedophilia.

Nowadays, 42% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic. And of these, 58% admit they do not regularly attend religious services. As for young people, only one in four declare themselves Catholic, although practicing Catholics are more fervent and conservative. This is data from the CEO of the Generalitat, from last April. Regarding the opinion of Catalans about the Vatican, another CEO survey, from June 2025, indicates that 62% of citizens give "no value" to the Pope's opinion or consider that it "is not too important". Only 7% of those surveyed give relevance to what the Bishop of Rome may say.

Even so, the (secular) government of Illa and the (secular) city council of Collboni are making unusual efforts to receive Leo XIV. The visit of a head of state who is also the leader of a religion that has – at least on paper – millions of followers worldwide deserves more than respect and diplomacy. But is it necessary to pour so much money and sacrifice into it? The Barcelona City Council will not specify how many millions the visit will cost until the guest leaves. It is only known that they have waived the collection of the 78,000 euros it costs to rent out the Olympic Stadium. Barça used to pay between 300,000 and 900,000 euros for each match played at Lluís Companys. Will Collboni give the stadium for free when Muslims, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Evangelicals, or Sikhs want to hold an international gathering of their respective congregations?

The government of Illa, a practicing Catholic, will contribute 1.6 million euros. And they don't blush when they say that this amount will not be paid by citizens because it will come from the tourist tax. Didn't we agree that this tax was supposed to revert to works and services for Catalans? We won't pay directly, but we will forgo receiving it, which is the same thing. They still want to make us swallow anything: “The Pope's visit is an opportunity to promote the Catalonia brand.” Will any Catalan want to travel or invest in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, or Equatorial Guinea in the near future? Well, these are four countries that Leo XIV visited last April, and their “brands” remain the same. How can it be understood if Illa and Collboni themselves say that Barcelona doesn't need more tourists, if they admit that we are saturated?

Finally, the curfew decreed urbi et orbi. Free movement of citizens will be prevented for almost 24 hours in Raval, Gòtic, Montjuïc, and Eixample. From 7 in the morning, residents will not be able to take their vehicles out of parking garages even if events are scheduled for more than twelve hours later. Metro stations will close for 24 hours and dozens of streets in the city center will be blocked, causing a lot of inconvenience to a citizenry that, since the majority is educated, will welcome a distinguished visitor for whom they feel respect, but who does not inspire extraordinary sympathy, according to the Generalitat's own survey, and will inspire even less after so many restrictions, prohibitions, and inconveniences. Or perhaps all this police control is not so much to guarantee the safety of the Pope as to prevent protests against two other distinguished visitors: Felipe VI (from independentists) and Pedro Sánchez (from the far-right)? With so many national-Catholic alleluias and hosannas, some have lost their way.