The Passeig de Gràcia Association has recognized the Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família Board and the Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, with the XIX Friend of Passeig de Gràcia Award for their contribution to "culminating" Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece and most universal project and for "ambitiously facing the city's great future challenges". The award ceremony coincided with a particularly significant moment for the Sagrada Família: the centenary of the death of the so-called architect of God and Pope Leo XIV visited Barcelona to bless the completion of the Jesus tower, which has been "a historic moment that strengthens the international projection" of the Catalan capital.The awards were collected at the Majestic Hotel & Spa Barcelona by the delegate president of the Construction Board, Esteve Camps, and Monsignor David Abadías, auxiliary bishop of Barcelona, representing Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, who accompanied the pontiff on his trip to Catalonia. "These awards are a recognition of all the people who have worked for decades to make Antoni Gaudí's dream a reality and to complete a work that belongs to Barcelona and the world," Abadías stated.The president of the Passeig de Gràcia Association, Lluís Sans, explained that the completion of the temple will represent "much more than the culmination of an architectural work": "It is a historic opportunity to demonstrate Barcelona's ability to think big and project itself to the world with confidence, excellence, and a vision for the future". During his speech, Sans assured that the Sagrada Família is "probably the best ambassador Barcelona has in the world" and that everyone has "the responsibility to live up to its legacy". "We know that Gaudí's project to create a park on the three blocks up to Diagonal will not be realized, but we do ask for an ambitious project at the level of the global icon that the Sagrada Família has become," he stated. In this regard, the president of the association stressed that "the same breadth of vision" needed to complete the Sagrada Família is what "Barcelona needs today" to be "a safe, competitive city, open to the world and capable of leading again through culture, innovation, and creativity".Shops open on Sunday?

Sans has also defended a city that continues to attract talent, investment, and economic activity, that preserves its heritage and commercial identity, and that offers services and infrastructure like major international capitals. Hence, he has stated that it would be necessary to "reinforce commercial dynamism" by opening shops on Sundays, improve mobility to "guarantee access to the Eixample also by private vehicle" and "recover the splendor" of the emblematic spaces "that define Barcelona's identity".In this regard, on the issue of security, Sans has positively assessed a decrease in thefts in Barcelona, which he has attributed to the expansion of police forces, operational improvements, and "the expansion of the judicial staff," but has argued that there is "an abuse of the right to demonstrate." And in the area of housing, he has questioned whether to "renounce the offer of tourist apartments," as it is "essential" to maintain the capacity to host business, academic, medical, and tourist activity.

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Following the controversy generated by the publication of the missal in which Catalan was excluded from the blessing of the tower of Jesus of the Sagrada Família, steps were taken within the Catalan episcopate to convey to Pope Leo XIV that Catalan should also be used there, as the ARA reported. Specifically, numerous bishops, as well as politicians, reacted so that the Archbishopric of Barcelona would take action to increase the use of Catalan. However, this Thursday the Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, confirmed at the Càritas Barcelona press conference that the Pope "will speak in Catalan" at this event, as well as in Spanish. That is to say, the Holy See has agreed to listen to the plea of the Catalan dioceses, even though the cardinal has overlooked the concrete effect these movements have had. Textually, Omella commented that he "will bless a part in Catalan": "He will speak Catalan as far as he can reach," he stated.

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The visit of Pope Leo XIV to Catalonia is the prelude to the changes of bishops in the Principality. Barcelona is the most important, but Tarrasa also needs to be renewed and, in the rest of the Catalan Countries, Mallorca. Juan José Omella, from Aragon in the Franja, landed in November 2015 at the archbishopric of Barcelona with the mitre he had from Calahorra. At 80 years old, five years past the normal age for the position, he will cease to be archbishop and the succession will be finalized this summer, after the pontiff's visit. Here comes Operation Barcelona: who are the best-positioned names? What role will Omella and the Pope play?

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The Catholic Church dominates the scene like no one else. It's fascinating how it has appropriated pagan festivals, linked to the natural cycle of life. In the case of the solstices, moments of maximum solar decline, with varying success. While the winter solstice—commemorated in the Roman Saturnalia with great feasts and gifts—has been displaced by the Christian Christmas, the summer solstice is one of the few soirees that has resisted it. Since ancient Persia, fire has been given ritual value and the earth is honored in gratitude for prosperity.

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It's bad luck that the day of the Immaculate Conception was one of the windiest in the year. It is the ideal day for the illumination of the star that crowns the Sagrada Familia's tower of Mary. "Is that stuck on all right now? It won't fall off, will it?" asks an elderly man, a little frightened by the wind blowing in the immense square of Gaudí's temple. A few days ago a twelve-pointed star was attached at a height of one hundred and thirty-eight metres, putting the finishing touch on one of the towers of the eternally unfinished church. "Forty-nine years I've lived next door and from the first day this has seemed like a joke to me", exclaims Jeroni, who lives on Carrer de Mallorca. "How can it be that the building hasn't been finished yet? How can this be in my head?", he says as he pulls an incredulous, sardonic face. His friend Jaume reproaches him for his slander, his scepticism, as if he were an overly angry Barcelonian. I look at Wikipedia to check the dates. Construction began in 1882. One hundred and forty years seems a reasonable margin for an architectural project as pharaonic as this one.

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Pope Francis surely upset a very important part of the Spanish ecclesiastical hierarchy with the naturalness with which he faced Carlos Herrera's questions on Cope about the Catalan independence bid. Far from the tearing of garments and the usual fussiness in the pronouncements of certain bishops, the pontiff took the heat off the issue the issue by recalling what is a historical truism, and that is that there are many precedents for the independence of countries in the recent European past, and he specifically cited the case of Kosovo, which Spain does not recognise precisely because it considers it a dangerous precedent for Catalonia or Euskadi. Francis, however, went beyond normalising and de-dramatising the debate on the independence of Catalonia, and put his finger on the sore point when he emphasised the concept of reconciliation: "National unity is fascinating, but it will never be achieved without the reconciliation of peoples", he said. In this sense, the Holy Father urged Spain to "reconcile itself with its own history".

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