What impact will the Pope's visit leave? Undoubtedly, Leo XIV, from his position as head of state and religious leader, has impacted political and civic life. Both the right and the left have wanted to claim him. But his clear discourse of a purely social nature, in favor of welcoming immigrants, peace, and an economy at the service of people, and therefore antithetical to Trumpism and the Catalan and Spanish far-right, has especially given a boost to Pedro Sánchez's party.

Today at half past twelve Pope Leo XIV lands at El Prat airport and begins a stay of 36 hours in our country, packed with events: the crowd at Lluís Companys stadium this afternoon, the symbolism of the climb to Montserrat, the message of meeting with prisoners at Can Brians, and the highlight, tomorrow around 9 pm, of the blessing of the Jesus tower of the Sagrada Família, which for a few weeks has crowned the basilica at 172.5 meters above the city of Barcelona. And on Thursday morning, Leo XIV will depart for the Canary Islands.

I don't know if the two Tanzanian priests and the two Filipinos who make up the Augustinian community in Barcelona will tell Leo XIV, when he visits the church of Sant Agustí in the Raval on June 10, that it was in that church that the Assembly of Catalonia was founded, the great coalition of anti-Franco forces in the country. It was the year 1971. Time was time. When the Catalan Church stood shoulder to shoulder with those fighting for individual and collective freedoms. When rectors sheltered striking workers and prevented the "grisos" from entering. When Comissions Obreres was founded in a parish (Sant Medir, la Bordeta, 1964), when students barricaded themselves in convents (la Caputxinada, Sarrià, 1966), or the most symbolic monastery was the chosen setting to "christen" a party that would govern Catalonia for decades (Convergència, Montserrat, 1974). It was the time of Escarré, Jubany, Cassià Maria Just, Xirinacs, Ragué, Ballarín, and many worker priests... It was a time when the Church had a better reputation than it does today. More practitioners, more religious vocations, more complicity with laypeople, more credibility, no reports of pedophilia.

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...

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.

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.