The blessing ceremony of the tallest tower of the Sagrada Família is one of those events we will never forget.

The Pope has reserved the two small-format, more intimate events for the second and last day of his visit to Barcelona to meet with vulnerable groups. In the morning, he met with about eighty inmates at the Brians 1 prison, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, before heading to the monastery of Montserrat. In the afternoon, he chose the modest church of Sant Agustí, in the heart of Barcelona's Raval, on his way to the central event of the blessing of the Sagrada Família's tower of Jesus. It was, therefore, a day marked, on the one hand, by two great symbols of Catalan spirituality and, on the other, by two points where current social problems are felt.

This morning, one of the most politically charged events of the Pope's trip to Spain took place. For the first time in history, a Pope has addressed the Spanish Congress and Senate in a joint session. in the Pope's trip to Spain. For the first time in history, a Pope has addressed the Spanish Congress and Senate in a joint session.If I start from the end, I will tell you that his speech was met with nearly seven minutes of applause. And this, considering that Leo XIV today delivered the most doctrinal speech of those pronounced so far. For example, when he lamented to the legislators about the abortion and euthanasia laws:

Pope Leo XIV, who will visit us soon, has appointed prefect of the dicastery of communication: which is what would be the head of press for heavenly affairs. Hold the mares: she is a woman and she is lay. If it is already difficult to have directors of conventional newspapers, imagine having one in the Vatican. She is the first, therefore, to lead a papal office, in the midst of that – and forgive me all and even all – immaculate turnip field. When Garrofa, from Pitarra's Pastorets, returns from hell, he says: “I can tell you wonders...! / The demons are female.” This informs us of what it means for a woman to lead Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L'Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media (audio, image, and video services), the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican Publishing House, the Vatican Printing Press, and the Vatican Film Library. And here I go, after an elegant and even feminine full stop.

Judicial cases are piling up around the PSOE, but Pedro Sánchez maintains a fierce defense of his government's honorability and insists he will serve out the legislature. This Wednesday he did so from the Spanish embassy to the Holy See, taking advantage of his trip to the Vatican to meet with the Pope. Sánchez arrived in Rome on Monday for an official two-day visit during which he met with Leo XIV in the Vatican and had a crowd-pleasing appearance at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Despite the efforts of La Moncloa, however, he could not meet with his Italian counterpart, the far-right Giorgia Meloni, who cited agenda issues.The main meeting of the Spanish president was, in any case, in the Vatican, where Sánchez was received by the pontiff this Wednesday, a few days before the Pope travels to Spain to visit Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands between June 6 and 12. Sánchez arrived at a quarter to nine at the Cortile di San Damaso where the Bosnian archbishop Peter Rajic, new prefect of the Pontifical Household, was waiting for him. A few minutes later, Leo XIV received him in the Sala del Tronetto and later both met in the Library of the Apostolic Palace in a private audience that lasted about 45 minutes. Before leaving the Vatican, Sánchez held a meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.During the audience, the first between Sánchez and the Pope since his election, now a year ago, both leaders have addressed issues of an international nature, with special attention to the consequences of conflicts in the world, and have agreed on the defense of multilateralism and on the urgent need to reach a commitment in favor of peace, according to a statement from the Holy See.The Spanish President, for his part, has highlighted the good rapport with Leo XIV in defending dialogue, diplomacy, and international law, and has defined the pontiff as "a moral compass in the fight against injustices and in promoting common sense and empathy in the face of unreason and the law of the jungle". The fight against hunger and immigration, on which the Pope has shown particular sensitivity, have been other issues addressed during the meeting. In this regard, Sánchez has applauded the Pope's decision to visit the Canary Islands, the entry point for migrants from Africa, during his next trip to Spain, as well as various humanitarian organizations helping refugees in Madrid and Barcelona.During the meeting, Sánchez presented the pontiff with an artisanal sculpture of a Spanish horse; and the Pope gifted the president of the government, among other things, a bound copy of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, published this Monday, in which he reflects on human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.Judicial imputations

The trip to Rome and the Vatican by the President of the Government has coincided with the indictment by the National High Court judge, Santiago Pedraz, of the former organization secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, and the party's manager, Ana María Fuertes, in the case in which former socialist militant Leire Díez was already being investigated. But above all, the meeting with the pontiff took place at the same time as UCO agents were appearing at the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz for an investigation by the National High Court into the Leire case. In front of journalists, Sánchez assured that the PSOE had already taken "all measures" when this case broke a year ago and announced that "as soon as new information emerges that affects illicit activities, the Socialist Party will act with force".The president has emphasized that "none of these investigations challenge everything that the Government of Spain is doing", and has ruled out early elections as even some socialist barons demand. "I cannot call elections for partisan interest," he assured.Despite acknowledging that "stability is not an end in itself", Sánchez has defended that a stable Government is indispensable to face the economic consequences of the current international crisis, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the rise of tensions in the Middle East. "Despite all the difficulties, stability is an important lever to achieve what we are achieving in terms of economics and job creation in such a complex international context", he concluded.

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Peace in the Middle East and the promotion of religious freedom have been some of the issues addressed this Thursday by Pope Leo XIV and the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. The head of US diplomacy was received by the pontiff amid a diplomatic crisis between the White House and the Vatican, after the unprecedented attacks by US President Donald Trump.

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The unprecedented attack on the Pope by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has, for the first time, received a direct response from the pontiff. Leo XIV has assured that he is not "afraid" of the North American leader and that he will continue to raise his voice against war, "fostering dialogue and multilateralism".

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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"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.

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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.

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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!"

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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.

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"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?"

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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.

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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.

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