Everything is in place for Pope Leo XIV to visit Spain in 2026. Official sources from the Archdiocese of Madrid have confirmed to ARA that the Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, and the Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, will hold a meeting next Friday, January 9, at the Secretariat of State. The President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), the Archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, is also expected to participate in this meeting, as confirmed by CEE sources, who refer to it as a meeting with the Conference's leadership. The Spanish cardinals will arrive in Rome two days before this meeting to participate in the gathering of cardinals from around the world convened by Pope Leo XIV on January 7 and 8. The objective will be to reflect on the future of the Church and the challenges of the Pope's pontificate. Cobo, Omella, and Argüello will then remain in the Vatican for another day to participate in this "summit" regarding the Pope's future visit to Spain. The leading hypothesis is that the Pope will visit Madrid and Barcelona in June, to mark the centenary of the death of architect Antoni Gaudí, although it is not ruled out that the pontiff—whose mother has Spanish origins—could extend his visit to other Spanish cities, such as Santiago de Compostela (whose eighth centenary will be celebrated in 2026), Valladolid, or Alba de Tormes, where the remains of Saint Teresa of Ávila rest. Pending official confirmation from the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV, who holds American and Peruvian citizenship, already expressed to the Spanish journalists accompanying him on his first trip to Turkey and Lebanon in late 2025 his desire to visit the land of his ancestors. "He can have more than just hope," confessed the pontiff, who speaks perfect Spanish and has traveled to Spain on numerous occasions as Superior General of the Order of Saint Augustine. Before becoming Pope, Robert Prevost visited Madrid, Málaga, Seville, Bilbao, Valladolid, León, and Ávila. And after being appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2024, he returned to Ávila to visit the birthplace of Saint Teresa of Ávila, where he signed the guestbook. During the Mass inaugurating his pontificate, celebrated on May 18, the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, conveyed to the Pope their desire to see him in the country soon. The formal invitation came later through the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa., whom Prevost received at the Vatican on October 1, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Almeida, who held a private audience with the Pope in December.

Finally, Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta, Rafael Zornoza, after he was implicated in the First case of alleged pedophilia in the upper echelons of the Spanish ChurchIn its bulletin this Saturday, the Vatican announced that it has accepted the resignation of Bishop Zornoza, which he submitted fifteen months ago automatically upon reaching the age of seventy-five—the retirement age for clergy with a certain level of authority in the Catholic Church. Although the acceptance of Zornoza's resignation comes just eleven days after it was revealed that the Vatican was investigating the bishop for an alleged case of pedophilia, the Holy See did not specify the reasons for accepting the clergyman's withdrawal. Meanwhile, the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) issued a statement announcing that Pope Leo XIV appointed the auxiliary bishop of Seville, Ramón Darío Valdivia, as "apostolic administrator" of the Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta this same Saturday. In the statement, the Conference made no reference to the investigation against Zornoza, but on Monday the president of the CEE, Luis Argüello, He met for the first time with Pope Leo XIV And he did confirm that the Pope was "informed" about the case of the now-former Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta.

Opus Dei's number two, auxiliary vicar Mariano Fazio, was formally accused of trafficking women for thelabor exploitation within their religious order in conditions of semi-slavery, a practice that Opus Dei allegedly committed for four decades in Argentina. This is stated in the eight-page document to which access has been obtained. ElDiario.es, within the judicial process opened against the highest leaders of Opus Dei in Argentina. Opus Dei –that is, the number two in the order worldwide– and lives in the Vatican, asks to be charged along with four leaders of the order in the country who had already been accused. The request was sent on June 11 to federal judge Daniel Rafecas by prosecutors Alejandra Mángano_ initially included in the indictment, which did charge the three priests who had held the same position as him in previous and subsequent years: the former regional vicars of Argentina Carlos Nannei (1991-2000), Patricio Olmos (2000-2010) and Víctor Urrestarazu (2014) female member of Opus Dei in Argentina, Gabriel Dondo. Fazio had also been a regional vicar between 2010 and 2014.

In the window of the Antico Forno in Legna, at the gates of Castel Gandolfo, Daniela proudly displays a letter sent by the Vatican Secretariat of State and signed by the Pope Francis in which the Argentine pontiff thanks them for sending some artisan pastries. "His Holiness thanks you for the gift and the feelings of filial veneration that this kind gesture has suggested […] and gladly sends you his blessing," reads the letter, dated 2022. "Pope Francis was a fan of our pastries. Every Sunday, someone would pass by and take them to Rome."

Queen Letizia has taken advantage of a privilege only a few consorts in the world have: wearing white in front of the Pope. Three weeks after attending Pope Francis' funeral this Sunday, both she and Felipe VI have traveled to Rome for the Inauguration of the new pontificate of Leo XIV in the Piazza Sant'Etienne in the Vatican. However, it was the Queen's attire that has become the center of attention, as only six women in the world have been allowed to wear the color white.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 15, marks the 134th anniversary of the publication of Leo XIII's encyclical. Rerum novarum (On New Realities). It remains the basis of the Catholic Church's social doctrine and underlines the idea of human dignity and the need to combat the misery and poverty that plagued most workers of his time. The document's objective was to overcome both the depredations of the savage capitalism of his time and the violence then associated with revolutionary movements, and especially with anarchism. Let us remember that we are talking about 1891; the Lyceum bombing, for example, occurred in 1893. The world of Leo XIII was the height of colonialism and industrialization; that of Leo XIV was that of globalization and the second digital revolution, that of AI. These are two comparable realities, to be sure, although great care must be taken not to invoke certain anachronisms. What we now perceive as progress, or as regression, was often interpreted in a very different way in their time. In my little library there is one History of the Popes In four volumes published in Paris in 1841. The author is Amédée de Hertault. They are preceded by a long 64-page introduction by Pierre-Sébastien Laurentie (1793-1876)—in fact, it's a separate essay. Laurentie was an anti-modern, anti-liberal, and legitimist French writer. I believe he was the most reactionary thinker of his time, and undoubtedly the spiritual father of Gobineau and Joseph de Maistre, although he also had a significant influence on Balzac, for example. Reading this introduction, one can see that certain things that attract our attention today went completely unnoticed at that time, and vice versa.

"So you've seen all the Rome ritual on TV?!" Some of my friends, most of them agnostics and republicans, are amazed when I explain that I'm a ritual junkie and that I never miss the election of the Pope, or any royal wedding or funeral, or coronation.

Pope Leo XIV made a firm defense of freedom of expression and of the press and recognized the "courage" of journalists who work in adverse places or circumstances, "even at the cost of their lives." Before thousands of journalists at the first audience of his pontificate, the Pope expressed "the Church's solidarity with journalists imprisoned for seeking and reporting the truth" and called for their release. "Only informed people can make free decisions," the American pontiff affirmed, precisely at a time when the government of his home country is engaged in an open struggle against the media.

Pope Leo XIV has launched an appeal against war in his first prayer of the Regina Caeli This Sunday at noon in front of thousands of faithful gathered in the Vatican's Piazza Sant'Pere. Quoting Pope Francis, the American pontiff denounced the "current dramatic scenario of a Third World War in pieces" and firmly appealed to world leaders: "Never again war!"

Pope Leo XIII devoted much of his term to combating the so-called "Americanist heresy," a liberal Catholic movement that emerged in the United States that embraced the separation of church and state (which the Vatican rejected) and prioritized evangelization over dogmatism in the 20th century. The formerly powerful diocese of Munich, with 1.7 million members, had only one seminarian at 99 in 2022. the country that contributed the most money, in the form of a grain of sand, in the Catholic Church. Now the country that contributes the most annually, with more than 10 million dollars (a similar sum in euros), is the United States. Both American continents represent almost half of the world's Catholicism. And the new pope, who has decided to resume the name of the anti-American pope and call himself Leo XIV, is American.

"Hate! The Roman Church in mani dei Catalani!", said a cardinal upon learning that Rodrigo de Borja had been named pope in the 15th century. A similar stupor swept through St. Peter's Square when it was learned that an American would sit, for the first time, in the chair of St. Peter.He's not MAGA! He's not MAGA at all!", yells an American journalist, in the press gallery, just after the expected we have a popeChicago-born Cardinal Prevost is the chosen one, and some Italian journalists are looking astonished. A Yankee pope? After the photo of Trump dressed as a pontiff? HateBut the misunderstanding is soon dispelled: Prevost is on the list of papabili and all journalists have their file at hand, which leaves no doubt: he is not a reactionary, he will be a continuationist pope, faithful to the legacy of Francis, and very far from the postulates of MAGA (Make America great again). Some media outlets even say that the conclave's decision was JD Vance's worst nightmare, and that Leo XIV will be Donald Trump's "nemesis." Among European journalists, however, the inevitable jokes circulate: "Will the US pay tariffs to export this pope?"

This morning Two conclave votes are scheduled, in Rome. Since the dean of cardinals gave Cardinal Parolin a double peace, it has been read between the lines that, this time, Parolin will contradict the saying: a cardinal will enter the conclave, and a pope will emerge. We'll see, because Pietro Parolin has campaigned, which began before Pope Francis's death, and there are cardinals who didn't like his candidacy. Parolin is more of a diplomat than a pastor; he's the current Secretary of State and he's the man who fits the idea that after a Polish pope, another German pope, and another Argentinian pope, the Vatican should put its house in order and return to an Italian pope, one who knows what's going on in the political and economic organization of the city. "inventions" (a word that refers to the Eurocentric vision of the Church). But we'll see.

Black. This has been the color of the smoke that at 9:00 p.m., almost two hours behind schedule, has emerged from the chimney installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, a few meters from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. A long-awaited smoke that certifies that the first vote of the conclave that will elect Francis's successor The meeting ended without an agreement among the cardinals called to designate the future leader of 1.4 billion Catholics. No candidate obtained the 89 votes needed to sit on the chair of St. Peter. With 30,000 pilgrims, tourists, and curious onlookers who gathered since early afternoon in a sealed-off Piazza Sant'Pere (not just physically, since the Vatican has deactivated mobile phone networks throughout the country), the black smoke was no surprise. Subsequent ballots are usually conclusive. John Paul II needed eight votes. His successor, Benedict XVI, was elected in 2005 on the second day, in the fourth ballot.

Romans welcome the mass arrival of pilgrims with the same ease with which they walk and chat among ancient ruins. Drivers honk their horns, brake suddenly, and get angry. The traffic is hellish, and there's a train strike on top of that. Near the Vatican, high-end black cars with SCV (State of the Vatican City) license plates are starting to appear, which Roman sarcasm has transformed into Se Cristo Vedesse (See Christ the Wise). But limousines no longer exist. Pope Francis imposed an austerity regime on the Curia, both for image and financial reasons, and those who were accustomed to unjustified, or even sinful, spending are more discreet, or have already left the Vatican. But successive leaks of reports relating to matters of finance or morality demonstrate that foul play remains a common practice.

The speculation and betting are finally over. The 133 cardinal electors will meet this Wednesday afternoon in the Sistine Chapel., to hold the first vote. This is a conclave under double pressure: on the one hand, there doesn't seem to be a clear favorite, which means it takes several rounds to reach the necessary 89 votes; on the other, there's a certain rush, because no one wants a long, tight vote to worsen the sense of division within the Catholic Church.

The speculation and betting are finally over. The 133 cardinal electors will be locked in the Sistine Chapel this Wednesday afternoon. to take the first vote. This is a conclave under double pressure: on the one hand, there doesn't seem to be a clear favorite, which means it takes several rounds to reach the necessary 89 votes; on the other, there's a certain rush, because no one wants a long period of confinement to exacerbate the sense of division within the Catholic Church.

The transition period after the death of Pope Francis This week ends with the celebration of the conclave, the ritual for electing the new pope. The name comes from Latin cum key (under key) and evokes the secrecy surrounding the ceremony, which is held in the Sistine Chapel, beneath Michelangelo's frescoes.

In the heart of the Trastevere district, a row of lights hides the door of a very cozy restaurant. The structure, divided into three naves, preserves some vestiges of the ancient frescoes that decorated the walls and even the holy water sink. The space where waiters run around today to serve tourists was once the church of Santa Maria della Clemencia. Yes, also in Rome, and not far from the Vatican. Numerous temples have been converted into museums, libraries... and restaurants.

The Catholic Church has always been divided. From the early years, Peter and Paul had doctrinal and personal differences. The chief apostle considered circumcision essential, while Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (who had not met Jesus personally), considered the issue of the foreskin and, in general, Jewish doctrine irrelevant. They met several times in Jerusalem and agreed to continue their disagreement, each in his own way. The current divisions, therefore, are nothing new.

Jordi Valls is the spokesperson for theChristian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, a group to whom Pope Francis spoke kindly, showing understanding and empathy. However, they have not achieved recognition by the Church because, as the pontiff said, the Vatican maintains that "homosexuality is not a crime, but it is a sin."