The Pope claims a diverse country and "welcoming for everyone"

BarcelonaIn Madrid, a political message; in Catalonia, a social accent. After three days in the Spanish capital where messages against polarization and understanding had marked his discourse, Pope Leo XIV took advantage of his first major public event in Barcelona this Tuesday to disseminate messages with strong social content. Before the 40,000 people filling the Olympic Stadium, the pontiff called for confronting the scourge of violence against women and placing mental health at the center of the health system, without forgetting, however, the idea of a diverse and welcoming country.

After holding three conversations with selected young people, the pontiff delivered a homily in which he used Nicodemus to emphasize the importance of not faltering in difficult times, and making these "nights of faith" an opportunity to "be reborn." A homily in which he also urged to ask oneself what kind of society we want to build, and in which he asked to be guided by "seeking the truth that leads to the common good and for this country to be a welcoming space for everyone, where each person is respected in their condition as a person and loved for who they are".

Predominant role of Catalan

As he had already done in the morning in his first act at the cathedral, the Pope wanted to bury the controversy over the use of Catalan. He did so by giving a preponderant role to the language of Catalonia, both in his conversations with witnesses and in the homily, in which he alternated Catalan and Spanish almost equally. Leo XIV, in fact, spoke more in Catalan than the Archbishop of Barcelona, Joan Josep Omella, who only used it in the last part of his speech.

Catalan has been preponderant throughout the vigil, an event led by journalists Mercè Raga and Xavier Pérez Esquerdo, in which Catalan culture has played a prominent role, with the 3d8 raised by the Castellers de Vilafranca as a highlight. Beforehand, there were also performances by Sabor de Gràcia and talks about Antoni Gaudí. And towards the end, in one of the most emotional moments, the performance of the Virolai by the Escolania de Montserrat. However, the Catalan flags were in the minority in an Olympic Stadium where it was easier to see Spanish flags. However, Vatican flags predominated.

Against feminicides

The messages of a more social nature arrived during the conversation he had with three young people. One of them asked him how to reconcile with God and forgive his father after he tried to kill his mother when he was just a child. It was then that Leo XIV lamented the scourge of feminicides and called for them to be combated: "We are all called to address this dramatic reality, whether personally or as a society, because it is up to us to face it in all its dimensions," he said.

Raising what is one of the main banners at the start of his papacy, Leo XIV has once again positioned faith and the Gospel almost as a revolutionary gesture in an accelerated society and has placed them as a "critical spirit" in the face of a "social system that does not put the person at the center and causes situations of injustice and existential poverty".

Also when Carmina, one of the young women who addressed him, shared with him the difficulties of finding faith while going through a depression, the Pope questioned a system that, as he explained in his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, prioritizes production and performance over humanity. "It is important to become aware of how mental health is increasingly threatened in the context of societies considered advanced. It is a sign that there is something profoundly wrong with a certain idea of growth that subjects people to pressures and tensions that compromise fundamental balances," he said.

Before, in fact, responding to the first testimony, the Pope called to "cultivate a healthy concern" and to become aware that "the idolatry of profit and performance, the eagerness to always produce and be winners, as well as the cult of one's own image, are nothing more than anesthetics to lull our conscience and adapt it to a certain idea of society".

The performances and talks have accompanied an Olympic Stadium that erupted for the first time when, around a quarter past seven, the screens first showed Leo XIV on the outskirts of the venue. Beforehand, many had taken advantage of the wait to confess at the fifty or so designated spots. The zenith was reached when the pontiff circled the stadium in the popemobile. Then, the fervor and shouting truly unleashed, and it was even necessary for medical assistance to attend to a woman who had fainted.

All this in front of a very well-attended front row of authorities, which included, among others, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, who attended accompanied by his partner.