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Associated Press

Pope Leo will inaugurate the soaring central tower of Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica when he visits Spain next month in a week-long trip that will also take him to a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
The June 6-12 visit will first bring Leo to Madrid for meetings with the government, parliament and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
He will also preside over a prayer vigil with young people that will recall the last time a pope visited Spain: 2011, when Madrid hosted World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI.
In Barcelona, Leo will be on hand to mark the 100th anniversary on June 10, of the death of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, who designed Sagrada Familia, the world’s tallest church.
Leo will celebrate an evening Mass in the basilica and inaugurate its Tower of Jesus Christ, the soaring central piece that was moved into place in February.
The tower brought Sagrada Familia to its maximum height, 172½ metres (around 566 feet) above Barcelona, but the building is still far from complete.
When Benedict visited in 2010, he consecrated the basilica, and there will still be unfinished related business when Leo visits: Gaudi is on the path to possible sainthood, but he will not be canonised during the pope’s trip, Spain’s bishops said on Wednesday.

The head of the Spanish Catholic bishops conference, Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid, highlighted Leo’s planned address to parliament while in Spain as particularly significant.
Only on rare occasions do popes address foreign legislatures, and the speeches often end up among the most noteworthy of a pontificate.
“I believe it’s of great importance,” said Argüello, because parliament “as the embodiment of national sovereignty, needs to reflect on what an ethical and spiritual reference means at a time of the undoubtedly necessary renewal of our democratic life”.
Leo is in many ways carrying out an intention of his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, by visiting the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago off northwest Africa which is the main gateway for migrants from Africa to enter Spain.
Francis had made reaching out to migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy, and Leo has followed suit by demanding dignified treatment of migrants, especially in his native United States.
Francis had planned to visit the Canary Islands, even while staying away from the Spanish mainland for his entire 12-year pontificate, as he prioritised smaller destinations far from the centres of traditional Catholicism.

Spain’s government under Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has championed legal immigration at a time when many governments in Europe are trying to decrease migrant arrivals and step up deportations.
Under way in the Iberian nation of 50 million is a migrant amnesty measure that aims to legalise the status of an estimated 500,000 people the government says are living in Spain without authorisation.
Conservative opposition parties have criticised the approach, especially the far-right Vox party, which has described the legalisation push as an “attack on our identity”.
But Spain’s leftist government has said that the measure has the support of a broad coalition that includes the Catholic Church and many Spanish business leaders.
Spain’s population is ageing, and Sanchez has repeatedly said that the country needs more workers to maintain its growing economy and contribute to social security.
Spain’s population now includes around 10 million foreign-born residents – or one in every five people. Many are from Latin America and Africa.
Leo will meet with organisations working with migrants in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. The following day he will meet with migrants at a reception centre in Tenerife and separately with Spanish groups that work with them.
The Canary Islands are roughly 65 miles (105km) from the closest point in Africa, but to avoid security forces, many migrants attempt longer journeys that can take days or weeks.

The islands have been a stepping stone for migrants trying to reach Europe from West Africa and Morocco for decades. Arrivals peaked in 2024 with nearly 47,000 arrivals, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry statistics.
Following pressure and deals between the European Union, Spain and the governments of Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia, arrivals have fallen dramatically, with just over 2,000 migrants landing in the Canaries in the first four months of 2026.
A few weeks after Leo visits the Canary Islands, history’s first US-born pope will travel to the main migrant entry point to Europe, the Italian island of Lampedusa, Sicily, on July 4, to meet with migrants there.
That is the same day the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence.


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Religion

Pope Leo waves during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

The Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona. Photo: AFP

The entrance to the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona. Photo: AFP

A boat carrying migrants arrives at La Restinga seaport, in the municipality of El Pinar on the Canary Island of El Hierro, in 2023. Photo: AFP

Pope Leo speaking to journalists on Tuesday. Photo: AP

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: AP

Rubio to visit Rome, meet Pope Leo who has clashed with Trump

Pope Leo has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli led war with Iran, among other issues. Photo: TNS

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Donald Trump in 2025. Meloni has condemned Trump’s remarks about the pope as ‘unacceptable’. Photo: AP

Pope meets first female Archbishop of Canterbury in symbolic Vatican encounter

Pope Leo meets Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally at The Vatican on Monday. Photo: Simone Risoluti / Vatican media / AFP

In Angola, Pope Leo prays at shrine that was once a hub for African slave trade

Pope Leo amid faithful in Muxima, Angola on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Pope Leo arrives at the esplanade in front of the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima. Photo: AP

The pope is on an apostolic journey to Africa, with stops in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. Photo: EPA

Pope Leo leads the Holy Rosary prayer in front of the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, in Muxima, Angola. Photo: AP

Pope Leo to inaugurate Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia in June trip to Spain

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}He will also visit a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands

He will also visit a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands