The visit of Pope Leo XIV to Catalonia and Spain in June will have immigration as one of the fundamental themes, especially during his tour of the Canary Islands. Precisely, this Wednesday the Canary bishops and the representative of Cáritas in the territory have made a call in favor of the regularization of immigrants and against anti-immigration discourse in a press conference in Madrid, preparatory for the pontiff's visit. A few days after the pact between the PP and Vox in Extremadura, which advocates for implementing an anti-immigration policy with the agreed "national priority" in public policies, the Catholic Church clashes head-on. The bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, has been clear: "A year and a half ago it seemed that the PP and PSOE agreed on regularization, but unfortunately it has come to this," he stated – recalling the initial process in Congress with the popular vote. pact between the PP and Vox in Extremadura, which advocates for implementing an anti-immigration policy with the agreed "national priority" in public policies, the Catholic Church clashes head-on. The bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, has been clear: "A year and a half ago it seemed that the PP and PSOE agreed on regularization, but unfortunately it has come to this," he stated – recalling the initial process in Congress with the popular vote.

Around 400,000 people in the Barcelona metropolitan area live in overcrowded conditions, in sublet rooms and shared apartments. Based on the latest FOESSA report with data from 2024, Cáritas Barcelona details that in the cities included in this diocese, Social insecurity is higher than in Catalonia as a whole and in the StateAlthough economic improvement and social assistance have halved extreme poverty (6%) compared to the data from the same study in 2018. In this diocesan region (Maresme and Barcelonès), 2.8 million people reside, and it is estimated that almost one in four live on the edge, unable to make ends meet. The situation is even worse for young people and foreigners, whose poverty and exclusion rates are 2.4 times higher than those of the general population.. Stratospheric housing prices are consuming the bulk of their income: 15% are left in severe poverty after paying rent. According to Amelia de Juan, head of the social and analysis department at Cáritas, the soaring cost of apartment rentals is causing an increase in demand for rooms, a trend that is also driving up subletting prices. Leidy Katherine Cubides and Brayan León Chacón have experienced firsthand the impossibility of finding decent housing. Arriving less than a year ago at Madrid airport on tourist visas from Colombia, it was an obstacle course from day one, and only the news of the birth of their son Emiliano in the Spanish capital brought the couple a happy respite. For the past few weeks, they have been living in an apartment in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, which they share with three other people. Cáritas covers the €700 monthly rent, as well as other basic expenses for the couple because the hours Chacón manages to find work at a cleaning company are not enough. "We need at least 2,000 euros; with less, it's impossible to survive," says Chacón, who remains confident despite the situation.

Catalonia has recovered some of its labor market momentum after the pandemic, but there is a worrying group of 1.4 million workers for whom employment does not free them from living trapped in poverty and without opportunities for social mobility.Job insecurity is the new normal "For a segment of society," according to Cáritas, in a report on exclusion and social development prepared with the FOESSA Foundation based on interviews with 140,000 households across the country and across all socioeconomic backgrounds. The study concludes that the overall improvement in macroeconomic indicators is not reflected in daily life. Many family members are employed, and even those fortunate enough to access social benefits struggle to make ends meet. In this dramatic equation of an active labor market and increased social vulnerability, it is important to consider that salary increases do not offset rising prices (the CPI). The difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants in finding work also contribute to this. Furthermore, exorbitant housing prices force families into precarious living conditions. sublet rooms or to allocate more than half of the income to pay rent or mortgages to avoid becoming homeless.

In the end, all the women recognize themselves in each other's stories. "We're so alike, things haven't happened to us that differently!" they repeat. There are about twenty of them, and they have in common that they had to leave their homeland to emigrate to Catalonia and have settled in Can Padró, a neighborhood in Cornellà de Llobregat accustomed to welcoming migrants. Like those who arrived in their 60s from Extremadura or Andalusia and those, starting in this new century, from Latin America. Today this heterogeneous group—by origin and also by generation—has met in a room of the neighborhood association in an activity organized by Cáritas to promote, precisely, knowledge and interaction among neighbors who surely wouldn't meet up if it weren't for spaces like this.

For Paula Carrasco and her two daughters, aged 6 and 17, covid was a watershed. It was the point at which their lives broke down and they had to resort to welfare aid to be able to pay the rent and fill up the fridge. "I had never needed help from anyone until now but I found I had no income and we had to get by." They are one of many families with underage children whose situation has got dramatically worse. Catholic church charity Caritas warns that this group is the most vulnerable: 40% are now in social exclusion, a percentage that grows to 50% when it comes to single-parent families, like Carrasco's. Míriam Feu, head of analysis at Caritas Barcelona, explains they "have difficulty making ends meet and have no income for unforeseen expenses".