We live in times of polarization. The rules that seemed consolidated since World War II are cracking in the face of an increasingly uncertain global scenario. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, globalization has advanced strongly, transforming economies and societies, but it has also contributed to concentrating political, technological, economic, media, and military power in very few hands, making the decisions of a few affect the lives of everyone. Today, in the full era of social networks and artificial intelligence, it has never been easier to control the collective narrative nor so difficult to discern what is true and what is manipulation.The risk is evident: ending up subordinate to a logic of algorithms and interests that often ignore human dignity. When this happens, the person ceases to be an end in themselves and becomes a means, just another piece of data within a system that prioritizes efficiency or profit over the common good. This subtle, often invisible, dehumanization silently erodes the foundations of coexistence.At the same time, we have been losing the ability to listen to ourselves. We live surrounded by informational bubbles that reinforce our convictions and exclude disagreement. Everything is reduced to brief messages, impactful headlines, and videos of a few seconds. But reality is complex, and so are people. When we forget this, we simplify the world to the point of making it unrecognizable and leave out essential dimensions of life, such as nuance, vulnerability, or doubt.It is in this context that the figure of Leo XIV acquires a relevance that goes beyond the strictly religious sphere. His discourse is uncomfortable because it does not align with any side nor does it allow itself to be instrumentalized. He speaks of building bridges instead of raising walls, of putting the person at the center, of not turning differences into hatred. He recalls that governing is, above all, knowing how to listen to people's suffering with honesty and without filters.

The joke goes that the PSC is now the Christian Social Party. Salvador Illa has been explicit since he became president in his ideological positioning, which he bases on Christian humanism. The same that Pope Prevost, Leo XIV, defends, as has been made clear in his first encyclical. The social aspect of this pontiff is even more solid than that of his popular predecessor, the Argentine Bergoglio. Prevost has become a strong global voice in favor of welcoming immigrants, in favor of the most vulnerable, against the renewed warmongering of Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin, in favor of cultural dialogue and against platform capitalism which polarizes society, both ideologically and economically, with a logic of merely pecuniary use of algorithms and artificial intelligence.

One week before the Pope's visit to Catalonia, many are looking for ways to capitalize on the excitement to make a profit. To the point that the internet has been filled with offers to rent a balcony from which to watch the popemobile arrive in exchange for a few hundred euros. "Rooftop Sagrada Família, direct view Pope Leo XIV", promises an ad on Wallapop. "Unique location that allows you to enjoy from the same space all the key moments of the event: the popemobile's passage through the Rosselló/Sicília corner just before entering the Sagrada Família, the illumination of the Tower of Jesus and a drone show over the temple". The same ad says it would be an "ideal place for media, broadcasts or a private VIP experience". To specify the price of renting this penthouse for a single day, you need to contact the user who published the ad and negotiate the rate.

The visit of Pope Leo XIV is generating more than notable public expectation. He is a figure who, contrary to what was initially thought when he was elected a year ago – after a papacy as emblematic as that of Francis – has quickly carved out a prominent place in the global public arena. How? With stances in favor of welcoming immigrants, warning against the dangers of artificial intelligence under the control of large corporations (his recent first encyclical emphasizes this), and in favor of a Christian humanism based on dialogue and tolerance with diversity. It is from this doctrinal and ideological basis that the American Prevost has clearly distanced himself from the warmongering and ultranationalist policy of his country's president, Donald Trump, and from the most conservative Church in both the US and other latitudes.

Last Thursday I participated in an academic event focused on the analysis of the encyclical Magnifica humanitas, by Leo XIV. It is a document that, contrary to what some summaries suggest, goes beyond, much further beyond, considerations related to generative artificial intelligence (GAI). This issue is certainly present, but the text echoes other matters that would be grotesque to summarize here. I will highlight an aspect that has little to do with GAI but which, in the current circumstances, I consider important. Magnifica humanitas projects a worldview that dismantles common political labels, and for this reason it may disconcert people who previously distrusted anything that could be associated, even tangentially or remotely, with Catholicism. It develops an anthropology of human dignity that openly confronts the discourse of far-right parties when they claim Christianity as a brand of exclusive identity. By addressing migratory flows from a logic of shared vulnerability, rather than the defense of administrative borders, Leo XIV invalidates this discourse (point 81). It delegitimizes the partisan use of faith and reclaims the idea of a Church that speaks from its own place, not subordinate to any specific political project. For progressive or liberal sectors that had perceived the Church as a subservient actor of the established order, this rupture may arouse, at the very least, curiosity. The tacit criticism of certain United States policies (points 63 and 64) reinforces the perception we are commenting on. When the encyclical questions North American migratory and economic measures, it does so from theology and in an ethical key, but the effect is that of an institution regaining a moral sovereignty capable of challenging the new emperors. The Church manifests itself as an actor that does not play – nor can it play – in the middle of the world geopolitical chessboard, but that can question it from another register. This is also not new, although in the current circumstances it has paramount importance. Far from the Catholicism of order and of an identitarian matrix that some extreme right-wing political groups claim, Leo XIV speaks of technology, migrations, and inequalities with a perspective that assumes fragility as a shared, universal human condition. The discourse connects with contemporary sensibilities – ecology, human rights, critique of technocapitalism (points 107 and 156) – but avoids the apocalyptic and ultra-ideologized tone of certain current registers. In fact, it does nothing more than adapt the social doctrine of the Church to the uncertain times of AI, as well as reclaim a Christian humanism that is incompatible with economic predation, extreme individualism, and the contempt for the intrinsic dignity of the person in the form of new esclavages, often associated with emerging technologies.

"It is one of the largest police operations ever deployed in Catalonia". This is how the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, described this Thursday the deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra that will take place during the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Catalonia. Up to 5,600 agents of the Catalan police will be activated for this event. It is an almost unprecedented figure, as it means that 25% of the force's members will be active for the Pope's presence. Furthermore, this entire operation is joint with the National Police, the Civil Guard, the royal household, the Vatican Police, and the Guàrdia Urbana de Barcelona, which will have 500 agents available. In other words, there will be many police officers on the streets. "Catalonia is prepared," stated the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler. The Minister of Justice explained that the visit is covered by an agreement between the Generalitat, the City Council, and the Archbishopric, which he has quantified at 1.6 million euros financed by the tourist tax and which will be audited later.

It is very interesting (and comforting) news that Pope Leo XIV dedicates his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, to confronting the major technology companies that aim to lead the implementation of a new authoritarian world order, based on the power of a few large oligarchies. Leo XIV says no to the idea of a world controlled by the masters of artificial intelligence. It is the world of Alex Karp, the CEO of the company Palantir – about whom we spoke the other day–, who openly preaches and practices the idea of concentrating power in the hands of those who possess not only the nuclear weapon, but also (and above all) the power of artificial intelligence. A world based on an elite of lords and a humanity made of servants, barely lab rats forced to fulfill the role assigned by a power that, like Janus, has the double face of war and peace. Depending on how and from where the AI looks at you, your passage through this world can be relatively peaceful and prosperous (and irrelevant), or it can consist of becoming minced meat in one of the more than fifty wars currently raging in the world with multiple purposes, but one main one: to make money. The more the security spending of states and large corporations increases, the more the arms supply and demand expand, and, therefore, the more conflicts there end up being. AI is both cause and effect of this vicious circle.Leo XIV claims humanist thought in opposition to the logic of what is known as technofeudalism, or technofascism, that is to say: the final stage of capitalism's decomposition, at the antipodes of liberal democracies (liberalism and the very idea of freedom are banners that authoritarians have made their own: in this sense, Karp should be thanked for his half-frankness in not presenting himself as a defender of freedom, but of order). The Pope is therefore right to take part in one of the crucial issues of the world in which he has had to exercise his pontificate (his predecessor Leo XIII, from whom he took his name, did so by siding with workers' rights). He confronts the Promethean vocation of tech companies, of the big AI and big data service providers: like Prometheus, they too want to steal fire from the gods, but not to give it to men, but to subjugate them. There is also a pharaonic vocation: read Irene Cordón's short essay, The Pharaohs of Silicon Valley, where the disturbing parallel is established between the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, who were worshipped as gods, and the magnates of this world dominated by large AI corporations.It is logical that the Pope reacts to this situation, because it is - once again - the usurpation of God. Perhaps we have never been so close. In an old science fiction story, Fredric Brown narrates how, a newly inaugurated supercomputer - to great joy and expectation of the rulers - is tested with a first and only question: "Does God exist?" The answer is equally concise: "Now he does."

The relationship between the Spanish Church and the far-right is not going through a good moment, despite sharing ultraconservative values on issues such as abortion or the concept of family. It has recently been evidenced by the clash of León XIV with Donald Trump over the war in Iran or by the discrepancy between Santiago Abascal's party and the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) on immigration. While Vox rejects the regularization promoted by the Spanish government and advocates for "national priority," the Spanish bishops defend it, and in fact, the Pope will focus part of his visit to the State on highlighting the reception of immigrants with a stop in the Canary Islands. However, at an informative breakfast this Tuesday, featuring the president of the CEE, Luis Argüello, a thawing of relations with Vox has been glimpsed. With leaders Ignacio Garriga and Pepa Millán seated at the main table, Argüello has shown a predisposition from the podium to meet with Abascal.

The Barcelona City Council has decided to grant the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium free of charge to Pope Leo XIV so that he can hold his major event in the city. PSC, PP, and Junts voted in favor. Comuns and ERC voted against. The arguments for offering this municipal space for free are that the Pope's visit generates “a maximum public and general interest”. I'm not saying no, but Rosalía does too, and it also touches on religious themes, and as far as I know...

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.

In a month, on June 9th, the Pope will arrive in Catalonia, where he will spend the night, and will leave the next day. He will arrive at El Prat airport on Tuesday, June 9th, at half past twelve, and from there he will go to Barcelona Cathedral to hold a prayer. The next public stop will be at 8 p.m. at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium for a massive prayer vigil. According to the organization, the option of it being at Camp Nou was considered, but FC Barcelona's board of directors ruled it out because the logistics involved delaying the stadium's construction by a month. The following day, Wednesday, June 10th, the Pope will visit Brians 1 prison, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, and from there he will go up to Montserrat, where he will lead a prayer and have lunch with the community of monks. In the afternoon he will return to Barcelona, to the church of Sant Agustí, in the Raval (the Pope is from the Augustinian order). At half past seven, the moment that will be most broadcast worldwide will arrive, the mass at the Sagrada Família, which is a television setting that never ends. At the end of the mass – it will be half past eight in the evening –, with the twilight sun, he will bless from the street the tower of Jesus Christ, crowned weeks ago and which has made the Sagrada Família the tallest temple in the world. The next day, Thursday, June 11th, he will leave for Las Palmas. Pope Robert Prevost will have arrived in Madrid on the 6th and will return to Rome from the Canary Islands on the 12th.This trip is curious because the reason for bringing him to Spain at this time is the Sagrada Família. On June 10th, it will be 100 years since Gaudí's death, and to solemnize the centenary, the Pope has agreed to go to Barcelona to bless the tower of Jesus Christ, which crowns the basilica. Thus, it is from this date and this act that the entire trip is organized. In Madrid, he will go to the Congress of Deputies, where he will deliver a speech in a joint session of the Congress and the Senate. One can imagine the interest Pedro Sánchez's government must have in the Pope giving a political speech, because he is against war, he is attacked by Trump, and he has warned the Spanish bishops not to be instrumentalized by the far-right. The trip has a very marked social component, because Leo XIV will go to a shelter for homeless people in Madrid, he will go to prison, he will go to the Raval in Barcelona, and he will end up in the Canary Islands, the entry point – often fatal – for sub-Saharan immigration into the European Union. It is a trip that Pope Francis could have made if he had not been so ill in the final years of his pontificate.  It is noticeable in the program that, apart from being very packed, it is the typical trip of the Pope to Spain, very controlled so that it is exactly that, a trip to Spain: the kings will accompany him at every step, they will receive him at the Royal Palace in Madrid, he will meet with Pedro Sánchez (a photo that Sánchez is eager to have). Yesterday, the cardinal of Barcelona, Omella, dodged the question when asked about the use of Catalan during the trip. It is the usual thing, the undisguised influence in the Vatican of the Spanish episcopate so that the distinct personality of Catalonia and its language are not perceived as merely regional. I do not believe, however, that Catalan Catholic sectors will stand idly by to counteract this new episode of surveillance of the Pope's words in Catalonia, which, frankly, at this point in history we could do without.And as everything is susceptible of worsening, the “Christian lawyers” appear to ask that the Pope not go to the Lluís Companys Stadium, because under his presidency thousands of religious men and women were killed, and they finish by saying that “it is outrageous that the Pope himself goes to a stadium that honors a murderer”. Needless to say, Companys not only did not have anyone killed, but he tried to save many people, but on July 18, 1936, and in the following months, the president of the Generalitat was absolutely overwhelmed by the armed violence of groups of anarchists and the extreme left, who were the authors of the assassinations. In short, as if the lie were not big enough, the same group asks the Pope to go to the Valley of the Fallen. The Pope's visit, therefore, has political, cultural, social, national, and security components (as the world is) of great importance and symbolism. We will follow it closely.Good morning.

I would like to think that this beautiful April of 2026, while the media and social networks repeatedly recreate the confrontation between Emperor Trump and Pope Leo, some readers have remembered – perhaps with a nostalgic smile – the pages ofThe Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Not exactly because reality imitates fiction, but because, from time to time, history rehashes old episodes with new actors and modern settings. The clash between secular power and spiritual power, which in the 14th century spread throughout Europe, is now resurfacing in the form of heated statements and truculent memes; despite their contemporary appearance, some have a medieval aroma. In Umberto Eco's novel, Emperor Louis of Bavaria and Pope John XXII fight for legitimacy, for who can tell the truth and by what right can they do so. Caught in the midst of incompatible loyalties, the monks in Eco's novel become witnesses and victims of a struggle that was not only political, but also linguistic: whoever controls the word, controls the world. In that book, the word inhabited a labyrinthine monastic library; today, it is hard to understand amidst the media noise. The conflict between Trump and Pope Leo unfolds in a very different setting – confusing press conferences, social networks, shifting speeches – but the underlying question is surprisingly similar. Who has the moral authority to interpret the present, be it that of the Strait of Hormuz or that of devastated Gaza? Who can claim the final word on community, faith, nation, identity, or that very truth which has the bad habit of making us free?Transformed by many of his followers into a kind of Nero-esque imperial figure, Trump acts as a sovereign who tolerates no limits or criticism of his all-encompassing power. Pope Leo reclaims the Church as a counterweight, as a reminder that there are values that cannot be subordinated to any political will. Between the two opens a space of tension that recalls the labyrinth of Eco's imaginary library: a place where each corridor leads to a different interpretation, where truth is always partial, and where books –or televised speeches, or tweets, or memes– can become weapons of massive epistemological destruction. The comparison with the 14th century is not just a literary metaphor. Both then and now, the conflict was not limited to two personal figures in confrontation, but spread like an oil stain throughout society: this polarization didn't start the day before yesterday... Communities also divided, and the –let's call them– intellectuals who took the wrong side ended up in the dungeon. Rumors circulated with the same force –though not at the same speed, obviously– as official decrees. And, as in The Name of the Rose, the dispute over power ended up contaminating daily life, making every gesture, every word, or even every silence acquire a political meaning, generally over-interpreted.

Donald Trump and Leo XIV were on a collision course from day one. A bombastic President of the United States who sends his police to hunt down immigrants and threatens the disappearance of an entire civilization cannot count on papal blessing. And when asked about it, Robert Francis Prevost calmly and with a quiet smile uttered a simple statement: “I am not afraid of the Trump administration,” which, coming from him, seems directly inspired by the evangelical “Do not be afraid.”

Pope Leo XIV is a continuator of the doctrinal line of his predecessor, Francis, but from the very beginning he has sought to differentiate himself by his methods: where Bergoglio was vehement, talkative, and a bit torrential, Prevost has strived to emphasize, in his first year of pontificate, a calm, discreet, and relatively understated way of doing things, seeking to moderate his presence and public expressions.That is why it has caught everyone's attention that the Pope has decided to openly respond to the provocations and impertinences of Donald Trump. The orange pachyderm, who presides over the USA with a guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels case, and from the very alleged condition of having been a prominent member of Epstein's pedophilia network and now also a war criminal, did not like it that the Pope of Rome reminded him that “God is not on the side of those who drop bombs” on the civilian population. He responded with a couple of insults and a meme in which he himself, Trump, appeared characterized as a kind of stuffed and grotesque Jesus Christ, who acted as if he were about to heal a dying person. The White House had to withdraw the image in the face of protests from Christian associations, but Trump reaffirmed himself in statements in which he maintained that he can indeed heal the sick. Leo XIV, for his part, also reaffirmed himself in his role: he recalled that he would continue to speak out against wars and said, textually: “I am not afraid of the Trump administration.” That a pope finds himself in the situation of declaring that he is not afraid of the president of the country that boasts of representing democratic values is just one of the paradoxes of the days we live in.European citizens (the so-called despised Europe, often by itself, which, however, we need like the bread we eat), educated and/or convinced of the idea of the secularity of states, had perhaps forgotten that religions continue to be important engines of power throughout the world. The episode of the clash between a character like Trump and a pope like Leo XIV reminds us, once again paradoxically: Trump, president-elect, behaves like a parasite of the rule of law, while a figure like the Pope of Rome, of absolutist and theocratic tradition, is the one who defends this rule of law, along with human rights and civil liberties. Meanwhile, a good part of the major wars underway in the world (such as the genocide in Gaza, or the war in Iran) have religious pretexts or backgrounds. And many of the new authoritarian or neo-fascist leaders, starting with Trump himself, proclaim themselves inspired by God or sent by divine providence. Leo XIV (of whom Trump celebrated the fact that he was American, to then add that he had been elected thanks to him) seems to have well understood that —like everything contained in the scriptures— the mandate to always forgive and turn the other cheek should not be taken literally.

After a torrential downpour, a single beacon illuminates the runway of the military airport, where some two hundred select individuals await the arrival of Pope Leo XIV under a tent that casts little shade. On one side, people crowd together; on the other, photographers search for the best angles, while the military band rehearses and the dignitaries march past. The sound of the Vatican plane is heard before it is seen. The crowd, phones in hand, moves between nerves and anticipation. When the twenty-gun salute rings out, more than one person jumps in surprise before looking back up at the sky, half-smiling and with a racing heart.

The President of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), Salvador Illa, met this Wednesday morning with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The meeting, according to sources within the Government, took place at 8:30 a.m. and lasted half an hour. He was in a private audience at the Vatican, which is why—the Generalitat (Catalan Government) emphasizes—Illa is "the first institutional representative of Spain to be received" by this Pope, who was elected as the new pontiff four months ago following the death of Pope Francis. "It was a very moving conversation for me," Salvador Illa stated after the meeting in statements to the media. Also participating in the audience were the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, and the Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, Isabel Celaá.

More than four months have passed since the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel announced the election of a new pope, and even today, few in the Vatican dare to draw a more or less accurate profile of Leo XIV. American journalist Elise Ann Allen, Rome correspondent for the Catholic newspaper I creak, he does it in the book Leo XIV: citizen of the world, missionary of the 21st century, which includes the first interview with Robert Prevost since his election to the Chair of Sant Pere.

I have had the grace of meeting Pope Leo, and in his presence I have discovered something more than a shepherd: I have seen a man who listens with the ear of his heart, who speaks with the serenity of one who prays, and whose gaze embraces like a sacrament. His prudence is not a fearful silence, but a wisdom that discerns and dares to point the way. His commitment is not limited to diplomatic gestures: it is a radical commitment to the Gospel, to justice, to peace, and to the care of the Earth, our common home entrusted to us and today in agony.

For centuries, the popes chose the village of Castel Gandolfo to spend the summer because it was cooler than torrid Rome. The first to break this tradition was Francis, but it seems that Leo XIV has decided to resume it, something that its residents await with enthusiasm and curiosity, as will the pilgrims who will follow him, reactivating tourism and local commerce.

Politics often provides strange traveling companions. And if you don't believe it, ask the Pope Leo XIV, who for his proclamation Mass filled St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to the rafters with 200,000 people, including world political leaders of all kinds of attire. Curiously, however, among all the pontiff's colorful guests, few people enjoyed a privilege related to the dress code, which is always monochromatic black when the papal act is solemn. Specifically, these privileged people were the queens of "Catholic countries," who have the privilege of being able to wear white before a pope, an ancient right that surely perhaps they no longer care in the least about, but which the gossip media finds joyful on a workday in which the main story consists solely of explaining something. so horny like a mass.