The Pope's visit to Catalonia, which counts on Montserrat and Sagrada Família as world emblems of Christian pilgrimage, coincides with the selectivity exams of our hardworking and always most tender adolescents. Among these students, do not doubt it, there are —there must be— our substitutes and who knows if the Pope's own.

La Sagrada Família is already warming up for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV with only 20 days left until his visit to the Catalan capital. It will be one of the highlights of Gaudí Year, which commemorates the centenary of the architect's death throughout this 2026. The Pope will officiate a Mass in his memory inside the temple and then will go outside to bless the tower of Jesus Christ, which at the beginning of the year was crowned with the cross that has made it the tallest religious building in Europe, with a height of 172.5 meters. Given the great anticipation to attend the Eucharist, the general director of the Sagrada Família Construction Board, Xavier Martínez, has specified that there will be 4,000 people inside the temple and 4,000 more outside who will be able to experience live the ceremony officiated by the Pope.

Trump will pass. Leo XIV will remain. The Church already has it, this: it has been lasting for 2,000 years. Its horizon is distant, infinitely more stable than the legislature of a stagnant liberal democracy. At the pace of eternity, Robert Francis Prevost is the 267th Pope. The Church is not democratic, of course. It is pyramidal. Now it wants to be synodal (from synod), that is, more participatory and plural: Pope Francis began to open doors in decision-making processes to laypeople and women, and to peripheral figures far from the walls of the Vatican. Leo XIV is following this path, that of a collegial and decentralized ecclesial government. When young Robert Francis once asked his mother, Mildred Martínez, if she wanted to be like men, she replied: "No, because we are already better!" A wise and brave woman behind the new American Pope. The one of a silent revolution?

Perhaps you think someone made a mistake by mixing in the title of this article the Pope's upcoming visit to Spain with the episode of the ship on which cases of hantavirus have been detected, which have caused the death of three people so far. But the decision to relate these two events is entirely voluntary, even though they are matters of very different significance. We are awaiting Leo XIV's messages with great interest, I would say more than ever in recent years of papal travels, surely due to the singularity of the moment we are living in the West and, more broadly, everywhere due to the stage of changes and uncertainties that humanity is going through. The pontiff has placed himself – or we have placed him – at the center of world attention, as a voice that the vast majority wants to hear to feel reaffirmed in their desires for progress, peace, and social well-being. It is clear that there have always been conflicts and dangers – even open wars, like the one in Ukraine – but the awareness of how much we are taking steps backward is more intense and recent. It is linked to the erratic way the North American administration has been conducting itself under the direction of its president, Donald Trump, and to the consequences of his way of acting.

“An unarmed peace that serves to disarm”. With this wish, the North American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost inaugurated his pontificate on May 8, 2025. That afternoon, from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican, the new elected Pope Leo XIV presented himself to the world with a plea to end all wars at a time rife with conflicts and growing tension, unaware that the worst was perhaps yet to come.

For months, a week in June has been circled in red in Madrid: from the 6th to the 12th. It is an event that is on the social but also political agenda, to the point that it is speculated that Juanma Moreno Bonilla decided to move forward the Andalusian elections so as not to coincide with the election campaign. It is about the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the State, where he will stop in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands. This Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, presided over the general meeting of the security device in Madrid, in which the director of the police, Josep Lluís Trapero, also participated. As the minister explained in statements to the media, collected by the ACN, the visit will involve the deployment of 11,000 national police officers, in addition to 2,200 Civil Guard agents. In a few hours, the Mossos d'Esquadra have also committed to reporting on their device. Taking into account the context in which the pontiff's trip is taking place, Marlaska asserted that it involves

Months ago, a week in June was marked in red in Madrid: from the 6th to the 12th. It is an event that is on the social agenda, but also political, to the point that it is speculated that Juanma Moreno Bonilla decided to advance the Andalusian elections so that the electoral campaign would not coincide. It is about the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the State, where he will make a stop in Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands. This Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, presided over the general meeting of the security device in Madrid, in which the director of the police, Josep Lluís Trapero, also participated.

The direction that the far-right has taken in Spain and around the world has generated a consequence that has been quite visible in recent weeks: the divorce from the Church. The most palpable proof was the clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran. However, in Spain, the distancing has also become evident in the migratory debate. To the point that a few days ago the bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, came out to strongly criticize Vox, but also the PP, for opposing the massive regularization of immigrants: "Many people should get into a cayuco". In fact, the migratory issue has dominated Spanish politics in recent weeks and the regional pacts between the PP and Vox, which have focused on "national priority" in public aid and benefits. And it is precisely this that has caused the most frontal rejection from the Catholic Church hierarchy and entities like Càritas.